Why has Nadal not already locked up #1 ranking?

[ClarkC]

Federer came into this week with 6605 points, exactly 300 points ahead of Nadal's 6305 points.

Federer was defending 500 points (he won Cincy last year) and only gets 75 points for reaching the round of 16. So he loses 425 points.

Nadal got a bye in the round of 64 last year and lost in the round of 32, giving him only 5 points to defend this year.

Therefore, by simple grade school arithmetic, Nadal locked up #1 the instant Federer lost int he round of 16.

Yet, the announcers keep talking about how far Nadal has to get this week to become #1.

My data on ranking points come from the ATP website. What am I missing here? What are these announcers babbling about every day?

 

[HappyAndFriendlyAlways]

he has. its just because fed won the us open last year. rafa really is #1

 

[ClarkC]

he has. its just because fed won the us open last year. rafa really is #1

What is just because Federer won the US Open last year? Announcers make factually incorrect statements every night for 3 nights because Federer won the US Open last year? Sorry, I don't get it.

 

[IvanMalison]

you are right... in a way. The reason they say he needs to get that far to get number one is because the points from Cincy/Montreal from last year arent going to come off the ranking system until august 5th (Montreal) and August 13th (Cincy) because that's when they were played last year. Ranking points from this years cincy/toronto tournaments will be added to Fed/Nadals rankings scores, but the points from last year will not be subtracted...

 

[ClarkC]

Right. I just figured that out a second ago when I clicked on a news story at ATP and it said that Federer would have 6680 points next week. Hmm ... 6680 = 6605 (last week) plus 75 this week.

This is because of the Olympics year. But, Federer cannot replace those points when they come off, so the changing of #1 has become a mathematical certainty already, but has not occurred on the computer yet.

The ATP ranking system claims your points from from 9 AMS events, 4 grand slams, etc. They are going to have TEN AMS events on Federer's ranking due to the 52-week rule. So, the 52-week rule contradicts their formula.

Oh, well. I am a Federer fan, not a Nadal fan, but I just wondered why it was not already over.

 

[Nadal_Freak]

Nadal already sealed the number 1 position after tonights win. I don't expect him to beat Djokovic tomorrow but he will be number 1 on August 18.