How is it that Fabian Marzan’s success against Carlos Alcaraz wasn’t in the top 100?

Do five wins in Rome equal one Challenger Championship success?

21 places. In terms of positions, this is expected to mean a lot by Fabian Marzan The Roman march, which does not seem like a great leap compared to who was defeated, and what a great race it was. This can mainly be attributed to two reasons: on the one hand, the insignificant difference between the top 140 and the top 100, and on the other hand, the ATP scoring system.

Even before Rome, only 35 places separated Marozán from the top 100, which sounds very close, but expressed in points, he was nearly 190 behind the 100-ranked player. It wouldn’t be enough, but even in the case of the 500 semi-final, it was necessary to do the math.

Antalya

• Milian Zakic (215.)
• Alessandro Giannisi (235.)
• Daniel Michalski (278.)
• Vit Kupcheva (169.)
• Sebastien Offner (160).

Rome

• Timofey Skatov (144) – Qualifier
• Felipe Melegeni Alves (175) – Qualifiers
• Corentin Mottet (67.)
• Jerry Lehika (39.)
• Carlos Alcaraz (2nd)

While the average world ranking of his opponents in the Challenger tournament in Turkey was 211.4, it was 73.8 in the Italian capital, including qualifiers. And if we take only the main table as a basis, the situation is even more difficult: the average is around 31. His performance in the two competitions cannot therefore be compared, but the ranking lists treat the two at almost the same level.

The ATP 1000 is one of the toughest tournaments of the season anyway. Since these are mandatory items in the tournament calendar, with the exception of Monte Carlo (by definition for those with access to the main draw), the field is usually just as strong as in Grand Slams, and in some ways more difficult for lower-ranked players.

In Grand Slams, it often happens that a portion of the board becomes more open as the ranked players are defeated. Unlike the larger 1000 tournaments like the one in Rome, where the favorites only join in the second round, the major tournaments can surprise them already in the opening round. There are even examples of someone who made it to week two without playing the seed.

In a 1000 tournament, this is almost unthinkable, because the winners of the first round pairs will almost certainly have a seeded player waiting for them (except in those cases when one of them folds and the lucky loser takes his place). Moreover, continuation is not easier in a dense field, which is why it is rare to reach the fourth round by beating the seed.

Martin Vosovic During his career, he reached at least the fourth round in Grand Slam tournaments four times, three of which were enough to send a seed into the encounter. The exception is the biggest success of his career, which is the quarter-finals of Wimbledon 2021, where he defeated three top players (Sinner, Schwartzman, Rublev), and then lost to world number one Djokovic in the quarter-finals.

Australian Open (2018)

• Radu Albot (87.)
• Sam Querrey (13)
• Niklas Kicker (93.)

Australian Open (2020)

• Denis Shapovalov (13)
• Yannick Sinner (82.)
• Tommy Ball (80)

Roland Garros (2020)

• Daniil Medvedev (5th)
• Albert Ramos-Vinolas (44).
• Thiago Montero (84.)

Wimbledon (2021)

• Yannick Sinner (19.)
• Jerry Vecillo (72.)
• Diego Schwartzman (9)
• Andrey Rublev (5th)

It’s particularly interesting that in the current ATP scoring system, all three victories in the 250, 500 and 1000 events pay the same amount, even though the latter always has a stronger field to draw on. In the ATP 250 tournament, for example, it’s hard to be the second-best tennis player in the world on the other side in one of the three matches.

In the long run, the ATP should revise the scoring system and allocate more to ATP 1000 tournaments. Especially in light of the fact that more and more tournaments are turning into a week-and-a-half event, this year Madrid, Rome and Shanghai will join the usual pair of Indian Wells and Miami, and as of In 2025 there will be five similar tournaments (Canada, Cincinnati.)

And to pay tribute at the end: Marozsán’s success is why it makes sense to expand those races to 96. In the previous system, a player outside the 130’s didn’t always fit into qualifying, and it was almost impossible to have a similarly great week behind Fábián Marozsán.