The French tennis ranking system is based on a points system that is calculated using a player’s performance during tournaments throughout the year. The French ranking system is used to determine a player’s level and position in the national hierarchy, as well as to provide access to tournaments of different levels.
The French ranking system is managed by the French Tennis Federation (FFT) and is similar to other national ranking systems around the world. Points are awarded based on a player’s performance in singles, with more points being awarded for victories in higher-level tournaments.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) uses a classification system, also known as the French Tennis Ladder, to rank players based on their results during tournaments. There are different categories within each you can find various rankings.
At your tennis debuts, you will be attributed “N/C” (non-ranked in french). Then if you win one match only, you will then be ranked 40. After that, every match that you win will bring you some points until a certain point.
How Does The French Tennis POINT System Work?
A win against a player that is:
2 rankings above and plus brings + 120 points
1 rankings above brings + 90 points
At the same ranking brings + 60 points
1 rankings below brings + 30 points
2 rankings below brings + 20 points
3 rankings below brings + 15 points
4 rankings below and less brings 0 points
What Are The Different French Rankings?
The French pyramid is divided into 4 series. Within each series, you can find many different rankings.
I believe the best way to understand it is to look at the infographic below:
Another thing to know is that many players can have the same ranking. It works like a pyramid which means that the lower the ranking, the more player has this ranking.
To give you an example, for the men, there are 210K+ players in series 4 whereas there are 78K+ in series 3 and only 11K+ in series 2.
History Of The French Ranking System
The French tennis ranking system has evolved quite a bit over time.
In the early 2000s, it used to be a year-to-year ranking system meaning that the season would start on September 1st, and end on August 31st. Players would accumulate points throughout the year and at the end, they would either go up in ranking, stay the same, or go down. The French ranking system allows no limits as far as going up in rankings, therefore a player could only go down a ranking one by one.
A little bit before 2010, the FFT decided to add a new mid-season ranking opportunity where players who accumulated enough points could go up in ranking. The reason behind this was that it would allow players who have been playing better than their ranking to start further in the draw and directly play against better players instead of playing many matches against lower-ranked players. It was a way to have more accuracy in the draws.
In 2023, a new update has been done by the FFT. The final and monthly rankings no longer exist and are replaced by a single ranking system that is calculated every month. All the players’ efforts are important and rewarded similarly.
The new ranking system takes into account all matches played within the last 12 months, starting from October 4, 2021, to October 2, 2022, when the first new ranking is released. The previous practice of resetting points at the end of the sports year is no longer in effect.
On the first Tuesday of every month, the ranking is made public. It can be accessed by members in their personal space on Ten’Up, and they will receive an email notification in the event of promotion or relegation.
The points system remains the same, and the ranking is calculated based on all matches played within the last 12 months. The ranking of opponents is determined by their position on the day of the match.
With each new ranking release, players can maintain their current position, move up, or move down. However, a player’s descent is limited to a maximum of one level over a 12-month period. If a player moves down, they cannot move down any further for the next 12 months.
To move up in the ranking, a player must meet two criteria on the day of the calculation: they must have beaten a player of the same ranking on the day of the match and have accumulated sufficient points.
I hope this article helped you learn how the French tennis ranking system works.
Are you interested into Padel lately but don’t know how the French system works? We put together an article on “How The Padel Ranking System in France works”.
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