Dimitrij Ovtcharov unhappy with new ITTF World Ranking system!

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Dimitrij Ovtcharov has just made an Instagram status saying that he is unhappy with the new ITTF World Ranking system. The ITTF plan to change the World Ranking structure as of 2018 with a system similar to that of tennis. This new ranking system will mean players have to enter many tournaments to maintain their World Ranking as rankings will change more dynamically, rather than from a ranking that has been built up from a point basis after so many years. We should see a lot more changes in the top 10 rankings as of 2018.

What do you think?

Timo Boll would be World Ranked at 44 if the new ranking system was implemented in today's date as seen via the ITTF test ranking here: http://dr.ittf.com/ittf_ranking_2018/

Ovtcharov expressed, "What do you guys think about the new ITTF World Ranking system that will be introduced in 2018? As an example Timo Boll would be ranked nr 6 in Germany and 44 in the world... of course I can't in any way agree with that being how it should be... what is your opinion guys?

ovtcharovunhappyranking2018.jpg


It looks like Dimitrij Ovtcharov has been sent a test version of some sort?
 
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The documentation is open to the public. ittf even suggests sending in feedback until 31st of May so it is not finalised yet.

http://www.ittf.com/rankings/ (bottom of the page)

It would mean that points for world tour tournaments would only last for 12 months while wttc and olympics last longer.
imo this is very disrespectful towards the players. World ranking is something you build up throughout your professional career, step by step and not because you have two lucky tournament finishes in the last year.
It is another attempt by ittf to get more top players to play smaller world tour tournaments.

I agree that there could be changes to the current system, but it should not be that drastical.
 
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IMO in a way its good because it will result into new faces in the world top 10 more often than now , however , if there is too much of disruption players won't be able to build a stable fan following which might not help the sport ...

Definitely , Its unfair on older players who have to pace themselves but the young guns can go on playing every pro tour there is to keep improving their ranking. But thats the way it is . The catch is some of the qualification criteria for world events like Olympics have a dependency on world ranking , which again might create further complications ...
 
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IMO in a way its good because it will result into new faces in the world top 10 more often than now , however , if there is too much of disruption players won't be able to build a stable fan following which might not help the sport ...

Definitely , Its unfair on older players who have to pace themselves but the young guns can go on playing every pro tour there is to keep improving their ranking. But thats the way it is . The catch is some of the qualification criteria for world events like Olympics have a dependency on world ranking , which again might create further complications ...

I think the bias towards the young is good for our sport.
 
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Does this system work well in tennis?

I think so. Tennis has a lot more money in it though, which is part of the reason why it works well. You have to be active to win points, but there is enough money to support travelling and large draws. At grand slams, players now get paid enough to cover their trip if they get eliminated in the first round. Most ITTF events don't pay even that to the winner.
 
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Probably every person would agree that person RANK should tell to average joe what kind of level the player has. If you would go to tennis system where "the more you play the better rank you get" blows up the rank idea itself. It doesn't show your true level -it just show how often you particapate at competitions AND just a little of your reached skill. You want examples?? Check Ricardas Berankis...
 
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We are currently working on a article to analyze the new ranking system.

It seems that there is a problem with the new ranking test website, as there are some players with wrong ranking calculation. Don't trust that much the current status as it will change when the issue is fixed.. a couple of examples of overrated players are Hung Chieh-Chiang or Cristian Pletea.

Anyway, an important thing here is only the BEST 8 results you have are the ones that count for your ranking. That means that, at some point, playing more championships won't make your results improve, but only improve the positions you had in the previous ones.
 
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It doesn't seem to (as) accurately reflect the skill of a lot of players. I don't think Samsonov is #4 in the world, and I'm quite certain Timo Boll isn't #44. Just for that I don't like it. Then I am quite sure ITTF probably has its/their reasons as to why they want to implement this and I don't want to commit the fallacy of bad mouthing something that has been pondered by people who have a far better understanding of things (and want the best for the sport). I guess this system will at least cause many "upsets"... :D
 
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The documentation is open to the public. ittf even suggests sending in feedback until 31st of May so it is not finalised yet.

http://www.ittf.com/rankings/ (bottom of the page)

It would mean that points for world tour tournaments would only last for 12 months while wttc and olympics last longer.
imo this is very disrespectful towards the players. World ranking is something you build up throughout your professional career, step by step and not because you have two lucky tournament finishes in the last year.
It is another attempt by ittf to get more top players to play smaller world tour tournaments.

I agree that there could be changes to the current system, but it should not be that drastical.


Do the players have a word on this ? Like a recognized committee with a chairman like samsonov and stuff?
 
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Also, older players are already at disadvantage since the game has become more physical if this ranking system prevents oldies from playin then it is way better for the development of youths. The old days of old legends should be left in the past, it is annoying at least for me as a viewer to watch guys like saive or persson playing on NT's for 30 years playing the exact same balls and patterns and youngsters are not given any chance.

Federations including ITTF should plan on the long term , everybody in governing bodies should try to think of it as a product to be sold but where quality comes first.


Sending/receiving free feedbacks from all the average joe's out there looks amateurish to me unless they do co-operate with the players first and then maybe take the ideas that really worth working on from all the average joes.

In the end since its always about competition probably some players will support it while others wont. Its the big picture that matters for us viewers but I guess money from sponsors always comes first.
 
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I think so. Tennis has a lot more money in it though, which is part of the reason why it works well. You have to be active to win points, but there is enough money to support travelling and large draws. At grand slams, players now get paid enough to cover their trip if they get eliminated in the first round. Most ITTF events don't pay even that to the winner.

I saw on a tennis match the other day Federer's career match earnings were over 200 million. In tennis the ranking system works like you say as there is huge incentive to turn up.
 
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I think so. Tennis has a lot more money in it though, which is part of the reason why it works well. You have to be active to win points, but there is enough money to support travelling and large draws. At grand slams, players now get paid enough to cover their trip if they get eliminated in the first round. Most ITTF events don't pay even that to the winner.

Having spoken to a couple of ITTF world tour winners in both senior and junior level.
I can tell you, if they win the lower prize money tournament, they actually "pay in" to be there
flights (+ coach), hotels etc, isn't cheap
 
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I saw on a tennis match the other day Federer's career match earnings were over 200 million. In tennis the ranking system works like you say as there is huge incentive to turn up.

I think that the incentive is always relative to the amount you are used to earn. For example, I can imagine the frustration of a player facing Ma Long in the first round of an ITTF World Tour tournament. Having a better ranking improves your changes of avoiding this kind of players and therefore reaching higher prizes.

We wrote an article regarding the amount of money top players make in the ITTF World Tour competitons and how this compares to other sports (you can find it here). Even if it is not a big amount, it can make for a living for many players.
 
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It doesn't seem to (as) accurately reflect the skill of a lot of players. I don't think Samsonov is #4 in the world, and I'm quite certain Timo Boll isn't #44. Just for that I don't like it. Then I am quite sure ITTF probably has its/their reasons as to why they want to implement this and I don't want to commit the fallacy of bad mouthing something that has been pondered by people who have a far better understanding of things (and want the best for the sport). I guess this system will at least cause many "upsets"... :D


This doesn't have to be the case. It all depends on what the rankings are designed to do. There can be a rating system like the current one and a ranking system like the one ittf wants to implement. There are benefits to both. For a whole, Wozniacki was #1 in the later part of the last decade and the early part of this one but everyone knew Serena was the best player. Inventing people to participate like Wozniacki can be a good thing.
 
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I'm not sure I see the problem with this? Players who win more games should be ranked higher? Yes Ma Long is the best player in the world, but if he only plays two or three world tour comps every year, I'm not sure he's proving it? If someone is playing every tour event and playing consistently well, why shouldn't he be seen as one of the worlds best? He's proving it tournament after tournament.

If these big guns want to remain where they are, they need to play more games. That can only be a good thing?? If world ranking means that much to Timo Boll, he'll have to play some more games!! Not sure I see the issue with professional table tennis players being encouraged to play more games!?


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