May World Rankings 2019

[TableTennisDaily]

The May World Rankings have been released after the 2019 World Championships! Ma Long moves to number 5 after winning the worlds and silver medalist Mattias Falck moves to number 11.

Full details coming soon:

Men Rankings
Women Rankings

[Loopadoop]

Liam Pitchford #14

[Nasius]

Surely if you win the world cup you need to be rank no 1. That chart is hilarious!

[RidTheKid]

It only seems ridiculous if you don't know how the system works.

Surely if you win the world cup you need to be rank no 1. That chart is hilarious!

[NDH]

Surely if you win the world cup you need to be rank no 1. That chart is hilarious!

Ranking systems are never 100% accurate.

When Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon, did that make him the best player in the world?

When Leicester won the Premier League, did that make them the best team in the world (slightly different argument, as that was over an entire season rather than 1 tournament).

If Liam Pitchford beats Ma Long next week, does that make Liam the world number 1 because he beat the world champion?

I don't agree with the current way the rankings work, but winning one tournament (regardless of what it is), should not dictate the world rankings, which are based on many different factors.

Otherwise you can argue that Falck should be world number 2, and the Korean chap (An Jaehyun) would be world number 3.

You have to take it over a 12 month period in my opinion, but the current system simply rewards playing as many tournaments as you can.

Quantity over quality, when it should be the other way around.

[Loopadoop]

"Quantity over Quality"

is correct, that is how they do it in other sports.

The best hitter in baseball has the best Average with a minimum number of bats required. Just because a hitter has a great playoff run doesn't make him number 1 for the year. The same for the scoring leader in basketball.

[NDH]

"Quantity over Quality"

is correct, that is how they do it in other sports.

The best hitter in baseball has the best Average with a minimum number of bats required. Just because a hitter has a great playoff run doesn't make him number 1 for the year. The same for the scoring leader in basketball.

There is definitely a "minimum required" to work out just who is the best, but in a perfect world, it would be somewhere in the middle.

If a TT player plays 50 games and wins 45 of them, does that make him better than someone who wins 44 out of 44?

Probably not.......

But I agree, you can't just win 3/3 and claim your 100% average for the year lol.

In TT, I've never liked this whole "the more you play, the higher you'll be ranked" attitude.

It has ranked some average players far higher than they should be in the UK, because they simply play all the weekend events and 2/3 leagues during the week.

Somewhere in between would be ideal, although likely impossible to judge.

I don't think I've seen a perfect system to be honest.

[zeio]

The new WR does rotate on a 12-month period, except individual and team WTTC which last for 24 months. Only the best 8 tournaments count. Compared to the old rating-based WR, the new merit-based WR actually balances both quality and quantity. It has a much shorter "memory" per se and places much less emphasis on the relative strengths of the players.

[yoass]

Surely if you win the world cup you need to be rank no 1. That chart is hilarious!

That's only of you think a single moment of time should determine world ranking, rather than substantial performance over a window of time.

[Takkyu_wa_inochi]

Rankings start to become more accurate, with more Chinese in the WR as they participate more in the ITTF Opens

8 Chinese women from 1 to 18...

[Loopadoop]

The new WR does rotate on a 12-month period, except individual and team WTTC which last for 24 months. Only the best 8 tournaments count. Compared to the old rating-based WR, the new merit-based WR actually balances both quality and quantity. It has a much shorter "memory" per se and places much less emphasis on the relative strengths of the players.

That is reasonable way to do it. A player can play in one pro tour event a month and use his best 8 finishes for his ranking. He can play more if he has been inconsistent.

[zeio]

Rankings start to become more accurate, with more Chinese in the WR as they participate more in the ITTF Opens

8 Chinese women from 1 to 18...

It is more or less the same as in Jul 2018.

Men's
Dec, 2017 5/10, 8/20, 13/100
Jan, 2018 4/10, 4/20, 8/100
Jul, 2018 4/10, 4/20, 9/100

Women's
Dec, 2017 7/10, 9/20, 25/100
Jan, 2018 4/10, 5/20, 9/100
July, 2018 5/10, 7/20, 13/100

As of May 2019,
Men's 5/10, 5/20, 11/100.
Women's 5/10, 8/20, 14/100.

[Michal_Z]

An Jaehyun 73 from 157

[vik2000]

Ya, that kid should move up pretty quickly if he plays more.

[Shathe]

Funny that most video games has a better ranking formula than TT.

Also funny Niwa dropped places while Pitchford gained.

[zeio]

Tennis(ATP 1973, WTA 1975), badminton(BWF 2007) and now table tennis(ITTF 2018) all use the merit-based ranking system.