It goes like this.
For any points actually gained in grass court tournaments in the past 12 months, players will be given an additional 100% of those points. Worse still, for points gained in the 12 months prior to 2018 Wimbledon, players will be given an additional 75% of those points. Apart from being a ridiculous premium just because of the surface (Roland Garros doesn’t have such a high and mighty attitude for clay court performance) it is mindless to still consider matches from two years ago as relevant to now.
The problem this year is that world #2 Rafa Nadal, who has a 1300+ lead in ranking points over #3 Roger Federer, has been demoted to third seed for this years Wimbledon. Not on the basis of the past 12 months grass court performances - he still would be ahead. The absurd truth is that the 2017 efforts of Federer have allowed him to add enough points via the outrageous formula, to edge ahead of Nadal, and take the #2 seed.
As it has played out, the semi finals are seeded such that #2 is drawn to play #3, and many are claiming that it has worked out ok anyway. Not so. As #3 seed, Nadal is faced with a much tougher draw to even reach that potential semi final with Federer. Federer should have that difficult assignment.
Those in charge of tennis have much to be happy about, but in the past several years, self interest has become a priority, and the integrity of the game is not being protected.
The ITF is not consulting the players when making decisions over Davis Cup and Fed Cup, and Grand Slam tournaments are making foolish decisions regarding final set tie breaks, based on a couple of matches, and no meaningful empirical research. Wimbledon is a case in point.
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