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Rankings are used for several purposes:

  • Players in entry list for main draw and for qualification are ordered based on ranking. In entry list a cut-off is made to decide which players go directly into main draw.
  • Seeding in qualification is based on ranking.
  • Seeding in the actual tournament is based on ranking.

(See also How do tennis players get into tournaments?)

Qualifying starts earlier than main tournament. Players sign in for a tournament even earlier. It seems that different version of rankings are used for these purposes.

For example, this years French Open starts on May 24. I do not have any official source, but I have read on some fora that ranking from April 13 were used for the entry list, ranking from May 11 are used for deciding seeds in qualifying and rankings from May 18 are going to be used to decide seeded players in the main draw.

Are there some general rules which decide which edition of rankings is used for which purposes? For example, is the ranking for entry list always the ranking 6 weeks before the tournament? Is the ranking used to decide seeds always the ranking one week before the tournament?

Maybe there are some differences between Grand Slams, ATP Tournaments, WTA Tournaments and lover level competitions. Therefore I am asking mainly about Grand Slams. (But it would be also interesting to know whether rules for other tournaments are similar.)

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I'm not aware of a directly temporal relationship between ranking lists and Grand Slam tournaments (though the one week prior to determine main draw seeding is always done). At Wimbledon, too, there's a different ranking set used: for the top-32 players as of a week before the tournament starting, you then add 100% of the points accumulated at grass court tournaments played over the past calendar year, and then 75% of the best grass court result two years prior.

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Here are the different ranking cutoffs for the main draw:

  • Entry into main draw: ranking as of six weeks prior to the first Monday of the tournament
  • Seeds for the main draw: ranking as of one week prior to the first Monday of the tournament

And for the qualifying draw:

  • Entry into qualifying draw: ranking as of four weeks prior to the first Monday of the tournament
  • Seeds for the qualifying draw: ranking as of the two weeks prior to the first Monday of the tournament (technically most recent ranking as of the qualifying draw coming out, which works out to two weeks before the tournament)

Relevant sections of the Grand Slam rulebook quoted below

Singles Entries and Withdrawals

a. Closing Date

The closing date for entries and withdrawals for the singles Main Draw in each Grand Slam Tournament is forty-two (42) days prior to the first Monday of the tournament except that a player on the Alternate list for the singles Main Draw may withdraw at any time prior to such time as he is moved into the Direct Acceptance on account of withdrawals of other players. The closing date for entries and withdrawals for the Singles Qualifying tournaments is twenty-eight (28) days prior to the first Monday of the tournament

Singles Main Draw

a. Direct Acceptances

Players who are accepted directly in the draw by virtue of their singles ranking. The ranking to be used shall be that dated approximately forty-two (42) days prior to the commencement of the tournament.

f. Seeds

iii. Selection of Seeds The ranking list dated approximately seven (7) days prior to the tournament shall be the basis for such selection.

Singles Qualifying Competition

g. Sections and Seeds

The draw shall be seeded, and the selection of seeds shall be consistent with the most recent available ranking list.

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