What tie-breaker is used in the ATP ranking, when two players have the same number of points?

Question

If two players have exactly the same number of points in the ATP ranking, what further criteria are used to determine which of them will be higher in the ranking?

I am aware of the fact that this is not very probably to happen among top players, where the point differences are larger, but this is bound to happen for players with lower rankings and less points.

For example, in the current ATP ranking the players number 78 and 79 have the same number of points (662). So do the players ranked 80 and 81 (in this case, they have 661 points).

Answer 1

The 2014 ATP Official Rulebook, 9.03 (Emirates ATP Rankings), Section E lists three different tie breakers in the event that players have the same total number of points.

E. Ties. When two or more players have the same total number of points, ties shall be broken as follows:

1) the most total points from the Grand Slams, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 mandatory tournaments and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals main draws, and if still tied, then,

2) the fewest events played, counting all missed Grand Slams, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments and Barclays ATP World Tour Finals they could have played (as described under A. above) as if played, and if still tied, then,

3) the highest number of points from one single tournament, then, if needed, the second highest, and so on.

For example, let's look at the players currently ranked #78 and #79. Both Somdev Devvarman and Alejandro Falla have 662 total points. So the first tie breaker is the total points from Grand Slams, ATP World Tour Masters 1000 and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. This information is available on the ATP site:

Somdev Devvarman ratings breakdown:

Alejandro Falla ratings breakdown:

In the tie breaker, Devvarman has 195 points, and Falla has 155 points, so Devvarman is currently ranked ahead of Falla.