It’s tough to imagine a Master’s series event featuring a higher-quality field than the one assembled in Cincinnati this week. With the exception of Robin Soderling, virtually every “name” player is present. Just as importantly, almost all of the players awarded wild cards are legitimate competitors at this level. The same is true of most of the seven men who qualified.
For tennis fans, it’s an enjoyable outcome: With the possible exception of Robby Ginepri, everyone present “deserves” to be here. The event gave the other three wild cards to Ryan Harrison, Grigor Dimitrov, and James Blake, three men inside the top 85 who excel on hard courts. Four of the top seeds in qualifying advanced to the main draw, all of whose current rankings put them right on the cusp of making the cut in the first place.
All this made me wonder: How does the Cincinnati draw compare to other 56-player Masters fields? Is Cinci always this strong?
I’ve previous looked at the field quality of ATP 250s, so it was a small step to point the guns at the bigger tourneys. Here are all 48- and 56-draw Masters events since 2009, along with the average entry rank and median entry rank of players in the field, sorted by the latter:
Year Event Field AvgRank MedRank 2011 Madrid 56 37.7 30.0 2010 Paris 48 38.1 30.5 2011 CINCINNATI 56 50.1 31.5 2010 Shanghai 56 56.5 31.5 2009 Paris 48 57.5 31.5 2009 Cincinnati 56 38.5 32.0 2009 Montreal 56 83.6 32.5 2010 Cincinnati 56 38.5 33.5 2009 Rome 56 42.0 33.5 2009 Shanghai 56 54.8 33.5 2011 Rome 56 42.2 34.5 2009 Madrid 56 43.6 34.5 2011 Montreal 56 50.7 35.5 2009 Monte Carlo 56 45.1 36.5 2011 Monte Carlo 56 51.9 36.5 2010 Rome 56 43.1 38.5 2010 Toronto 56 57.7 40.5 2010 Madrid 56 59.5 43.0 2010 Monte Carlo 56 50.6 43.5
There’s not a huge difference in quality–after all, players are required to show up for most of these events–but there is a noticeable differentiation into “haves” and “have-nots.” Of course Monte Carlo is near the bottom, as it is not mandatory. Rome is required, but it does get skipped. Madrid is an interesting case, as this year’s new schedule meant all the best players showed up, while last year, it was near the bottom of the list.
Setting aside Paris, which is near the top of the list because its field has eight fewer players, Cinci appears to consistently offer one of the best Masters fields. This makes sense, as even if it weren’t a required stop on the tour, it’s a perfectly scheduled warm-up for the U.S. Open.