August 17, 2011 (Framingham, MA) - Pro Squash Tour (PST) released its algorithm for ranking players today.
Players are seeded at tournaments from high to low based on the tour's ranking algorithm. "Players are assigned a ranking at the moment they register for the tour based on their match history outside of the tour,' PST Commissioner Joe McManus explained. "Once they are a member of the tour, we then exclusively use their PST match history and our algorithm to update their ranking, which in turn determines their seeding for matches."
The ranking is an internal function only. PST will promote our players based on the points they earn in a given season. But we will use this algorithm internally to seed players for our tournaments. This way we expect to seed them based on the probablity that they will win a given match.
Every tour in every sport seeks to find the best method of seeding players for competition. Auto racing has a time trial shortly before every race.
This is a very good system for that sport. But it can be difficult when points are awarded in other tours.
"For example," McManus continued, "the Williams sisters often challenge the system in tennis. Their busy schedules have often kept them just as busy off court as on. Thus, sometimes they are seeded very low in a tournament bracket despite being projected to advance to the later rounds of a tournament."
There is no universally accepted system for ranking the ability of squash players. Our algorithm is based on the American system which gives a player a ranking between 2.0 and 7.0. A brand new player to the game would start with a ranking of 2.0. A top level club player would be in the neighborhood of 5.0. Touring pros often hover in the 6.0 area.
PST's season begins in August and finishes in April. Its Top 8 players will then be invited to the Tour Championships May 4-6, 2012 at the Detroit Athletic Club for a single elimination tournament. The winner of the tournament will be crowned the 2012 PST World Champion.
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