Why a Ranking Is a Defence Exercise
The most misunderstood consequence of the rolling window is that the points a player loses each week are their own. When an event comes around again, the result achieved there a year earlier expires, and whatever is achieved this time replaces it. Holding a ranking position therefore requires reproducing last year's performance at the same tournaments. Improving requires beating it.
This is why the tour talks about defending points rather than earning them. A player who reached a late round at a major the previous year arrives at that major needing to do it again simply to stand still, while a player who lost early has almost nothing at stake and everything to gain. It also explains a phenomenon that confuses casual observers: a player can win several matches over a period and still slide down the list, because the results dropping off were better than the ones being added. The ranking is not measuring how a player is performing in isolation. It is measuring performance against their own twelve-month-old self.
