With the inaugural ATP Cup taking place across three cities to kick off the 2020, many players, including Andrey Rublev and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, voiced their concern over the format of two players per nation.
Instead of competing at the tour's newest team event, the Russian and Frenchman are playing in Doha and both expressed their disappointment in the system of selection.
Rublev, Tsonga, Opella left out of season-opening team competition
With 16 of the world's top 20 in action at the ATP Cup, the tournament offers a strong array of players, but some nations, including Georgia, Greece, Bulgaria and Uruguay have players ranked alarmingly low.
"It's not easy with the ATP Cup", Rublev said. "I think maybe they need to change something because this is not fair. Some guys with ranking of no. 900 or no. 1000, they are playing for the points."
"In half of the countries, I would be number one and in all of the countries, I would be number two. In the end, I cannot play because I am not in these main players."
As the third-ranked Russian, Rublev is stuck behind Daniil Medvedev and Karen Khachanov. "Points which are completely like a new tournament", he said. "I don't think I'm the only one who thinks like that, so we'll see how it's going to be."
Tsonga added "I wish I could be there to play, but today it's like this. It's a little bit unfair. I hope they will work on it and the ATP will find a solution."
World number 36 Reilly Opelka took to Twitter to express his frustration: "I get 18 tournaments that count towards my ranking. Others get 19 tournaments that count towards their ranking..seems fair to me."