By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
The new ITF World Tennis Tour is what was formerly known as the ITF Pro Circuit or the “Futures” tour. It’s basically the minor leagues of pro tennis. In a baseball term, it is like “A” level baseball.
The newly-branded and restructured circuit is in its immediate infancy, starting January 1, 2019. As with most new initiatives and changes to established and long-running programs, it’s not always perfect for starters and tinkering needs to be done.
For starters, ATP points are no longer offered at these level events, except for a singles finalists at 25K level events, but just for 2019 as of now. Qualifying tournaments, that used to have draws as big as 128 players, now only feature 24 players playing for six spots. It’s tougher for players to get into the main draw at these events, based on increased sports for top junior players based on ITF world junior rankings. It’s even tougher for many players to also get into the qualifying events with their being, in some cases, 104 fewer spots in the draw.
Wrote top Australian player John Millman on Twitter “A friend of mine who is ATP670 showed me his entry list coming up for futures. When he once would be seeded in these events he’s now Alternate for qualifying in all but one… seems like less opportunities with the new system?”
Top WTA coach Sarah Stone wrote on her Facebook page that a player ranked No. 250 in the world was 13 slots out of qualifying for a 25K event.
German tennis coach Dirk Hordorff has also been quite critical of the changes on social media.
A “Change.org” petition has also been created to change the rules as seen here: https://www.change.org/p/itf-international-tennis-federation-help-us-save-the-future-of-professional-tennis?recruiter=false&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial.pacific_post_sap_share_gmail_abi.gmail_abi&recruited_by_id=f3451070-2bb7-11e9-92c9-594963e723a1&utm_content=fht-13037724-en-us%3Av2&fbclid=IwAR0sPVNOE6JKOfckSry2dCnAJOHl6MyJU_eeTcfuwtp40CVD5fQvYpv30NQ
While the main draw entry system will be up for debate and potential change, the fewer opportunities in the qualifying rounds can be partially rectified by tournament directors creating a qualifying wild card event or a pre-qualifying event, where the winner of the event receives a direct entry into the qualifying tournament. Entry fees for the pre-qualifying tournament go to the promoter to help the bottom line. This, of course, can and should be done for the main draw wild cards as well.
As the co-tournament director of the men’s circuit event in Vero Beach, Florida, – the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships – I have championed wild card events since I started running the event in 2016, as I wrote about here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/13906
We will be hosting a main draw wild card event in Vero Beach, February 27 – March 1, as you can read about here http://tennisverobeach.com/sea-oaks-to-again-host-wild-card-tournament-for-mardy-fish-childrens-foundation-tennis-championships/ and sign up for here: https://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=235635#&&s=1
We will also host a pre-qualifying event the week starting Wednesday, April 24 before our main draw event which starts on Monday, April 29. We will also host a main draw doubles wild card event during this time period as well. (if you are interested in entering, email me at Rwalker@NewChapterMedia.com).
So, while there are fewer opportunities for players to play these events, it’s also up to tournament directors and promoters to create additional opportunities for these players, via these wild card events.
