Schedule confirmed for remainder of 2022 ITF World Tennis Tour season
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has today confirmed the calendar for the final period of the 2022 ITF World Tennis Tour season, with approximately 250 tournaments currently scheduled for players around the world in the final three months of the year.
The confirmation of the remainder of this year’s ITF World Tennis Tour calendar means that there will have been 1,054 tournaments on the Tour in 2022 (529 on the Women’s Tour, 525 on the Men’s Tour). After the Covid-19 pandemic greatly reduced the number of playing opportunities during the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the total represents a return to similar tournament numbers achieved in 2019, when there were 1,097 ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments (555 on the Women’s Tour, 542 on the Men’s Tour).
While some travel restrictions related to the pandemic remain in place in parts of the world, several nations have returned to the calendar after being unable to host events in 2020-21. The ITF has been particularly encouraged to see more tournaments in Asia this season, with nine Asian countries hosting their first ITF World Tennis Tour events since 2019.
The ITF World Tennis Tour provides entry-level, plus mid-level for women, international tennis tournaments for professional players, creating a pathway between the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors and the elite levels of professional tennis. The Women’s Tour consists of five prize money levels - $15,000 (W15), $25,000 (W25), $60,000 (W60), $80,000 (W80) and $100,000 (W100) - while the Men’s Tour consists of two prize money levels – $15,000 (M15) and $25,000 (M25) .
Click here: What is the ITF World Tennis Tour?
Increasing playing opportunities at the W60, W80 and W100-levels is a particular area of strategic focus for the ITF and significant funding has been provided by the ITF to meet this objective. In total the number of W60, W80 and W100 tournaments in the final quarter of the 2022 season has risen to 27, eight more than in 2019. Over the course of the season, there will be 96 tournaments at W60-level and above, compared to 76 in 2019.
There are three tournaments at W100-level on the calendar for the rest of the season, with two tournaments in consecutive weeks in late October-early November at W100 Les Franqueses del Valles (Spain) and W100 Shrewsbury (Great Britain), and the final W100 event of the year taking place in Dubai in December.
W100 tournaments have attracted strong fields this season with several Top 100 players competing. Champions at this level in 2022 include Czech Republic’s Katerina Siniakova (W100 Grodzisk Mazowiecki), USA’s Taylor Townsend (W100 Charleston) and Belgium’s Alison van Uytvanck (W100 Surbiton) – all three of whom will represent their nations at next month’s Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals in Glasgow.
Investment has also been provided for M25 and W25 tournaments, with record numbers of tournaments at this level in 2022. There will have been 205 tournaments at M25-level this season (up from 157 in 2019) and 206 tournaments at W25-level (up from 201 in 2019). Players competing M25 and W25 events could be just a few years from significant breakthroughs – current world No. 1s Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz won tournaments at this level as recently as 2018 and 2019, respectively.
Jackie Nesbitt, ITF Senior Executive Director, Tours and Player Pathway, said: “The World Tennis Tour is there to ensure players have the opportunity, no matter where they are in the world, to enter and progress on the professional player pathway. We are extremely pleased that we have returned to similar numbers of tournaments to the 2019 season in 2022 for both men and women, following the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
“We are also proud of our efforts to balance the calendar by providing more opportunities for women at the W60, W80 and W100-prize money levels, and we will continue to focus our attention and resources on improving standards and providing more opportunities to players across the Tour.”
Click here to view the ITF World Tennis Tour Women’s calendar