ATP Tour

The ATP Tour is a global professional tennis circuit organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). The ATP's headquarters are in London, United Kingdom. The ATP Tour comprises of 4 Grand Slams (US Open, Wimbledon, French Open and Australian Open) organized by ITF along with 2 “mini-grand slams” (Madrid Open and Queens), a weekly regular tournaments, a biennially team event (Davis Cup) before the tour ending ATP Finals. There is also the ATP Champions Tour, for retired ATP World Tour players who had singles success.

Grand Slam points distribution are: the winner gets 2000, runner-up 1600, semi-finalist 1200, quarter-finalist 720, round of 16 losers gets 360, 3rd round losers gets 180 and the 2nd round losers gets 90. The person who finishes the tennis year as the world no.1 is declared the ITF World Champions.

Indoor courts (which is in blue) uses an regular tennis ball is used. Clay courts (which is in orange) uses a blue tennis ball. Grass courts (which is in green) uses a red tennis ball.

#### **Tennis scoring system**

The scoring system used in tennis is known as Thirty30 (comparison to Fast4), all tournaments except for Wimbledon use this system. Final set tiebreaker will be played at 6-all in all except Wimbledon, which will play them at 12-all. The tiebreak is first to 7 points, you must win by 2 clear points.

#### **Other tennis rules**

* A coin flip is done before a game to decide who serves first. The loser chooses the end to serve from. The player who wins the toss, serves 1st.
* Players are allowed an unlimited number of line-call challenges using review technology during each match, until an incorrect challenge is made. After this, no more challenges are allowed until the next match.
* A player can call a timeout, this can be called after a point is awarded and before a serve, a player has a maximum of 3 timeout, per set. During the timeout a player can go to the toilet, rest, collect his thoughts, change his shirt and/or use it for medical reasons. The timeout cannot last for longer than 3 minutes. After the completion of a set, the players are awarded a 2 minute break.
* There is also electronic line calling with a graphic shown on screens after a "close call", a towel boxes at each baseline
* Players can use wearable technology
* The match begins 5 minutes after the entry of the 2nd player on court.
* Players who go into matches with a pre-existing injury will not receive any of their prize money if the organizer believes they should not have played.

## **Grand Slams and Mini Grand Slam**

The Grand Slams uses traditional scoring system, consists of 128 players. The top 96 players in the ATP rankings automatically qualify alongside 16 qualifiers and 16 wildcards. Wildcards are the best local professional players who haven’t already qualified. All matches in the men’s grand slams are a best of 5 sets. In the women’s all matches are a best of 3.

In “Mini Grand-Slams” and Masters Series tournaments all matches (except for the final) are a best of 3 sets with the final a best of 5 sets. In ATP 500 Series all matches are a best of 3 sets. Seeding in the regular tournaments are traditional (No.1 seed faces No.32 and so on). In the grand slam draw, the top 32 players are seeded and are drawn first then the non-seeded players are randomly assigned their places using a computer software system:

* The No.1 seed plays in Section 1, No.2 in Section 8, No.3 in Section 3 and No.4 in Section 5.
* Seeds 5–8 are placed evenly so they could meet seeds 1–4 as early as the Quarter-Finals
* Seeds 9–12 are placed evenly so they can meet seeds 5–8 as early as the Round of 16
* Seeds 13–16 are placed evenly so they can meet seeds 1–4 as early as the Round of 16
* Seeds 17–24 are placed evenly so they can meet seeds 9–16 as early as 3rd Round
* Seeds 25–32 are placed evenly they can meet seeds 1–8 as early as 3rd Round.

#### **Majors**

1. **Australian Open** **(Norman Brooks Trophy, Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup) -** Held annually over the last 2 weeks of January in Melbourne, Australia with the men’s and women’s final played on the last weekend of January. The tournament is the first of the four Grand Slam tennis events held each year, and is played on Rebound Ace hard courts in Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Arena and Margaret Court Arena equipped with retractable roofs. The ITF rates the surface's speed as fast.
2. **French Open (also called Roland-Garros)** **(Coupe des Mousquetaires, Coupe Suzanne Lenglen) -** Held over the last 2 weeks in May at the Stade Roland-Garros in Paris, France. It is the premier clay court tennis championship event in the world and the second of four annual Grand Slam tournaments. The ITF rates the surface's speed as medium
3. **Wimbledon (Men's trophy, Venus Rosewater Dish) -** Oldest tennis tournament in the world and has been held in the All England Club (logo), Wimbledon, London since 1877 on outdoor grass courts. The tournament traditionally took place in the 2 two weeks in July, starting on the 1st Monday in July and culminating with the Ladies' and Gentlemen's Singles Finals, scheduled for the Saturday and Sunday at the end of the second week. Wimbledon traditions include a strict dress code for the competitors. Strawberries and cream is traditionally consumed at the tournament. The tournament is also notable for the absence of sponsor advertising around the courts. The ITF rates the surface's speed as fast
4. **The US Open (trophies) -** Held on outdoor hard courts at the USTA National Tennis Centre, Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York City with the 23,771 Arthur Ashe Stadium as the centre court and is the 4th and final Grand Slam tournament of the year. The US Open took place in the last 2 weeks in August with the Women’s and Men’s finals on the last weekend of August. The US Open is owned and organized by the United States Tennis Association (USTA), a non-profit organization. Revenue from ticket sales, sponsorships, and television contracts are used to develop tennis in the United States. The ITF rates the surface's speed as fast-medium.

#### **Rolex Series**

* **Queen's Club Championships** - Held on grass courts at Queen's Club, West Kensington, London during June. Queen's is one of the most prestigious grass court tournaments, as well as one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world, and serves as a warm-up for Wimbledon. It’s a “mini grand slam” tournament and is open to 128 players with a qualifying system similar to the 4 grand slams. Queen’s have no seeded draw so draws in every round are openly random like the FA Cup, players with a higher seed enter a later round. The top 32 players in the ATP Rankings enter the 3rd round and players ranked 33-64 in the ATP Rankings enter the 2nd round with the rest playing in the 1st round.
* Madrid Open - Played on clay courts in The Magic Box, Madrid, Spain during the first weeks of April. It’s a mini grand slam tournament meaning it’s open to 96 players played over 12-days
* Rome Open - Open to 96 players played over 12-days
* Cincinnati Masters - Open to 96 players played over 12-days
* The Rogers Cup (trophy) is played on hard courts and is the third oldest tournament behind Wimbledon and the US Open. The event alternates between Montreal and Toronto. Since 1980 odd-numbered years the men's tournament is held in Montreal, while the women's tournament is held in Toronto, and vice versa in even-numbered years. The Toronto tournament is held at the Aviva Centre and the Montreal tournament is held at the IGA Stadium, played in August. Open to 96 players played over 12-days
* Halle Open - Open to 96 players played over 12-days

#### **OneVision Strategic Plan**

* Governance
* Category Terms
* Prize-Money
* Rights Aggregation
* Calendar
* Audited tournament financials will provide full transparency to players on the economics of tournaments. In tandem, a groundbreaking 50/50 profit sharing formula will align the interests of players and tournaments in growing the game as partners in success.
* Prize money at the 5 expanded top tier events (Rogers Cup, Madrid, Rome, Halle and Cincinnati) increasing by more than 35%.
* The year-end Bonus Pool is projected to almost double in the near term and will now be distributed to the Top 30 players (up from 12). Additionally, a brand-new element of profit sharing based on the financial performance of the tournaments, has the potential to provide further financial support to more than 140 players.
* New tournament category agreements for ATP Masters 1000 and ATP 500 tournaments will become effective to provide long-term stability to the Tour and to enable major investment into the sport, while elevating all event standards for players, media and fans
* Aggregation of tournament media rights into ATP Media, the sales, production and distribution arm of the ATP, and the recently formed Tennis Data Innovations, an entity fully dedicated to the professional exploitation of data, will enable the Tour to provide an enhanced integrated experience for fans worldwide. Importantly, this will open up major growth opportunities in media and data, two highly scalable revenue streams. Embracing the digital transformation will also shift the Tour away from over-reliance on ticketing, a concerted move seen across many other major sports.
* A collective effort across tennis’ bodies, the ATP, WTA, ITF, Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Recent collaboration has yielded encouraging results including the announcement of a joint Netflix series, a collective response to the global pandemic, greater consistency and alignment across rules and format, as well as coordinated fundraising initiatives

## **ATP Tour Calendar**

### January-All hard courts

Week 1: Maharashtra Open-Pune, India

Week 2: Qatar Open-Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex

**Week 3 and 4: Australian Open-Hard-Melbourne Park**

### February-All hard courts

*Week 1: Shanghai Masters-Qi Zhong Stadium, China*

*Week 2: Rogers Cup-Alternates between Vancouver and Toronto in Canada*

*Week 3: Indian Wells Masters-Indian Wells Tennis Garden, California, USA*

*Week 4: Miami Open-Hard Rock Stadium, Florida, USA*

### March-All clay courts

Week 1: Argentina Open

Week 2: Brasil Open-Indoor-Ginásio do Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo

Week 3: Grand Prix Hassan II-Morocco

Week 4: Estoril Open-Portugal

### April-All clay courts

*Week 1: Monte Carlo Masters-Monaco*

*Week 2: Italian Open*

Week 3: Hungarian Open

Week 4: Geneva Open-Switzerland

### May-All clay courts

*Week 1: Hamburg Open-Germany*

*Week 2: Madrid Open-Spain*

**Week 3 and 4: French Open-Stade Roland Garros, Paris**

### June-All grass courts

Week 1: Stuttgart Open-Germany

Week 2: Halle Open-Germany-Indoor-OWL Arena, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany

Week 3: Rosmalen Grass Court Championships-Netherlands

Week 4: **Queen's Club Championships**-Grass-Queens Club, London, England, Great Britain

### July-All grass courts

**Week 1 and 2: Wimbledon-All England Club, Wimbledon, London, England, UK**

Week 3: Eastbourne International-UK

Week 4: Nottingham Open-UK

### August-Grass courts tournaments (except for US Open)

Week 1: Mallorca Open-Spain

Week 2: Antalya Open-Turkey

Week 3: Auckland Open-ASB Tennis Centre

**August week 4 and September week 1: US Open-Hard-USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, New York City, New York**

### September-Hard courts

**August week 4 and September week 1: US Open-Hard-USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Centre, New York City, New York**

Week 2: Kremlin Cup-Indoor hard-Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia

Week 3: Tie Break Tens

Week 4: Laver Cup-Indoor hard-Alternates

### October-Indoor hard

Week 1: **ATP Finals**-Indoor hard-O2 Arena, London, England

Week 1 Also: Next Generation ATP Finals-Pala Alpitour, Torino, Italy

#### **Key**

All bold = Major

Some bold = ATP Finals

Italics = Masters Series

Underline = Team events

## **ATP Finals**

A week-long event, the tournament is held annually in the last week of September at the O2 Arena, London, England. The ATP Finals are the tour-ending championships of the ATP Tour in which the top 8 singles players and doubles teams of the ATP Rankings qualify for the tournament. All round-robin matches and both semi-final matches are a best of 3 sets with the final a best of 5 sets.

8 players are divided into 2 groups of 4 and play 3 matches in the group (against the other players in their group). It’s 2 points for a win and the top 2 players with the highest points in both groups progress to the semi-finals, with the winners meeting in the final to determine the champion. If points are tied then it will be determined by head-to-head record, then % of sets won, then % of games won, then ATP rankings.

Player who got eliminated in the group stages will get 200 points, semi-finalist gets 400 & £200,000, Runner-up gets 500 points & £600,000 and the winner gets 1,500 points and £1 million. Billie Jean King Trophy

## **Next Generation ATP Finals**

Next Generation ATP Finals is an annual men's youth tournament for the best 21-and-under players of the season. Played over a week, the format for the competition consists of 2 round robin groups, followed by the semi-finals and final. Played on a singles-only court, the Top 7 players in the ATP Race to Milan will qualify. The eighth spot will be reserved for a winner of a qualifying tournament. Eligible players must be 21-and-under (All games are a best of 3 sets. The tournament does not distribute points for the ATP Rankings for the participants. Prize money worth US$1,275,000 is distributed.

## **Davis Cup**

The Davis Cup is an international team event run by the ITF. The winning nation gets £1 million and 1000 ATP Ranking points to both singles players. All matches in the Davis Cup are a best of 5 sets. Matches compose of 2 singles match (both played on Saturday) and a doubles match (played on Sunday). No.2 player from a nation will compete against each other first then the No.1’s, and then a doubles match if required. If a nation wins both of their singles match the doubles match will not be played. Ties are played on a home/away basis with the right of choice given on an alternating basis. If 2 countries have not met since 1970, then the higher seeded team is the home country. The Davis Cup it’s contested biannually over 4 weeks in April. 2 best-ranked singles players and the best-ranked doubles team from the ATP Rankings are eligible to compete in the Davis Cup.

The Davis Cup Finals consists of 16 national teams and play a 4-round single-knockout elimination tournament. Teams are seeded based on previous years' results. The defending champion and runner-up are always the top 2 seeds in the tournament. 1st round losers play the winners of World Group I in the Davis Cup Relegation Play-Offs. The playoff winners enter next year's Davis Cup Finals, while the losers plays in World Group I. Losers of World Group I play the winners of World Group II in the World Group play-offs, the winners of the World Group play-offs play in next year’s World Group I. Losers of World Group II play the winners from the regional zones; 2 from Europe, 2 from Asia, 2 from Africa and 2 from the Americans. The winners of the World Group play-offs play in next year’s World Group II

## **Tie Break Tens**

Tie Break Tens is played using traditional tie-break rules, there are no games or sets. Players win by reaching 10 points (provided that they have a clear margin of 2 points). Rock-paper-scissors determines who serves 1st, and from which end of the court they play. The player who wins the toss, serves 1st. The other player then serves twice, and with the rest of the match continues with the players alternating serves every 2 points. Players change ends after every 6 points. Most other traditional rules of tennis are the same. The winner-take-all prize money is US$250,000 for each tournament. It is a short-format version of tennis, similar to other alternative forms of traditional sports, such as T20 cricket and rugby sevens

A knock-out format is used, with quarterfinals, semifinals and final.

## **Laver Cup**

The Laver Cup is an indoor hard court men's tennis tournament between Team Europe and Team World, the latter of which is composed of players from non-European countries. Held annually, the tournament is intended to be the Ryder Cup of the tennis world. It takes place a week after the US Open, with the location rotating. In addition to the guaranteed participation fees which are based upon the players' ATP rankings, each member of the winning team gets $250,000 in prize money, but the tournament itself does not count towards the players' point totals in the ATP Tour for that year

The competition pits 6 top European players against 6 of their counterparts from the rest of the world. There are 12 matches played over 3 days (9 singles and 3 doubles). Each match victory on day 1 is worth 1 point, on day 2 is worth 2 points, and on day 3 is worth 3 points. The first team to win 13 points wins the tournament. Each player takes the court once or twice for singles, with at least 4 of the 6 taking part in doubles.

## **ATP Masters Series**

The ATP Masters Series are a series of 9 top-level tennis tournaments that features the best men's tennis players on the ATP Tour calendar. ATP Masters 1000 Series is the 3rd highest tier of annual men's tennis tournaments after the 4 Grand Slam tournaments and the ATP Finals. The tournaments are for the top 64 singles players in the ATP Rankings competing against each other. Winning the tournament awards you 800 ranking points, the runner-up 600 ranking points, semi-finalists 360 ranking points, quarter-finalists 180 ranking points and the second round 45 ranking points.

## **ATP Champions Tour**

The ATP Champions Tour is a men's tennis tour intended for former tennis professionals, who have since retired from mainstream professional tennis touring (The ATP Tour). The Tour brings together many of the greatest tennis players in history for nostalgic, competitive and entertaining tournaments in cities around the world.

For a player to be eligible for play on this tour, he must be 40 and over years old or have been retired from the ATP Tour for 2 years or more. Each player must have been either a world #1, a Grand Slam finalist, or a singles player in a winning Davis Cup team. Each event can also invite 2 players of its choice to take wild cards.

The Tour usually consists of around 10 events around the world, with a year-ending "AEGON Masters Tennis" event held at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Events are typically played over 4 days with 8-man fields competing against each other in a round-robin format, ensuring that all players feature in at least 3 matches. The players are split into 2 groups of 4. The top player from each group contests the final.

Matches are contested over the best of three sets, with the deciding set taking the form of a Champions tie-break. The Champions tie-break is an expanded version of the conventional professional tennis tie-break, whereby the winner is the first player to reach 10 points and lead by a margin of 2.

Rankings points on the Tour are distributed as follows: Winner: 400, Runner-up: 300, 3rd place: 200, 4th place: 150, No. 5-6: 80 and No. 7-8: 60 points.

## **ATP Challenger Tour**

The ATP Challenger Tour, is the developmental tour for the ATP Tour and features players who have not yet reached the ATP Tour or have competed but didn’t have enough ranking points to compete in ATP Tour. The top 25 players in ATP Challenger Tour rankings at year's end are given ATP Tour memberships next year.

## **Notes**

When I've been on holiday in French villages there are often a couple of municipal tennis courts in reasonable repair which anyone can turn up and play on. No booking system, no fees, no special key required. In the UK, tennis courts seems to be exclusively the domain of 50+ white suburbanites who have organised themselves into a clique which does its best to make non-members feel unwelcome on the court. Of course, accessible public amenities run contrary to modern British society but it would be fantastic for the nation's heath and tennis skills if free pubic courts existed

* Any tennis player caught with "verbal abuse" will be thrown out of the tournament, receive a fine and a 8-week suspension.
* **Ball abuse:** a player to a fine of up to $500 for each violation. In addition, if such violation occurs during a match, the player shall be penalized in accordance with the Point Penalty Schedule.
* Players that exhibit this reckless behaviour will be thrown out of tournament and then fined a healthy amount of money. When the Umpires have this kind of Authority then I guarantee the players will stop this nonsense very quickly.
* If a racket ends up near another person then the penalties should go way up. Zverev at Acapulco should’ve been given a suspension 2-3 months, a hefty fine, deduction of points and forced into anger management therapy
* If a tennis player commits another offence in the next 12 months then the suspension and fine will double, triple if it happens a third time etc.
* List\_of\_tennis\_code\_violations
* Maria Sharapova is suspended from 12 March 2016 until 12 March 2018 after tested positive for meldonium at the Australian Open
* Nick Kyrgios is suspended from 17 Oct 2016 until the 15th January 2017
* Nick Kyrgios is suspended for 16-weeks for ‘aggravated behaviour’ September 26, 2019 until January 16, 2020
* Karolína Plíšková is suspended d for 8 weeks ban, thrown out of the 2021 AO, forfeited her prize money & ranking points, and was fined of $40,000. She must also seek anger management therapy
* Denis Shapovalov is suspended for 8 weeks ban, thrown out of the 2021 AO, forfeited her prize money & ranking points, and was fined of $40,000
* Tara Moore has been suspended for 4-years in breach of 2 doping violations following the “presence of a prohibited substance” in a drugs test, contained Nandrolone metabolites and Boldenone
* Alexander Zverez is banned for 16 weeks ban, thrown out of the tournament, forfeited his prize money & ranking points, and was fined of $40,000 after Mexican Open outburst. He must also seek anger management therapy
* In March 2022, Tennis Australia suspended Nick Kyrgios from all Australian and International circuit matches for 2 years (March 2024) for 'countless code violations' whilst he seeks anger management therapy.
* All England Lawn Tennis Club (Wimbledon) goes entirely plastic-free, encouraging all to use a reusable water bottle and refill it at the free water taps around the site, they would also increase the number of WaterAid kiosks on the site where people can refill their bottles or get a free cup of water. Water and soft drinks in recyclable cans will be available to buy from all traders who previously sold soft drinks in plastic bottles, while they will continue to recycle any recyclable waste plastics on site. Backstage catering will also be plastic-free, with canned drinks and reusable water bottles available to performers. Banned plastic cutlery and plates from food traders with everything having to be compostable. The festival already does not use single-use plastic cups at the bars and the wristbands are made of cloth [https://www.shambalafestival.org/essential-info/sustainability/plastic-free-re-use-initiatives/]
* Nick Kyrgios is jailed for 2 years for common assault by an ACT Court on August 2, 2022, he was released on August 2, 2024. Tennis Australia extended his ban by another 2 years meaning he cannot play until March 2026.

* Katie Boulter wins 2019 French Open, 2020 Mexican Open, 2021 US Open and 2022 Wimbledon
* Henry Muxworthy wins Feb 2021 ATP event, 2021 Indian Wells Masters, 2020 & 2021 US Opens and 2022 Wimbledon
* Novak Djokovic wins 2020 Wimbledon
* wins 2015 & 2017 Wimbledon Championships and 2016 Australian Open
* Elena Rybakina is also barred from playing despite representing Kazakhstan as she was born in Russia to Russian parents
* Heather Watson represents Papua New Guinea
* Yuriko Miyazaki represents Japan not Britain
* Tara Moore represents Hong Kong not Britain
* Emma Raducanu represents Canada not Britain
* Johanna Konta represents Australia not Britain**Female players**

* Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
* Aravane Rezai
* Irina Falconi
* Taylor Townsend
* Petra Kvitová
* Ons Jabeur
* Marion Bartoli (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)