How did all the pro tennis players get where they are today?

So let me tell you, pro tennis players make it look much easier than what it really is. In the tennis game, there are three main tennis governing bodies. They are the International Tennis Federation (ITF) , which governs junior tennis and the lower level pro tennis players, men's and women's tennis; the Women's Tennis Association (WTA); and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) which governs men's tennis.

Now say you were a good junior player, the first step would be to play ITF events at the Future or Satellite level. Satellites used to be quite popular, but they proved cumbersome, as one tournament turned out to be four weeks at a time, and pro tennis players preferred a more flexible schedule. Futures are a much more efficient way of starting out among the pros. Here is how it works. Size of the draw and money involved in Futures will differ, but there is always a main draw and a qualifying draw, and the qualifying draw is usually bigger. The main draw is for players with an ATP Ranking, and in a draw of 32, the rankings in a Future event usually range from 300 to 600. If your ranking is not high enough, you have to play in the qualifying draw, and depending on how many people show up to the event, the qualifying draw can have anywhere from 20 to 128 players competing.

So obviously, the better you do in an event, the more points you get. As your ranking goes up, you will start participating in Challenger events, and these range anywhere from a total prize money purse of $25, 000 to $125, 000. There are usually players ranked from 400 to 250 in the qualifying draw of the smaller events, and in the $75, 000 - $125, 000 events, the qualifying draw has players from 250 in the world to 100. Players ranked higher than this are sent straight into the main draw.

After the challenger level, your eye is on the big time, the ATP or WTA Tour events. To be sure that you can get into the main draws of all of these events, even the Grand Slams, you need to be in the top 100. The thing that separates the rest of the tour, namely the Future and Challenger players, from the top players, is the mental game. A good place to go to learn more about it is Tennis Mind Game. I have also written an article on doubles strategy, and you can find it here.

The thing to remember, when watching these players, is that they are all defending points from their previous year, unless they did not play in the same week, the previous year. A good place to go to watch the pro game is the Tennis Channel.

Return from Pro Tennis Players to Home Page