ITF Press Release, April 4, 2022
The International Tennis Federation (ITF) has today published the ITF World Tennis Tour Calendar for Q2 of 2022, with approximately 300 tournaments currently scheduled for players around the world over the next three months.
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 Men’s Tour consists of two prize money levels – $15,000 (M15) and $25,000 (M25) – while the Women’s Tour consists of five – $15,000 (W15), $25,000 (W25), $60,000 (W60), $80,000 (W80) and $100,000 (W100).
ncreasing playing opportunities at the W60, W80 and W100 level is a particular area of strategic focus for the ITF. Significant funding has been provided by the ITF to meet this objective, with results including an increase in the number of W60s, of which 19 are currently scheduled in Q2. Q2 also sees eight of the ITF’s flagship W100 tournaments. This includes three W100s in four weeks in the United States (Palm Harbor, Charleston and Bonita Springs), two European clay court tournaments, W100 La Bisbal (Spain) and W100 Wiesbaden (Germany) both increasing prize money from 2021, before two W100s in Great Britain in Ilkley and Surbiton, which form part of the grass court lead-up to Wimbledon. In total the number of W60, W80 and W100 tournaments has risen to 28, four more than 2019.
The calendars remain under constant review and the ITF will work with national associations and other tournament organisers on an ongoing basis to identify opportunities to strategically add tournaments and maximise the playing opportunities to players around the world.
Players competing at ITF World Tennis Tour events could be just a few short years away from making their mark at the very top of the game. In 2018, Iga Swiatek, who became the first Polish player to reach the world No. 1 ranking on Monday, won titles at both W60 Pelham (scheduled to take place in May) and W15 Sharm El Sheikh (April). Also in 2018, US Open champion Emma Raducanu won the second title of her professional career at Antalya, where there are eight W15 events on the calendar in April-May.
On the men’s side, recent champions at this level include world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas, who won two M25 tournaments at Santa Margherita di Pula in 2016 – the Sardinian town will host five M25 and five W25 events in April-May. Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who broke into the Top 10 this week, also won back-to-back M25 titles at Wichita and Tulsa in June 2016 and both events return to the calendar in June this year.
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 work their way up the player pathway of professional tennis. I am very pleased to see we are back to about the same number of tournaments that we had in Q2 of 2019, before the disruption of the Covid pandemic, for both men and women. It is also encouraging to see the first tournaments return to East Asia and South East Asia, which have been heavily impacted by travel restrictions. Our focus remains on balancing the calendar by providing more opportunities for women at the W60, W80 and W100 prize money levels, an area in which the ITF has already invested significantly in 2022 and will continue to focus attention and resources.”
