New ITF Tournament Restructuring 2017

[S_K_S]

Very worrying for the young players:

https://twitter.com/johnhmillman/status ... 2717824000

[PKBasu]

The new system seems absolutely crazy -- both Davis Cup and the ITF (Futures) circuit. ITF seems to have decided to commit suicide.

[sameerph]

One of the main issues with new system is lower size of qualifying draws at both challenger (4) and futures (24). This makes it hard for fringe players wanting to kickstart their career.

Also with futures not counting for ATP points, there does seem to be some drop in the futures events as compared to last year. ( not as drastic as mentioned in an article posted here earlier). For instance, in India there are no futures planned in first quarter as compared to 5 last year. This is a bit idiotic as the futures still count for ITF ranking points and a good ITF ranking can get someone into challenger main draws.

All in all looks a bit tough for entry level players as of now. But, let see how it unfolds over the course of the year.

[sameerph]

Moved the last 3 posts related to the new ITF system to this correct thread-

This is some data that someone has compiled for the first 3 months (Jan-March) -

Men

Challengers- 2018-33, 2019-32, reduction by 1
25K- 2018- 24, 2019-19, 20% reduction
15K - 2018- 91, 2019-77, 15% reduction

Women

100K- 2018-1, 2019-1, same
60K- 2018- 6, 2019-7, Increase by 1
25K - 2018-25, 2019-33, increase by 33%
15K- 2018-72, 2019-55, decrease by 24%

So, essentially there is no reduction in those above 25K level for men and above 15K for women- the tournaments which count for ATP/WTA points. In fact there has been an increase in womens 25K's. However, there has been a reduction of between 15-20% for those mens 25/15K's and women 15K's.
So, again an indication that it is becoming difficult for players to break thru but once they are at a certain level ( say in top 400 or 500 ranking level) there are more opportunities than past ( also with increased challenger draws.)

Also will have to see if this reduction in lower level tournaments is permanent or just for first few months of transition to new system. Next 3 months- April to June will show that it is usually a very busy period for these level tournaments as compared to first 3 months.

[Dinesh]

2 months in, already a change in the ITF World Tennis Tour

[sameerph]

Good corrective move by ITF. The next step needs to be taken by ATP to increase challenger qualifying draws from 4 to at least 16. Lot of players ranked between 300-500 ( like our own Sumit and Arjun) are not getting any chances to play anywhere due to this low size of qualifying draws at challengers.