ITF

North America held 41 tournaments ($505,000), Africa hosted 20 tournaments ($240,000), up 33 per cent after a difficult 2011, Central America/Caribbean staged 17 tournaments ($185,000) and Oceania organised 12 tournaments ($180,000). ITF Beach Tennis Tour The ITF Beach Tennis Tour continued to set new records in 2012. Prize money increased by $140,000 to over $400,000 which took the all-time Tour prize money beyond the $1,000,000 mark. The year also witnessed the launch of the World Team Championship with the inaugural event, hosted by Russia and held at the National Tennis Centre in Moscow, welcoming 15 nations from around the world. Italy took the title in the final against Brazil and France narrowly defeated the hosts to take third place. In 2012 the number of Tour events moved into triple figures for the first time with 152 tournaments taking place in 32 countries and spread across four continents. In the Americas, Argentina, Chile and Mexico all hosted a tournament for the first time, increasing the number of hosts in that region. Brazil held two $10,000 Grade 1 events and improved its overall tournament total, while USA offered 17 events and $41,000 in prize money. The profile of beach tennis also continued to grow on several Caribbean islands, which hosted eight events between them in 2012, compared to three the previous year. Beach tennis continued to thrive in Asia offering 16 events and $52,000 prize money, including one $10,000 event in China, P.R. and three in Japan. Great Britain, Hungary, Israel, Slovak Republic and Ukraine joined the 13 other existing host nations to ensure events were offered in every week of the European summer. The European Championships, hosted by the San Marino Tennis Federation, were another huge success with Italy defending its titles in all three events. The individual Beach Tennis World Championships continued to be successful, moving outside of Italy for the first time with Burgas, Bulgaria hosting the 118 competitors. Despite continued Italian dominance in the major events, the rankings showed a diverse playing field in 2012, with Brazil, San Marino and Spain breaking into the men's Top 20 while the women's Top 20 year-end rankings included players from Brazil, France, Japan, Aruba and USA. PROFESSIONAL TENNIS 13

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