ITF

The ITF Pro Circuit is comprised of week-long tournaments organised or approved by ITF member nations which provide top national players with the opportunity to launch and build a career in the professional game. The Women's Circuit consists of week-long tournaments in six different prize money categories of $10,000, $15,000, $25,000, $50,000, $75,000 and $100,000. The Men's Circuit is made up of $10,000 and $15,000 categories that must be staged in a series offering a minimum of $30,000 in total prize money. The Grand Slam Development Fund provided crucial funding for 12 member nations who received assistance across 16 weeks of tournaments. Grants are essential to ensure competitive opportunities are spread as widely as possible around the globe, benefiting players from all regions. Live scoring was used at 98 per cent of tournaments with the main benefit being the provision of a live web scoreboard on the ITF Pro Circuit and individual tournament websites that provided point by point score updates and match statistics. The ITF Pro Circuit continues to provide guidance for young athletes embarking on a professional tennis career. The Player Welfare programme consists of an emergency 24-hour counselling service and advisory website as well as a series of educational videos aimed to assist players who may be experiencing incidents of harassment or abuse. Pro IPIN (International Player Identification Number) membership, which enables players to manage tournament entries as well as providing a platform for important Circuit announcements, grew by three per cent with a total of 19,964 players having registered for 2014. ITF Women's Circuit In 2014, 558 Women's Circuit tournaments were held, which was a marginal increase on the previous year. The Circuit welcomed back eight out of nine $100,000 tournaments from 2013 and was able to add two new events, in Contrexeville (FRA) and Bogota (COL). France hosted five of these tournaments, while USA, Canada, Colombia, Czech Republic and Kazakhstan staged one each. Europe again staged the most tournaments of all regions with 290 events offering a total of $4,905,000 prize money. Asia continued its growth with a 17 per cent increase in the number of events bringing their total to 91 with $1,910,000 in prize money. Africa hosted 70 tournaments ($785,000), North America staged 46 ($1,480,000) and South America followed with 33 ($585,000). Central America/Caribbean organised 15 tournaments and offered an additional $45,000 in prize money compared to 2013, while Oceania retained all 13 tournaments from the previous year. The Junior Exempt project ran for an 18th straight year, offering main draw places to each of the Top 10 players from the 2013 year-end junior rankings. Results of note for Junior Exempt players included Ana Konjuh and Varvara Flink, who both reached the semifinal stage of $50,000 prize money events. ITF Men's Circuit The Men's Circuit saw growth in excess of five per cent in both the number of tournaments and the total prize money with 673 events and $7,640,000 on offer. The expansion of the Circuit was fuelled by Asia where there was a 43 per cent increase in the number of tournaments, which brought the total to 96 with prize money climbing to $1,080,000. There was an equally impressive increase in Africa where $640,000 was on offer across 58 events. Elsewhere, Europe held the most tournaments with 372 ($4,135,000), South America contributed 73 ($835,000) and 43 were staged in North America ($530,000). Oceania hosted ten $15,000 events, while Central America/Caribbean boosted prize money by upgrading many of their 21 events this year to offer $270,000 – ten per cent higher than in 2013. The Junior Exempt project again offered the 2013 Top 10 junior ranked players three places each in the main draw at Men's Circuit events. Michael Mmoh and Francis Tiafoe both made quarterfinal appearances while Stefan Kozlov and Filippo Baldi both made it to the second round. PROFESSIONAL TENNIS: ITF PRO CIRCUIT 11 ITF PRO CIRCUIT

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