ATP announces major changes to ATP Challenger system of 2019

[Red Rick]

Source

- Draws will have 48 spots, with 2 spots for qualifiers
- It will be the lowest level of tournaments that awards ATP points, what will happen to futures isn't mentioned
- All challengers will require hotel accomodation for all player
- Highest level of challengers will offer $162,480 in prize money


Disgust...

 

[Shaolin]

Damn. Wonder what the fate of Futures will be.

 

[tennisaddict]

The goal is to reduce the number of professionals to 750 each in men and women

No points for futures

Players at the challenger level will be better served

While it looks like scaling down operations , it is a result of research that futures can be eliminated with junior tournaments

 

[Red Rick]

The goal is to reduce the number of professionals to 750 each in men and women

No points for futures

Players at the challenger level will be better served

While it looks like scaling down operations , it is a result of research that futures can be eliminated with junior tournaments

I'm all for making the challenger system better. That's great. But I also worry that the barrier of entry might get too big.

 

[jaggy]

It's hard to really get my head around what this will actually look like.

 

[citybert]

What about playing net cords on serves, is that already done on the challenger level? can't remember

 

[IowaGuy]

Tough to make it as a professional tennis player, compared to a sport like soccer or baseball!

 

[EloQuent]

Seems like misplaced priorities to me. Tennis has plenty of issues but what exactly is this supposed to solve?

 

[Wander]

Seems like misplaced priorities to me. Tennis has plenty of issues but what exactly is this supposed to solve?

I believe they are aiming to increase average prize money on the challenger level but cut down the smaller (futures) tournaments so that we will end up with somewhat fewer professional tennis players but with higher income in the 150-700 range compared to current situation. They are also basically trying to make the lowest ATP point offering level more uniform and better organized.

This is what I've inferred anyway.