jcgatennismom
Hall of Fame
Below is a lengthy but important post with links for more info. Thought I would squeeze it in before Indoors…
When the Transition Tour revalues the lowest Futures in 2019, players will no longer earn ATP points at $15Ks in 2019 and no ATP points in the $25Ks in 2020 or possibly just ATP points for SFs or finals of $25Ks. There will be a big push among players to get to the level to earn entry into the Qualifiers of Challengers by 2020. Instead of having Qualis of 64 or 128 for the Futures, Qualis will now be 24 draws. Wild cards (not sure if this is for Qualis, MDs or both) will be reduced from 8 to 4. Up to 5 spots in the MD of $15ks and $25Ks will be reserved for juniors ranked in the top 100 in the world. Players who earned ATP points in 2018 at $15Ks will have those points turned into transition entry points for 2019.
Effects on College Players:
1) Juniors players ranked in top 100 ITF may forego college since they have reserved spots into the MD of $15K and $25ks. Many of the college freshmen and sophs playing high in the lineup of ranked teams are former top jr ITF players ranked in the top 25 or 50 in the world. Players of that level in the future may forego college with the recent changes. Currently juniors earn WC into Futures and higher ATP events for placing high in USTA Nat 1s-not sure if those wild cards will be kept or if reserved spots/WCs will only be for top jr ITF.
2) Current college players could drop out to play more tourneys to increase their chances of being at the Challenger Qualifying level by Jan 2020.
3) College coaches who host USTA Collegiate circuits may be limited in the WCs they can give to their own players for MD and Qualifying and may be less likely to host.
4) It was already hard for even ITA ranked players and top juniors to earn ATP points in the US unless they received WCs into MD. For example, it took one top Jr, with a top 10 world jr ITF ranking 8 Future events to win his 1st ATP point. With fewer WCs for top college players into MDs, it will even be harder in 2019.
5) College players will have limited opportunities to grow their games during the fall and summer with 60-80% less openings in Qualifiers. This will hurt players most from countries without an active club system. Players from France, Germany, etc can go home and play club tennis against pro players who enter the late rounds of club/prize $ tourneys to earn $ to play on the Circuit. US players have fewer opportunities to play pro level players outside of Circuits; there are only a handful of high $ prize $ tourneys that draw pro players in US. There will still be the ITA Summer Circuit, but those don’t draw top college players with the exception of a few who play when their colleges host. Another weakness of ITA summer circuit is that all 3rd sets are tiebreaks which is not good prep for Circuits nor for college dual season since colleges only play tiebreak 3rds after match is clinched.
Link to ITF official news: http://www.itftennis.com/news/278962.aspx
FAQ: http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/about-pro-circuit/transition-tour-faqs.aspx
(If you look at the diagram of progression on the above, the path is jr itf to transition tour to Challengers-there is no mention of college tennis as part of the pathway). Considering that the current ITF President David Haggerty is American, it is hard to believe there are no reserved WCs for top college players in the new plan. ITA CEO Tim Russell is very concerned about the effect of these changes on college tennis: “For months I have been articulating concern for the future of #collegetennis players transitioning to @ATPWorldTour @WTA going forward. @ITF_Tennis, please really consider potential unintended consequences of the plan.”
For a deeper discussion of possible effects, read this piece by Dave Miley who worked 25 years for ITF (and now works for UTR): https://www.facebook.com/davemileytennis/posts/987689468064829
Some quotes from above: “What about the players playing in the USA college system? How does this tour help their transition? We know that the top 20 US collegiate players are the equivalent level to a top 350 to 400 player. How will they transition? And what about players playing in other prize money events in different parts of the world? I am excited to be working with UTR and I think that this is the future way to provide a fairer pathway and can help bring performance player rankings and ratings together. But that is something for another day’s article. For now I am not convinced that the ITF transition tour is the best way forward for World Tennis and, as articulated above, I think that there has to be a better way.”
More Info for players, parents or coaches:
______________________________________________________________________________
Stay updated on these changes and be a part of the discussion to make some changes that will help college players. While these changes will be implemented in less than a year, all the details have not been ironed out.
Also check out the USTA top 500 page: http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/Top500/
This page shows the tourneys and points juniors, adults, and collegians can earn to be included on the USTA National 500 list (note most of the top 100-150 on this list already have ATP points so players 130-500 get in Qs off list). After players with ATP points are chosen for MD and Qualifiers, national rankings are used to select qualifiers. This list is sent to ITF TDs quarterly. The list for Sept 15 came out 10/1, but the list for Dec 15 or Dec 30, is still not out as of Feb 14. However, other countries probably are sending the ITF their updated lists. Any US college player who played MD All American at Tulsa or Indian Wells in Nov or won several Q matches at $25ks in Oct-Dec (but not MD) should have enough points to be on the list as well as top junior performers from Winter Nats, Eddie Herr, and Orange Bowl. However, their names will not show up as nationally ranked until updated lists are sent to ITF. If you are impacted by the 6 week+ delay for Dec quarterly list, consider emailing Lew Brewer of USTA Player Development to request that the list be updated since this is the last year many players will qualify to play a Future before rules change. This list will be probably a mute point next year with small Q draws-most will be filled with players with low ATP points or high jr ITF rankings.
Even if a college player does not intend to play pro tourneys after college, just playing in Q or MD at a Future improves his/her play. Notre Dame jumped from #50 to #23 after the holidays. Several of their players did well at Futures over winter break. If the Futures will be closed to most college players in 2020 and beyond, then USTA, UTR, or some other group needs to come up with another pathway for the development of collegians. Collegians need matchplay over summer and winter breaks to be ready for the dual season. At least juniors still have USTA national and iTF juniors for high level play. Also if junior ITFs are going to be the most incentivized path to the Transition Tour, then the US needs its fair share of junior ITF tourneys. There are no junior ITFs during the summer in the US except one on grass in June. There are 21 jr ITFs in Europe from 6/1/18 through 8/31/18. No wonder many US juniors as well as collegians play Future Qualis during the summer; there are 12 US Futures scheduled June-Aug (9 are 25Ks) and 3 challengers. There are also plenty of challengers in the fall for the top college players who can take off the fall.
Sorry for this lengthy post, but this is an impending change that could take all of college tennis, and especially Americans who play college tennis, in the wrong direction. Yes, the ITF structure needed to be changed so more players could earn a living, but the ITF’s neglect to recognize and incentivize college tennis as a pathway to pro tennis is a big mistake. I apologize in advance if I have misinterpreted any of the ITFs announcement, and I hope readers of this board will share any insights they have.
When the Transition Tour revalues the lowest Futures in 2019, players will no longer earn ATP points at $15Ks in 2019 and no ATP points in the $25Ks in 2020 or possibly just ATP points for SFs or finals of $25Ks. There will be a big push among players to get to the level to earn entry into the Qualifiers of Challengers by 2020. Instead of having Qualis of 64 or 128 for the Futures, Qualis will now be 24 draws. Wild cards (not sure if this is for Qualis, MDs or both) will be reduced from 8 to 4. Up to 5 spots in the MD of $15ks and $25Ks will be reserved for juniors ranked in the top 100 in the world. Players who earned ATP points in 2018 at $15Ks will have those points turned into transition entry points for 2019.
Effects on College Players:
1) Juniors players ranked in top 100 ITF may forego college since they have reserved spots into the MD of $15K and $25ks. Many of the college freshmen and sophs playing high in the lineup of ranked teams are former top jr ITF players ranked in the top 25 or 50 in the world. Players of that level in the future may forego college with the recent changes. Currently juniors earn WC into Futures and higher ATP events for placing high in USTA Nat 1s-not sure if those wild cards will be kept or if reserved spots/WCs will only be for top jr ITF.
2) Current college players could drop out to play more tourneys to increase their chances of being at the Challenger Qualifying level by Jan 2020.
3) College coaches who host USTA Collegiate circuits may be limited in the WCs they can give to their own players for MD and Qualifying and may be less likely to host.
4) It was already hard for even ITA ranked players and top juniors to earn ATP points in the US unless they received WCs into MD. For example, it took one top Jr, with a top 10 world jr ITF ranking 8 Future events to win his 1st ATP point. With fewer WCs for top college players into MDs, it will even be harder in 2019.
5) College players will have limited opportunities to grow their games during the fall and summer with 60-80% less openings in Qualifiers. This will hurt players most from countries without an active club system. Players from France, Germany, etc can go home and play club tennis against pro players who enter the late rounds of club/prize $ tourneys to earn $ to play on the Circuit. US players have fewer opportunities to play pro level players outside of Circuits; there are only a handful of high $ prize $ tourneys that draw pro players in US. There will still be the ITA Summer Circuit, but those don’t draw top college players with the exception of a few who play when their colleges host. Another weakness of ITA summer circuit is that all 3rd sets are tiebreaks which is not good prep for Circuits nor for college dual season since colleges only play tiebreak 3rds after match is clinched.
Link to ITF official news: http://www.itftennis.com/news/278962.aspx
FAQ: http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/about-pro-circuit/transition-tour-faqs.aspx
(If you look at the diagram of progression on the above, the path is jr itf to transition tour to Challengers-there is no mention of college tennis as part of the pathway). Considering that the current ITF President David Haggerty is American, it is hard to believe there are no reserved WCs for top college players in the new plan. ITA CEO Tim Russell is very concerned about the effect of these changes on college tennis: “For months I have been articulating concern for the future of #collegetennis players transitioning to @ATPWorldTour @WTA going forward. @ITF_Tennis, please really consider potential unintended consequences of the plan.”
For a deeper discussion of possible effects, read this piece by Dave Miley who worked 25 years for ITF (and now works for UTR): https://www.facebook.com/davemileytennis/posts/987689468064829
Some quotes from above: “What about the players playing in the USA college system? How does this tour help their transition? We know that the top 20 US collegiate players are the equivalent level to a top 350 to 400 player. How will they transition? And what about players playing in other prize money events in different parts of the world? I am excited to be working with UTR and I think that this is the future way to provide a fairer pathway and can help bring performance player rankings and ratings together. But that is something for another day’s article. For now I am not convinced that the ITF transition tour is the best way forward for World Tennis and, as articulated above, I think that there has to be a better way.”
More Info for players, parents or coaches:
______________________________________________________________________________
Stay updated on these changes and be a part of the discussion to make some changes that will help college players. While these changes will be implemented in less than a year, all the details have not been ironed out.
Also check out the USTA top 500 page: http://www.playerdevelopment.usta.com/Top500/
This page shows the tourneys and points juniors, adults, and collegians can earn to be included on the USTA National 500 list (note most of the top 100-150 on this list already have ATP points so players 130-500 get in Qs off list). After players with ATP points are chosen for MD and Qualifiers, national rankings are used to select qualifiers. This list is sent to ITF TDs quarterly. The list for Sept 15 came out 10/1, but the list for Dec 15 or Dec 30, is still not out as of Feb 14. However, other countries probably are sending the ITF their updated lists. Any US college player who played MD All American at Tulsa or Indian Wells in Nov or won several Q matches at $25ks in Oct-Dec (but not MD) should have enough points to be on the list as well as top junior performers from Winter Nats, Eddie Herr, and Orange Bowl. However, their names will not show up as nationally ranked until updated lists are sent to ITF. If you are impacted by the 6 week+ delay for Dec quarterly list, consider emailing Lew Brewer of USTA Player Development to request that the list be updated since this is the last year many players will qualify to play a Future before rules change. This list will be probably a mute point next year with small Q draws-most will be filled with players with low ATP points or high jr ITF rankings.
Even if a college player does not intend to play pro tourneys after college, just playing in Q or MD at a Future improves his/her play. Notre Dame jumped from #50 to #23 after the holidays. Several of their players did well at Futures over winter break. If the Futures will be closed to most college players in 2020 and beyond, then USTA, UTR, or some other group needs to come up with another pathway for the development of collegians. Collegians need matchplay over summer and winter breaks to be ready for the dual season. At least juniors still have USTA national and iTF juniors for high level play. Also if junior ITFs are going to be the most incentivized path to the Transition Tour, then the US needs its fair share of junior ITF tourneys. There are no junior ITFs during the summer in the US except one on grass in June. There are 21 jr ITFs in Europe from 6/1/18 through 8/31/18. No wonder many US juniors as well as collegians play Future Qualis during the summer; there are 12 US Futures scheduled June-Aug (9 are 25Ks) and 3 challengers. There are also plenty of challengers in the fall for the top college players who can take off the fall.
Sorry for this lengthy post, but this is an impending change that could take all of college tennis, and especially Americans who play college tennis, in the wrong direction. Yes, the ITF structure needed to be changed so more players could earn a living, but the ITF’s neglect to recognize and incentivize college tennis as a pathway to pro tennis is a big mistake. I apologize in advance if I have misinterpreted any of the ITFs announcement, and I hope readers of this board will share any insights they have.
