NEW YORK — The ATP and WTA tours have added new events to their respective provisional 2020 calendars following the US Open, in an ongoing attempt to provide content to fans and mitigate for lost earning opportunities for players during the coronavirus pandemic.
The ATP Tour added four ATP 250 events, while the WTA, which uses a different tournament designation system, added a Premier event.
ATP 250 and Premier events are the most numerous on their respective tours. They occupy the lowest rungs of a tier system and offer the lowest (but variable) amount of prize money and ranking points.
The WTA’s Ostrava Open will take place in the Czech Republic starting Oct. 19, while the quartet of ATP events launches with back-to-back one-week tournaments beginning Oct. 12 in Cologne, Germany, as well as another event starting Oct. 12 in Sardinia. Kazakhstan also will host an ATP 250 tournament starting Oct. 26.
The additions create a post-US Open ATP calendar of 15 events, including the season-ending, eight-player ATP Finals. The WTA has eight confirmed events, but more may be added.
“Our goal was to create additional opportunities for players and entertainment for our fans, and to do so in a safe and practical way,” ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement Thursday. “Adding new events to the Tour calendar is a positive step given the many challenges our sport has faced this year.”
ATP 250 events sit on the lowest rung of a three-tier tour system and generally are the domain of lower-ranked players. The top players are obliged to play all top-tier Masters 1000-level events for which they qualify by ranking (with some exemptions available to veterans) and at least four 500-level tournaments. But leading players sometimes enter 250 events for any number of reasons. The 250s are allowed to pay “guarantees,” or appearance fees, and the participation of highly ranked professionals makes those events more attractive to fans and media.
The WTA rules for participation are similar, but more complicated.
Licenses to promote sanctioned events on either tour are costly and usually in short supply due to the already crowded tennis calendar. They usually come with a number of protections for the tournament, including the guarantee that the tour will not issue a license to a regional competitor during the same week. The tournaments added by the ATP in 2020 following the pandemic are single-year licenses, although the tour could renew the contracts if it so chooses.
The ATP and WTA tours took massive hits when the fall slate of tournaments in China, including an ATP Masters 1000 and the WTA year-end championships, was canceled. They have been scrambling to find new tournaments to fill that void.
Eight of the 15 tournaments remaining on the 2020 ATP calendar are now 250s, while four of the WTA events are Premiers.
The abundance of 250 events on the ATP Tour could affect the qualifying field for the ATP Finals. A player willing to chase ranking points in 250s — the numerical designation reflects the ranking points earned by the winner — could earn a spot in the Finals if his rivals choose not to play as often.
The promoters and local hosts have had to satisfy ATP and WTA requirements pertaining to health, safety, international travel and ATP event requirements. The provisional calendars are subject to further revision as the tours return.