 |
| About the Womens Circuit |
| History of the Circuit |
| Circuit Developments |
| Circuit Rules & Regs |
| Rules of Tennis |
| 2008 Entry Procedure |
| Entry & Withdrawal Forms |
| Code of Conduct |
| Fines |
| 2008 WTA Ranking Chart |
| Links |
| Contact Us |
|
|
| About the Womens Circuit |
The ITF Women’s Circuit provides entry level tournaments enabling players to eventually reach the WTA TOUR. The ITF Women’s Circuit offers some 400 tournaments in 60 countries worldwide and has four prize money levels: US$10,000, US$25,000, US$50,000, US$75,000 and US$100,000. Total prize money is over $8.5 million.
In 2005, most of the $50,000 and $75,000 events offered the winner or finalist a place in the main draw of a WTA Tour Tier III or Tier IV event, and the winner or finalist of selected $25,000 tournaments were offered a place in the qualifying draw of a WTA Tour Tier III or Tier IV event.
The ITF Junior Exempt Programme helps to integrate the juniors into the Women’s Circuit. At the year-end, the top ten junior girls on the ITF Junior World Ranking can select three events on the ITF Women’s Circuit Calendar, where they will be given a place in the main draw of each event according to their ranking.
A number of positive performances were achieved in the first two years of the project. Of those players eligible in 1997, Amelie Mauresmo, the 1996 ITF Junior World Champion, claimed the title at a $50,000 tournament in Greece, while second placed Mirjana Lucic won a $75,000 event in Croatia. Samantha Reeves reached the final of a $25,000 tournament in Newport Beach, USA, and Olga Barabanschikova reached te semifinals of a $50,000 tournament in Southampton, Great Britain, before injury halted her progress.
The 1998 participants also acquitted themselves very creditably. Justine Henin travelled to Orlando, USA, defeating allcomers to collect the title at a $25,000 tournament. The 1997 ITF Junior World Champion, Cara Black, reached the semifinals of a $75,000 event in Portugal, while Jelena Kostanic also reached the same stage at a $25,000 tournament in Germany.
More recently in 2005, Michaella Krajicek opened the year with a win at her allocated $75,000 tournament in Italy in January. 2005 was a year that saw her rankings rise from 245 to 58 (as at 14 Nov) - a great example of a successful Junior Exempt player who has made a smooth transition from ITF Junior Circuits to ITF Womens Circuits and then onto WTA Tour. Other notable performances were from Viktoria Azarenka who made at least the Quarterfinals of all three Junior Exempt tournaments and Wen-Hsin Hsu from Chinese Taipei who did one better and reached at least the Semifinals of her three events as a rookie in the Project.
The ITF Grand Slam Development Fund assists the funding of some of these events.
^ Back to Top
|
|
|
|
