http://www.atpworldtour.com
In the article, Prize Money at ATP Challengers Set to Increase, released by the ATP January 8th of this year it is stated that they are making a big push to make the sport bigger and help players make it to the next level by significantly raising the amounts of prize money at the stepping stone level of the challenger tour.
"Almost every player earns their stripes on the Challenger Tour before they make it on the ATP World Tour and every bit of extra prize money helps as they look to forge a career in men's professional tennis." -ATP
I personally know a handful of players who tried to grind out the Challenger Tour and make it to the next level, but fell short due to lack of money to support themselves during this time. Unless a player has a substantial fund from someone like a sponsor it is extremely hard to go through the process of making the jump from Challengers to ATP World Tour Events. It will make such a huge difference if the ATP keeps raising the amount of money in these tournaments. Players will be able to stay out on the tour and keep trying longer to make it because of this and therefore gives so many people a lot more opportunities.
"The ATP will also provide additional ATP umpires, ATP physiotherapists and Player Relations staff across a number of tournaments, as well as continuing its focus on ensuring that more tournaments are staged in regional swings which complement ATP World Tour tournaments, enabling players to reduce costs and travel time." -ATP
For them to do all of this might even be bigger than the raising of prize money in the Challengers. With all of these things being added the amount of money the players have to spend per year will be substantially less. A part of what makes tennis so tough is that players have to pay for all of their expenses unlike many other sports where the organization or team pays all of that for them. If the ATP makes these changes it will enable players to play more tournaments per year as they are not running out of money as quickly and it will also enable them to be making more per year with the cut down of costs.
"The ATP is also working closely with the ITF relating to planned enhancements at Futures tournaments to ensure a seamless pathway for players from Futures to Challenger level." -ATP
The step before the Challenger Tour is the Futures Tour and the fact that they are attempting to make the Futures better as well is so big. It personally affects me a lot as I have already started to play a couple of futures and especially after college I plan on playing them and trying to make my way up the ladder. So, if they really do make these changes and make it better and easier for players to rise up the ranks, by the time I am out of college and playing them it will be much better for me than it would if I was out of college now and playing them.
Discussion Questions: What goes into planning an ATP tournament?
How much money are the people behind the scenes at the ATP making?
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