Part Three: Pro tour primer

Step 3-ATP World Tour

Trying to keep things short and simple....

In my last two posts we covered Futures (low or non ranked pros) and Challengers (middle ranked pros). Playing on the ATP World Tour is the benchmark for making it. Total prize money varies from $400K to over $6 Million.

The tournaments in order of importance are: 250s, 500s, Masters 1000s, Barclay's World Tour Finals and the 4 Grand Slams (Australian, French, Wimbledon & US Open). The overall ATP points for winners range from 250 to 2000.


The ATP Tour 250 is a series of 40 tournaments, played in North America, Europe, Asia, Middle East, Australia and New Zealand. Draw sizes are 32 for singles and 16 for doubles. The points awarded range from 12 points (1st round looser) to 250 (winner).

The 500s consist of 11 tournaments held in the North America, Asia, Europe, Middle East. Main draw Winner receives 500 points. Draws sizes vary from 32, 48 and 56 for singles and 16 and 24 for doubles.

The Masters Tour 1000 is made up of 9 tournaments:  Indian Wells, Miami, Monte- Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Shanghai, Paris. Draws are 56 and 96 for singles and 24 for doubles. Winner gets 1000 points.The Barclay's World Tour Finals ( December)  features the top 8 players competing in a round robin format. Winner takes home 1500 points. A rank of 50 and up gets into main draw.  A rank of 150 and up gets into qualifying.
 Grand Slams, are the most important tournaments of the year for notoriety, prize money and points. Slams are 128 draw and offer highest number of points (2000 for the winner). The 4 grand slams are: Australian Open (Melbourne-late January), French Open (Paris-late May), Wimbledon (London-late June) and US Open (New York-late August). Pros need to be ranked 100 or better to get directly into a grand slam. To enter qualifying a ranking of around 250 or higher would be required.