Tennis competitions?

Question

hey there all

Im new to tennis, wondering how many leagues/competitions there are.

In soccer we have at least 1 from each country.

example: England: premier League---Spain: La Liga---Italy:Serie A.

The whole Europe: Champions League.

However in tennis, what are they? I just learned that there are 4 MOST prestigious/most important leagues and they are called grand slam which are:

Australian Open

French Open

Wimbledon

US Open

Can someone with decent knowledge of tennis explain to me more about this?

Thanks!

Answer 1

First let's start with the men.  There are several tournaments over the course of the season which generally runs from January with the Australian Open (actually there are a couple of tune-up tournaments for the Aussie Open that come first) through to about the beginning of November which is usually the Master's Cup.  For the most part, there is a tournament every week (with varying amounts of prize money based on the prestige and sponsorship of a tournament) and the grand slams are scattered in between, and the top ranked players will generally pick and choose what tournaments they want to play.  Top players will usually go for the high money tournaments or ones in which their style of play is best suited.  Which brings us to "seasons".  The tennis year is roughly broken up into what is referred to as seasons.  The first part of the year doesn't really have a name, but most events are played on hard court.  The second part of the year is referred to as the clay court season and starts around April when most tournaments are held in Europe on clay and is wound up with the French Open at the end of May.  The grass court season follows in June and July with a couple of grass court tune ups for Wimbledon and then Wimbledon itself.  Beginning in late July/August you have the hard court season, anchored by the U.S. Open.  Of course, these "seasons" are not rigidly held, so you may find a clay court tournament in hard court season of vice-versa.  Different players' styles of play are suited to different surfaces.  Rafael Nadal, the current men's #2, has been most dominant on clay in recent years, so you will see his name pop up often in regard to clay court tournaments, while Roger Federer, the world's current #1 is more comfortable on grass and hard courts.

Most "open" events invite a select number of top players who are guaranteed a spot and then hold qualifying so that players who are not invited can qualify to play in the tournament.  Lose in qualifying and you go home.  For those players who don't make it into the major tournaments spend time on the Challenger Series or USTA Pro Circuit which also hold regular tournaments for lower ranked players.

Women, who are governed by a different organization (the WTA or Women's Tennis Association as opposed to the ATP, Association of Tennis Professionals) have a different setup.  While many major tournaments, grand slams included, have a joint draw with both men's and women's draws, some tournaments are just for men or just for women.  For the most part the WTA will hold a women's tournament every week of the season as well (except when there is a joint tournament), but their tournaments are divided into tiers, and the top women's professionals are contactually obligated to appear in a set number of Tier 1 tournaments (the most prestigious, with the most prize money) and then are free to pick which Tier 2 tournaments they wish to appear in.  The rules for qualifying are the same as men's tournaments and there is the ITF Women's circuit for those players who are not quite up to the rigors of the main SonyEricsson WTA tour.

I realize this is a bit lengthy, but hopefully I was able to answer your questions.  Check out the ATP site at atptennis.com or the WTA site at sonyericssonwtatour.com for a more complete view of men's and women's pro tennis.

Answer 2

hey buddy..u just got the  perfect person to explain all this..others will give u some links to refer from..i will explain u alll myself..

starting...first of all throw this out of mind that Tennis has leagues for every country just like football...Tennis is ABSOLUTELY different from futball...in Tennis there are only some official tournaments that round-robin play just like in futball..i mean  a whole bunch players play..and based on the points scored against each other, they advance to further rounds..Tennis is NOT like that...

the primary format of matches followed all over world in tennis..is the KNOCK-OUT...whenever a player loses a match..he is simply out of the tournament....

The Tennis Season is of about 40 weeks in a year..starting from Monday of first week of the year..even if monday is not Jan 1, the tournament will start on Mon...U have differnt level of tournaments based on the Money they offer as prize money, their status and reputation....the players actually tour around the world....playing different tournaments every week..so actually the nest part of being a Tennis player is that u get to see SOOO many countries and sooo many cultures...these tour schedules are separate for men am women..

the tournaments on Men's side are designated as(in decreasing order )

.....Masters Series..INternational Series Gold....INternational Series

on the women' s side the designations (desc) are...Tier I,Tier II, Tier III and Tier IV....

Above all are GRAND SLAMS...the four premier tournaments u mentioned are the Grand SLams...

Most tournaments are a one week long...few are two-week long...All Slams are 2 weeks..plus 2 others..Indian Wells and Miami are also 2 weeks...i said earlier that Mens and Women have separate tours..but there are some tournaments which have enuf courts that they can have both men's and womens tournaments IN THE SAME WEEK....some others have men's tournament in the next week after women's or vice-versa...

There are also country-based tournaments..where players fight for their country's glory...even if the country's overall team results are on the losing side...if a player wins...he will progress further, ONLY if his country wins overall...on the men's side...This tournament is called Davis Cup...and on the women's side it is Federation..or mostly called..Fed Cup...these tournaments are spread all over the year..for one one-week 3/4 times every year...they follow a differnt format of matches which is not possible to explain u here...i am giving u links in the "sources" check them out....

apart from Fed Cup and Davis Cup there is one relatively less popular MIXED Country tournament called the Hopman Cup....it has only 8 participant countries..each team nominating one male and one female player...one of the teams..qualifies as the winner from the asian leg of the tournament...the Asian Hopman Cup...this event held only 1 week every year..the very first week of the season..which means players chosing to play in Hopman Cup..have to opt out of other  tournaments on their respective tours...

I hope i have cleared many of your doubts...i'' give u suggestion..French Open will start on May 25..watch it carefullly..and hear the commenary CLEARLY..visit more and more sites to learn more abt Tennis... apart from those whose links i am giving u in "sources"...