Very first step towards becoming a tennis pro?

Question

Yes, I will join a club next week and i already have a coach. But, i asked him wha should i do and he said that i should play for a comp. I asked him what am i gonna win if iwin the comp? He said a trophy/shield for the club. Cool. but my question is how to enter those tournaments that have prize money? I was too embarrassed to ask him this i thought he might think of me of being to greedy, etc., but im not, i just want to know what is the first step of joining comps that have prize money. Do i have to apply, or must my coach recommend me?

THanks fo reading pppls

Answer 1

l saw this site lots of tips from the pro

Answer 2

Ya may try out for the national competitions of your country & if ya win ya may represent your country in tennis.

Or ya may sign up for the Mitsubishi World Junior Championships held annually where Roddick & Hewit were champs before they become professionals.

Good luck to your quest lad.

Answer 3

You'll have to start at the very bottom by playing in the pre-qualifying stages of an ITF Circuit event, also known as the Challenger circuit, which is the minor leagues of tennis with tournaments around the world ranging from $25,000-$125,000 total prize money (the ATP being the major league of course).  If you make it through the pre-qualifying (usually by winning at least three matches, more depending on the number of entrants), you advance to the qualifying tournament, and if you get through that phase (usually by winning three or more matches), you gain entry into the main draw, which usually has a field of 32-64 players, with only 4-8 spots reserved for qualifiers.  The other main draw spots are for players who are entered into the event based on ranking.  Without a ranking, you would probably be limited to the lower-end prize money events to start out.  I don't think you need to have a ranking to enter the pre-qualifying tournament at the $25,000 ITF level as they except anyone who enters before the deadline, which means a pre-qualifying tounament could have as many as 100 players vying for the 4-8 spots available for the qualifying stage (the rest of the qualifying spots, just as in the main draw, awarded to players based on rank), but for the bigger $50,000-$125,000 ITF events you definitely do. From qualifying on up through the main draw at the ITF events, you actually earn ranking points for the ATP, so you could eventually earn enough points just from the ITF events to get as high as the top 200, or even higher, on the ATP computer rankings.  This is the route a lot of the journeymen and younger pro and junior players take to eventually get to play in the big leagues.  The ITF Circuit is cutthroat though, and not very glamorous, and it can also be very costly without a sponsor because of all the travel expenses and whatnot (although the bigger ITF events do offer free lodging to main draw players).  The prize money probably is barely enough to cover a players expenses, if that. But this is pretty much the only way to make it onto the ATP Tour.