The British Tour is undergoing a bit of a revamp, with the number of tournaments increased from 21 to 29, but split into 14 Tier 1 tournaments and 15 Tier 2tournaments and what looks like a substantial increase in the prize money, Tier 1s being £6Ks (virtually the equivalent of $10Ks though without the ATP ranking points, obviously) with the winner getting £ 750 and Tier 2s being £3Ks, with the winner getting £ 400 and the winner of the Tier 1 Masters getting £ 1000 c.f. the £ 600 Fitzy got for winning the Masters this year.
For the men, WCs into Futures are available as follows:
Tier 1 event winner or winner of three Tier 2 tournaments - WC into the main draw of a 10K or 15K Tier 2 event winner - WC into the qualifying draw of a 10K or 15K
While the LTA says that Tier 1s are aimed at players with ratings down to 5.1 and Tier 2s at players with ratings down to 6.1, there doesn't appear to be anything to stop 1.1 rated players taking part in both types.
All in all, this sounds like an improvement for the players who partly rely on prize money from these tournaments to fund their progress on the Futures circuit.
This is excellent news I think. Though I think the tour is important, not enouh ranked players have taken part, and there isn't that much evidence of the unranked using it is a way up.......its just sort of been there! I don't quite understand two seperate Masters events but everything else looks like a change for the better, the rule to alloow you to enter futures qualies whilst remaining on the tour entry list is helpful. It will no doubt attract more foreign players so the prize money wont necessarily being going to Brits.
entry list for the tour event that is supposed to be played this week with the seeded entries: goodall, rice, thornley, brassington, max jones, bains, bradshaw and tom burn. so it wouls seem as though the revamp is attracting a higher level of player
(1) Josh Goodall WR 305 beat (8) Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 1492 by 3 & 3
It would have been a shock had Josh not won this tournament without losing a set, so he has achieved what he must have set out to do when he entered.
An excellent week for Fitzy though, following on from effectively winning the whole British Tour last year - if we assume Josh won't play BT events very often, then Fitzy effectively holds the lead in this year's BT too and has added a bit more cash to the Futures fund too - well done
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
yeah cheers, good week all around. was 5-2 down in the third set yesterday against o'leary and managed to pull it back again and get the job done on a tie break. Then today was a high standard match where i broke to go 3-1 up serving but played a sloppy game to let him back in. From then on it was josh playing too well. Both served alot of aces and he hit some ridiculous winners. He's driving up to sign in for qualis for glasgow. I have a train on monday which i pray wont be cancelled! 450 pounds richer, all much needed, and i hope it keeps coming!
With Goodall having a bit of a sour end to last years season- dropping back out the top 300. I'm sure he just needs to build up the confidence for winning again. If he does well at these 2 GB futures maybe he can start a what could be a deciding year for him. I can see him with a bit more bite to win now his LTA pay has been cut back.
QF David O'Leary beat (1) Kyle Brassington 3-6 6-4 7-5 (4) Ashley Hewitt beat Oliver Evans 6-4 6-2 (6) Robert Hodel beat Adam Barratclough 7-6(3) 6-2 (5) Andrew Fitzpatrick beat (2) Max Jones 6-3 6-4
SF David O'Leary beat (4) Ashley Hewitt 6-3 7-6(9) (5) Andrew Fitzpatrick beat (6) Robert Hodel 6-2 6-1
Final David O'Leary v (5) Andrew Fitzpatrick
Eddie Herr U14 champion Luke Bambridge lost in the final round of qualifying.
Fitzy seems to be making a bid for British Tour GOAT status at the moment! That's a good win over Max, who's going to be in the GB Top 25 on Monday when Hutch's points come off.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!