Week 27 - Egypt F14 ($10,000) - Sharm El Sheikh (Clay)

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 27 - Egypt F14 ($10,000) - Sharm El Sheikh (Clay)

RJA · Hall of fame

QR2: Gregory Howe UNR beat Ilya Chkoniya (RUS) UNR : 6-4, 7-6(4)

FQR: Gregory Howe UNR v Michal Bisko (CZE) UNR

steven · Tennis legend

Good for Gregory - his first pro circuit win as a 41-year-old

LouieG · County player

How do you enter a tournament being unranked?

RJA · Hall of fame

LouieG wrote:
How do you enter a tournament being unranked?

The majority of the qualifying fields in most futures events are unranked but there is a system of national rankings that are used to distinguish between unranked players.

steven · Tennis legend

You can enter Futures qualifying (or even in rare cases get straight into the main draw) if you are unranked, as long as you have an IPIN (see https://ipin.itftennis.com/login.asp?flags=Y&referrerid=&languagecode=ENG) and there are enough spaces in the qualifying draw, as there often are.

You can enter in advance - the order of priority for entry is:

- entrants with an ATP ranking, in ranking order
- entrants with a national ranking (there is some mysterious formula that puts them into order, taking into account that some countries are stronger than others)
- entrants with no ranking

e.g. the entry list for this tournament is at http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men's-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100029155 - they usually start off with a lot more entrants but lots withdraw before the cut-off date, as you can see from the list of withdrawals at the bottom of the list

You can also sign in on-site and may get in if there are still spaces in the qualifying draw when all those in the original entry list have been placed.

I believe for Challengers and ATP main tour events, you need an ATP ranking or to get given a wild card in order to play, though qualifying wild cards tend to get given out like confetti in Challengers if the qualifying draw is half-empty, so it comes to much the same thing.

LouieG · County player

Oh right, has anyone on this forum ever entered a futures event then?

RJA · Hall of fame

steven wrote:
I believe for Challengers and ATP main tour events, you need an ATP ranking or to get given a wild card in order to play, though qualifying wild cards tend to get given out like confetti in Challengers if the qualifying draw is half-empty, so it comes to much the same thing.

That is true but it is worth noting that you can get in with a doubles rank, although obviously not at the expense of someone with a singles rank.

steven · Tennis legend

There is the odd pro who posts on here but even if you meant have any forum members who are just regular club players entered Futures qualifying just to see what it is like (as I imagine you did mean), the answer is still yes

Both Wolf and ForeverDelayed (I hope I've remembered the right ones!) entered qualies at Futures events local to them and both got double bagelled in their first match, as you might expect. They did win a fair number of points though, had fun and from their reports, it sounded like it was a worthwhile experience finding out at first hand how good even the Futures level pros actually are.

Btw I am 99.9% certain that both Wolf and FD would double bagel me if they played me!

LouieG · County player

Yes I was referring to club players :)

Would be good to enter a futures event, might make it a long term goal of mine. In the future (grabs coat).

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
There is the odd pro who posts on here but even if you meant have any forum members who are just regular club players entered Futures qualifying just to see what it is like (as I imagine you did mean), the answer is still yes

Are you calling Fitzy "odd" ? wink

RJA · Hall of fame

Coup Droit wrote:
Can you enter a GB Tour event ? How does that work Steven ? It's obviously a few steps down.

You need to have achieved a certain LTA rating to enter British tour events. I think it is 5.1 for Grade 1 and 6.1 for Grade 2.

-- Edited by RJA on Monday 1st of July 2013 08:30:42 AM

steven · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
steven wrote:
There is the odd pro who posts on here but even if you meant have any forum members who are just regular club players entered Futures qualifying just to see what it is like (as I imagine you did mean), the answer is still yes

Are you calling Fitzy "odd" ?

LOL no I just meant he's not the only one though he is the only one who has posted much recently.

Good luck if you do decide to have a go, Louie!

RJA - yes, you're right of course, I was over-simplifying. Re. British Tour - you're probably more aware of the rules than me. The BT pages on the LTA site say they are aimed at 6.1 and above, I don't know whether or not it is possible to enter pre-qualifying for a British Tour event with a lower rating.

-- Edited by steven on Monday 1st of July 2013 08:46:36 AM

Spectator · All-time great

If he puts up with us, there might be an argument that he is (but in the nicest way)!

Have to say that while, unlike Ms Robson and Mr Murray's wins, this is unlikely to be front-page news, I've been hoping for this particular win (or some version of it) for a long time. Hurrah for Mr Howe.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

LouieG wrote:
Yes I was referring to club players :)

Would be good to enter a futures event, might make it a long term goal of mine. In the future (grabs coat).

Can you enter a GB Tour event ? How does that work Steven ? It's obviously a few steps down.

I see the odd smattering of British players entering the French tournaments (not the Futures, but the ones below with first prize of about EUR 250 - 500 or so). Some are from the Academies, some come over to try a few tourneys.

But all the club players enter (they're progressive draws), from the lowliest to the pre-national ranked ones.