What is the situation regarding challengers, I'm sure I heard once that if you are in the top 50 of the world, you have to ask special permission to enter the challenger? The irving challenger is always like a atp 250.
What is the situation regarding challengers, I'm sure I heard once that if you are in the top 50 of the world, you have to ask special permission to enter the challenger? The irving challenger is always like a atp 250.
If I understand the rules (2016) correctly
Players ranked 1-10 are prohibited from entering any Challenger
Players ranked 11-50 are prohibited from entering but may receive wild cards with permission
Rankings are those at 21 days before the start of the tournament.
I think I am correct that because of its position between Indian Wells and Miami (both 10-11 day events), Irving has a special dispensation (as the previous event in Sunrise did in the same slot) for effectively anyone who has exited Indian Wells early to play Irving regardless of ranking...I could be wrong on detail but am sure there is something in place to allow higher than normal players in 11-50 range to play.