Reposting from 9th April just to include the links

"Just when you thought you'd got your head round it all, they change the system again.

But this time it's a temporary increase in ranking points for W25 to W80 tournaments (not W15 or W80+H or higher). Starts with tournaments this week.

Press release here

Revised table available here (in PDF format)"

25Ks for a while have been a real anomaly with the prize money vs points and very often fields out of kilter and now just moreso.

When I started following ITFs I believe we basically had 10K and 15K men's and 10K and 25K women's. The 10K and 15K events were proper futures but I looked at the women's 25Ks as mini challengers.

Then a while ago now they moved to having 15Ks and 25Ks for each. Fair enough, increase the prize money but I saw no particular reason for now having 15Ks and 25Ks for both, especially as the much greater points ( 50 for the winner etc ) remained so the women's 25Ks continued to have relatively stronger fields.

Plus at one stage they upped the prize money ( while leaving the points the same ) for women's ITFs above 25K, eg 50Ks became 60Ks. But still we had the 25Ks with the same points and yet further out of line.

Now, at least temporarily, it looks even sillier. For 25Ks for too long, the prize money has either been too low or the points too high depending on how you look at it. It can't help scheduling even in normal times. Something lke a 35K with 40 points for the winner instead would be more sensible, perhaps along with having a 25K as more of a true futures event with similar points to the men's 25K.