Behind almost every player competing at Wimbledon, the US Open or an ATP Masters 1000 lies another side of professional tennis. Smaller venues. Smaller crowds. Less prize money. But enormous consequences for the players involved. Welcome to the ATP Challenger Tour. The Challenger Tour sits immediately below the main ATPContinue Reading
The ATP Tour stretches far beyond the Grand Slams and Masters 1000 tournaments. At its foundation is the ATP 250 category. These tournaments are staged throughout the season and around the world, giving players opportunities to win titles, collect ranking points and compete at the highest level of the regularContinue Reading
Not every major week in men’s professional tennis takes place at a Grand Slam or Masters 1000. One level further down the ATP hierarchy sits the ATP 500 category — a collection of important tournaments played throughout the season on hard courts, clay and grass. They regularly attract some ofContinue Reading
Immediately below the Grand Slams sits the most prestigious regular tournament category on the ATP Tour: the ATP Masters 1000. There are nine Masters 1000 tournaments on the 2026 calendar, staged across North America, Europe and Asia. They bring together most of the leading men’s players and offer some ofContinue Reading
For most of the tennis season, the world’s best women compete for themselves. Their ranking. Their prize money. Their titles. Then comes the Billie Jean King Cup, where the equation changes. Players compete for their countries, teammates watch from courtside and individual matches combine to decide something much bigger: whichContinue Reading
There are thousands of professional tennis tournaments played around the world, but four stand above everything else. The Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open are tennis’s Grand Slam tournaments — commonly called the majors. Winning any one of them can define a career. Winning all four puts aContinue Reading
Most of professional tennis is built around individuals. Players travel the world under their own names, accumulate their own ranking points and compete for their own titles. The Davis Cup is different. Players represent their countries. Singles specialists become teammates. Doubles can suddenly decide everything. Matches can be played inContinue Reading
For almost the entire tennis season, the world’s leading players are rivals. Then, for three days, some of those rivalries are temporarily put aside. The Laver Cup divides six leading men’s players from Europe and six from the rest of the world into two teams: Team Europe and Team World.Continue Reading
Professional tennis can make its biggest stars extraordinarily wealthy. Win a Grand Slam and the prize cheque can run into millions. Reach the later stages of the biggest ATP and WTA tournaments and a player can earn substantial sums in a single week. But that is only one end ofContinue Reading
Why can a player win a tournament and barely move in the rankings, while another jumps 30 places after one exceptional week? Why can someone lose in the first round and still move higher? And why does a player sometimes fall dramatically in the rankings exactly one year after producingContinue Reading
