Currently, the Girl's Age Eligibility Rule, as stated below, is in effect. It is a rule limiting tournament play to those players between the ages of 14 and 17. This rule may be deemed savior for those young girls who might be physically and mentally damaged as a result of playing an abundance of tournaments. It is the opinion of Tennistrainer Magazine, however, that this rule is in itself damaging (unless you get special help by receiving wild cards), causing the rankings to be derived unfairly for the young player who has to work her way from the true bottom (Open Qualifyings). If a player at a young age makes a decision to be a pro player how dare the WTA intervene and impact the young players' true rankings and earning capabilites by limiting her number of tournaments. If she is going to play in the big leagues then LET HER PLAY and let her establish her career in a timely fashion instead of leaving her in limbo until she is 18 or 19 to see if she is actually going to make it. How degrading to not respect a young player's career decision when she is fully capable of handling 18 or more tournaments per year. This is a rule designed for Americans, special interest groups and does not appreciate the European school system and the rest of the more lenient school systems throughout the world which integrate elite athlete sports schedules into the regular curriculum without imposing penalities.
True Irony
The WTA may think that the young players are playing less tournaments, but many players in order to make up for lost wages are busy playing non-ITF but never-the-less prize money events (many throughout Europe) as well as expensive (travel) ITF World Junior events until much older ages just to obtain more competition.
How to Get a Ranking
As you may well know, in order for a player (14 year-old having no ranking) to obtain a WTA computer ranking, she must first qualify in 3 separate Open Qualifying tournaments within the year or receive up to 3 wild cards now available not only in the ITF Satellite events ($5,000 - $75,000, but also in the Tier 1 - 4 events). A 17-year old can receive up to 6 wild cards. This could mean that the non-wild-carded-player coming through the Open Qualifyings of a $10,000 event would need to win up to 3 - 5 matches per tournament to simply get .75 points in a first round main draw loss in the tournament and do this a total of 3 times within the year to even come onto the computer (rankings). Despite having unlimited opportunities to play the Open Qualifyings (the rule states that you can play as many Open Qualifyings as long as you do not win enough rounds to get points). Once you do receive points, you start using up your quota of 7 allotted events. Older players (18 and over) will have the opportunity to play 20 to 30 events per year! Before (the age eligibility rule was even in effect), the player who received no wild cards could at least work their way to the top on their own! Now with the age eligibility rule in effect limiting the number of tournaments that the younger players (14 - 17 year olds) can play, the problem of receiving a decent ranking on your own (without the privileged assistance of the wild card) is further compounded by the new rule stating that rankings will be derived by the points received by playing unlimited tournaments and you can play a gazillion events to get your high ranking only when you are EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD! There is no more adding of points and dividing by the total number of tournaments, just added points for the 18 years and over players. Whoever has the most points, gets the highest ranking.
The Wild Card Benefits
A player at the age of 14 could be wild-carded into three of her seven tournaments and those tournaments could be at the $75,000 level Qualifying (the highest of the ITF Satellite Tour and the tournaments with the most points of the ITF Satellite Tour) as well as the Tier 1 - 4 events. Wins there at all 3 wild-carded $75,000 Qualifying tournaments or higher level events and then later continuing on at say the $25,000 level with the 4 remaining tournaments could propel the wild-carded 14 year-old into the top 200 without too much trouble when combining tournament points with quality points (those points received when a player defeats a top 500 player). Please reference the WTA Rankings and their Fax Back Service (1-727-822-8868) for verification of points. Call the WTA Fax Back service to receive a copy of the Ranking Points Document by pressing # 5909 when prompted to do so. The non-wild-carded 14-year-old-player will never be able to compete at full tilt in those crutial ITF satellite events in order to gain a higher ranking or more importantly see if she really does have what it takes.Wild cards could be tolerated despite heavy stacking of USTA and IMG players, compared to the rest of the world, if the cap would not be put on the total number of tournaments our younger players (14 - 17 year olds) can play. If rankings are determined by the total number of points from unlimited tournaments for the 18 and over player, then what is a younger player supposed to do with 7 to 13 events? Once again, only the wild card girls will push through to a decent ranking, the rest will run out of tournaments and be stuck at the $10,000 level for maybe 3 years.
The Blue Collar Pro
Let's just say the 14 year-old was able to come through 3 Open Qualifyings in a row but lost in the Quarters of each Main Draw of a $10,000. She would have a total of 4.5 ranking points and possibly an extra 2 points from defeating top 500 players (Quality Points) So her total points would be 6.5. By looking at the rankings, she is approximately at rank #776 and this would be a phenomenal start (imagine winning a total of 18 matches in 3 weeks). I'd like to see a major tour player accomplish so much! Remember, this player has no money. She must play the Open Qualifyings consecutively to save money on air fare and ground travel. Maybe this is why satellite players get so tough. It is a shame to have a system that does not let them come on through in a timely fashion. Now, what if she instead went out in the final round of Qualifying each time? She would have won 9 - 12 matches in 3 weeks, but have no ranking. If the 14-year old was averaging a quarterfinal main draw finish in a $10,000 and played her 7 tournament quota, she would end up with at total of around 15 points and a ranking of #575.
But here is the clincher. What if the player were allowed to play an entire 18 tournaments (at least) and able to maintain this pace of points? 18 x 1.5 = 27 plus 3 quality points would equal 30 and give the player a ranking of around #400.
Now the player would be ready to play at the ITF $50,000 level as opposed to being in the main draw of a $10,000 with only 7 events. This limited schedule will impede the young players' progress as well as cause a significant loss of income.
It is not so much the loss of income in these cases, but the rise in the rankings would allow a player to participate in $25,000 - $50,000 events and even entry into a $75,000 Qualifying where the points won in these events could quickly propel a player to the major tour.
Wild Cards
Now, lets look at the wild card girl who could have a decided advantage. If she gets her 3 wild cards into 3 Qualifyings of a $75,000 event (she can now also receive them in Tier 1 - 4 Major Tour events) and has the following results,
one third round loss in the Qualifying = 2 pts. + 3 quality points
one first round loss in the Main Draw = 2.5 pts. + 4 quality points
one round of 16 loss in the Main Draw = 7 pts. + 6 quality points.
That is a total of 34.5 pts. Now her ranking after 3 events is in the low 300's and for her remaining 4 tournaments, she can get into a $50,000 main draw and possibly into a $75,000 qualifying, etc., etc. Anyway, you get the picture. She will advance much faster. She's set, she will come on through most likely, because she is still only 14 years old.Now those wild cards are o.k. if you simply give the blue collar young girl pro a chance to work her way up from the bottom on her own by allowing her to play as many tournaments as she would like to play, or more importantly, needs to play.
Can they do the Math?
This is the only fair way to manage the rankings. By trying to protect the health of the girls you are still managing to drive them all insane when they finally realize the futility of it all. They see that they could have had a much higher ranking and made more money if allowed to play as many tournaments as they would like. Maybe the WTA hopes they never recognize this possibility. Maybe they hope the players are not so good in math; but we all know that the figures will not lie.To compete in pro tennis and try to establish a decent ranking with too few tournaments, as well as having to tolerate heavily wild-carded 14-17-year-olds, is too much to handle and demonstates a gross unfairness to the determined, however unfairly treated, younger players!
Steffi Won her First $10,000 at 13 Years of Age
If history continues to repeat itself, many young, girl players really do play their best tennis from the ages of 14 - 17. Remember, Steffi Graf won her first $10,000 event at age 13. Monica Seles was ripping the cover off of the ball as well as moving with laser speed at the age of 16. If they did not have those developmental opportunities to play as many satellites as needed at a young age, we would not have had the privilege to see these young players perform so well at 16. What a loss to not be able to see such brilliant, young, talent perform at such high levels and at such young ages.If the younger players cannot establish decent rankings, we will not even be able to see these blossoming, young, new crop of pro players until they are 18 or even 21 with the exception of the viewing of the wild card sisters.
Retire at 27? Why Not?
We can all bear witness that the quality of play of many women professionals seems to decline after the age of 18 and 19 as the genes they inherited do not always work in their favor. They start getting those hard to manage woman bodies, if they are not lucky. Actually I believe the players enjoy playing young and finishing their careers early so they can go on with their lives. Play pro tennis from ages 14 - 26 or 27 and then go to college, get married or whatever. What's wrong with that?Before (the age eligibility rule), players could make this serious decision about their tennis future by the time they turned 18 or 19 years old. Normally, if a player has not achieved a top 200 ranking by the age of 18 or 19, the player would most likely opt for college. Now this age eligibility rule will keep our players in limbo and possibly detain them from making this very important decision. Believe it or not many players do make this very important decision at the age of 18 or 19 and do what is best for their future; they do not just hang around because they like to play tennis (well, some do).
Gray-haired ladies of pro tennis! You finally made it! Man (woman) your walkers and proceed with caution to Center Court (play will begin after you rest)! Get your tickets now!
Bottom line: Let the players decide for themselves when to begin play and how much they want to play and if it is in the opinion of the governing board from the WTA that there is a reasonable case of child abuse due to an overly aggressive mother, father or coach, then bring in child protective services to review the case. Otherwise, just let the players decide for themselves.
One Bad Experience One bad experience with one player is no excuse for this really bad rule that hurts those players, many like Steffi Graf (who was capable of winning a $10,000 event at age 13) who would also like the opportunity, just like Steffi had, to participate in a full schedule and get on with their pro careers in a timely fashion.If you are interested in voicing your opinion either for or against the age eligibility rule, please contact the WTA Tour.
Limbo Land
The following two tables demonstrate the true impact of the Age Eligibility Rule. Remember it is not so much the money, but the loss of point opportunities that really slow down a player's progress to the major tour, so much that a player is forced to wait until they are maybe 19 to see if they are even pro material. Before, a player could tell if they were going to make it pretty much by the age of 18 or 19. Normally if a player had not reached the top 200 by 18 or 19, it was time to make the decision to go on to college or at least on with your life to something new. Limbo, that is all the players are in now because of this rule!
Projected Rankings and Earnings if a Player were Allowed to Play a Full 18 Tournaments or Play Unlimited Tournaments. All StatisticsBased on First Round Losses in the $10,000 ITF Satellite Events
| Age |
Limited Number of Tournaments |
Approximate Points/Ranking |
Approximate Prize Money |
Approximate Projected Points/Ranking with 18 Events |
Approximate Projected Prize Money |
| 14 |
7 |
4.25/#857 |
$700 |
9.75/#688 |
$1,800 |
| 15 |
8 |
4.75/#857 |
$800 |
9.75/#688 |
$1,800 |
| 16 |
10 |
5.75/#819 |
$1,000 |
9.75/#688 |
$1,800 |
| 17 |
13 |
7.25/#746 |
$1,300 |
9.75/#688 |
$1,800 |
| 18 |
18+ (unlimited) |
18 best results 9.75/#688 |
$2,500 |
not applicable |
not applicable |
Projected Rankings and Earnings if a Player were Allowed to Play a Full 18 Tournaments or Play Unlimited Tournaments. All Statistics Based on second round losses in a $10,000 Satellite Event
| Age |
Limited Number of Tournaments |
Approximate Points/Ranking |
Approximate Prize Money |
Approximate Projected Points/Ranking with 18 Events |
Approximate Projected Prize Money |
| 14 |
7 |
7.0/#773 |
$1,575 |
18.0/#531 |
$4,050 |
| 15 |
8 |
8.0/#707 |
$1,800 |
18.0/#531 |
$4,050 |
| 16 |
10 |
10.0/#662 |
$2,250 |
18.0/#531 |
$4,050 |
| 17 |
13 |
13.0/#612 |
$2,925 |
18.0/#531 |
$4,050 |
| 18 |
18+ (unlimited) |
18 best results 18.0/#531 |
$4,050 |
not applicable |
not applicable |
Competition in a professional tennis tournament is defined as participation in the singles or doubles Main Draw, or the singles or doubles Qualifying Draw of a WTA TOUR or ITF Women's Circuit Tournament. However, participation in the Qualifying Draws of ITF Women's Circuit Tournaments in which WTA TOUR Ranking Points are not awarded does not constitute competition in a professional tennis tournament under this rule. Thank God for this provision so that the younger players do not use up their quota of tournaments in the Open Qualifyings. At least there are unlimited attempts while trying to establish a computer ranking.
|
Age
|
WTA Tour*1
|
ITF Women's Circuit*1
|
Grand Slams*1
|
Wild Cards*3
|
Fed Cup
|
Exhibition/Non-Tour Events*4
|
|
18
|
Unlimited
|
Unlimited
|
All
|
Tour Max
|
Yes
|
Unlimited, subject to Exhibition/Non-Tour Event Rule
|
|
17
|
13+Champs+Grand Slam Cup*2
|
Any she qualifies for by her ranking*2
|
3 Main Draw
3 Qualifying Draw
|
Yes
|
4, subject to Exhibition/Non-Tour Event Rule
|
|
16
|
10+Champs+Grand Slam Cup*2
|
Any she qualifies for by her ranking*2
|
3
|
Yes
|
3, subject to Exhibition/Non-Tour Event Rule
|
|
15
|
8+Champs+Grand Slam Cup*2
|
Any she qualifies for by her ranking*2
|
3 (maximum of 2 into WTA TOUR Tier I - IV, remainder must be Tier III/IV and/or ITF)
|
Yes
|
1, subject to Exhibition/Non-Tour Event Rule
|
|
14
|
3
|
7*5
|
0
|
3 (maximum of 1 into a WTA TOUR Tier I - IV, remainder must be ITF-Main Draw or Qualifying)
|
Qualifying Rounds only |
1, subject to Exhibition/Non-Tour Event Rule
|
|
13
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
*1 For the purposes of the Age Eligibility Rule and this Tournament Restriction Chart, a Tournament is defined as any singles or doubles Main Draw, or singles or doubles Qualifying Draw of any WTA TOUR Tournaments or ITF Women's Circuit event that receives WTA TOUR Ranking Points. However, if a player participates in the Qualifying Draw and qualifies for the Main Draw, it will count as only one Tournament. Similarly, if a player is competing in both the singles and doubles draws, it will count as only one Tournament.
*2 If a player has completed the Player Development Program requirements and is accepted into a Grand Slam based on her ranking, then her participation in that Grand Slam is in addition to her allotted number of tournaments under the Age Eligibility Rule. However, if a player gains acceptance to a Grand slam via a Wild Card, both the tournament and Wild Card are counted toward both her total allotment of tournaments and Wild Cards or if a player earns entry into a Grand Slam and has not completed her Player Development Program requirements then participation in the tournament is counted toward her total allotment of tournaments.
*3 In order to qualify for any Wild Card into any WTA TOUR Tournament, a player must have enrolled in the Tour's Player Development Program and be current with all of her Player Development Program requirements. If it is not feasible to enroll in advance of the tournament, the player must enroll immediately afterward. Wild Cards into Grand Slams at 15, 16 and 17 years of age are subject to individual Grand Slam Tournament approval. However, the recommendaton of the Age Eligibility Advisory Panel is that Wild Cards should not be permitted for players under the age of 17, unless the Wild Card is merit-based. Fourteen (14) year-olds may not participate in Grand Slams.
NOTE: For additional information on Wild Cards, see section III.I.A.3.
4 For the purposes of the Age Elgibility Rule and this Tournament Restriction Chart, a Non-tour Event is defined as any tennis competition between two (2) or more players who compete in professional Tournaments whether or not the players receive financial renumberation for their participation in the event, which is not recognized on the WTA TOUR or ITF Women's Circuit Calendars. Therse events include single-day, multiple-day, week-long and seasonal team-oriented competitions and charity events but exclude national interclub and national championships in which only nationals from that country compete.
5 Players between the ages of fourteen (14) and fifteen (15) are permitted to compete in a maximum of seven (7) ITF Women's Circuit Tournaments, no more than four (4) of which may be for prize money of greater than $10,000.
ITF Women's Satellites and Challengers: Tel.: (44)-171-381-8060 or
Fax Back: 011-44-181-878-4800
Fax: 011-171-610-3422 or 171-381-4207
e-mail: womens@itftennis.com
