ITF World Tennis Tour Year in Numbers: Players Make Their Mark in Challenging Year

London – Dec. 23, 2020 (PRNewswire) The International Tennis Federation Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Tour (WTT) has still seen almost 5,000 players compete in over 300 tournaments in 2020, with a number of impressive performances and milestones, despite the disruption of the calendar caused by the pandemic.

Four-time winners Alessandro Bega (ITA) and Kacper Zuk (POL) top the list for most titles on the Men’s WTT. Lucas Catarina (MON) won a tour-leading 36 singles matches and Evan Furness (FRA) recorded the longest match-winning streak of the year with 19 consecutive wins in October and November, picking up three consecutive M15 titles in the process.

Qinwen Zheng (CHN) and Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) also finish the year with the most titles on the Women’s WTT with four titles each, while Andreea Amalia Rosca (ROU) recorded the most singles match-wins, with 43. Sina Hermann (GER) had the best match-winning streak of the year with 15 consecutive singles wins in September and October, as she won the titles at W25 Grado and W15 Monastir.

The year began positively with an increased number of events scheduled in the first quarter compared to the first quarter of 2019 before the shutdown of the WTT in March. The Tours were able to resume in August under the ITF Return to Tennis protocols to protect the health and safety of all participants. Tunisia finish the year having hosted more WTT events than any other country, with two tournaments in the final two weeks taking their total to 44 in 2020.

Provisional calendars for 2021 are now available on itftennis.com across the ITF circuits; Men’s and Women’s World Tennis Tour, UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour, World Tennis Tour Juniors, ITF Seniors Tour and the ITF Beach Tennis Tour.

All ITF circuits are working closely with stakeholders to ensure that as far as possible, playing opportunities are maintained, with measures in place to provide flexibility to tournaments and players who continue to face challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

2021 Provisional calendars

The provisional calendars for each ITF circuit can be accessed via the following links:

Men’s World Tennis Tour

Women’s World Tennis Tour

Beach Tennis World Tour

ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors

ITF Seniors Tennis Tour

UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour

Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1391423/ITF_World_Tennis_Tour_Infographic.jpg

SOURCE: International Tennis Federation

Chasing 24 – Serena Williams Poised to Rewrite Record Books

Source: Statista

When Serena Williams faces off with her old rival and fellow mother Victoria Azarenka from Belarus on Thursday night, she won’t just be playing for a spot in the US Open final. Having won her last Grand Slam tournament in 2017, before giving birth to her daughter Alexis Olympia Ohanian, Williams is looking to rewrite tennis history books by matching Margaret Court’s record 24 major titles.

Having surpassed Steffi Graf for the most Grand Slam titles in the Open Era (post 1968) in 2017, Williams has had her eyes set on Court’s record for three years now, and at age 38 it’s unclear how much longer she’ll keep playing tennis professionally.

Aside from matching Margaret Court, winning a Grand Slam title as a mother would certainly be of special significance to Williams, who has been very outspoken about the difficulties of balancing parenthood and the life of a professional athlete.