The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players.
History
It serves as a developmental circuit for the WTA Tour, which is run by the independent Women's Tennis Association (WTA). There are several hundred ITF Women's Circuit tournaments each year, spread across all six inhabited continents, with prize money ranging from US$15,000 to US$100,000.[1] Players who succeed on the ITF Women's Circuit earn sufficient points to be eligible for qualifying draw or main draw entry to WTA tournaments.
Until 2011 the ITF Women's Circuit was the level immediately below the main WTA Tour, but in 2012 the WTA introduced an intermediate level, the WTA 125 tournaments.
There is also an ITF Men's Circuit, but it only incorporates the lower-level Futures tournaments. Mid-level men's tournaments, equivalent to the WTA 125 tournaments and the bigger money events on the ITF Women's Circuit, come under the aegis of the ATP as part of the ATP Challenger Tour.
In 2019, reforms was made to the circuit, renaming it the ITF World Tennis Tour as a new umbrella name for former Pro Circuit and Junior Circuit tournaments and will serve as the player pathway between the junior game and the elite levels of professional tennis.
The launch of the tour is the culmination of a series of ITF reforms designed to support talented junior players in their progression to the senior game, and target the prize money effectively at professional tournaments to enable more players to make a living as professionals.[2]
