British Tour

The tournaments are open age group category with a mixture of adults and juniors competing. The tournaments are grade 1 (Premier & Tier 1) & grade 2 (Tier 2) and therefore primarily aimed at players with a rating of 4.2 or better, although any rating may enter. 

Both men’s and women’s singles events are run at each tournament. Most tournaments start on a Monday. Qualifying draws feed through to the main draw which usually commence on the Wednesday with the Finals normally scheduled on the Saturday. Matches are scheduled during the daytime.

In 2018 there will be some 3 day LTA British Tour events with a Thursday-Saturday, or Friday-Sunday format. These will have one men’s and one women’s draw (no qualifying event), each with a typical draw size of 28, playing a match tie-break as the final set. Match schedule day - 1 1st round; day 2 last 16 & quarter-final; day 3 semi-final & final. Refer to tournament information specific for that event. 

There will also be a 4 day event at Woking, which will operate a one day qualifying on the Wednesday, with main draw Thursday-Saturday.

For any LTA British Tour event, please check the Tournament Schedule, or with the event referee for exact days and dates, as these may vary.

Some of the tournaments are solely an LTA British Tour competition with Men’s and Women’s Singles. However, some of the tournaments in the summer (e.g. Ilkley, Newcastle, & Sutton) are part of a larger tournament, which also offer other events (this will be viewable when entering the competition online).

Order of acceptances is based on ATP/WTA singles ranking, followed by LTA rating at the entry deadline. 

(Open ranking will be used to determine the order of players with the same rating). Seeding in all draws is based on ATP/WTA singles ranking, followed by LTA rating (and then Open ranking) at the time of making the qualifying draw (7 day rank). Once qualifying draws have been published, only in exceptional circumstances, will any players be moved from a qualifying draw to the main draw.

All draw sizes will vary according to the number of entries, and number of courts available. 

Results from all British Tour events count towards LTA rating, LTA ranking, and Universal Tennis Rankings (UTR).

1-4 wild cards per main draw may be awarded at the discretion of the Tournament Director providing the wild card applicant is within the main draw acceptance cut-off for that tournament. In certain circumstances and if there are spaces in the main draw, this number may be increased at the discretion of the LTA British Tour Tournament Director. A wild card may be awarded to a player who has not entered the tournament. A wild card may also be awarded into the relevant Qualifying or Pre-Qualifying draw, to a non-entered player of the relevant rating, in a situation where all the originally entered players have moved into the event. In both the above instances a Wild Card may be seeded. 

For wild card requests please contact the LTA British Tour Tournament Director, by Friday (midday) before the event for Main Draw, and by the withdrawal deadline for Qualifying or any Pre-Qualifying. 

Wild cards will normally be allocated in order of ATP/WTA world ranking, followed by LTA rating (LTA Open ranking will be used to determine the order of players with the same rating).

A separate process exists for the Tier 3 LTA British Tour FAST4 events.

The following rules apply when there is a LTA GB Pro-Series/ ITF Pro-Circuit, ATP/WTA Tour and a LTA British Tour in the same week:

• If a player is in the main draw of a Pro event (LTA GB Pro-Series/ITF Pro/ATP/WTA) singles or doubles they cannot compete in an LTA British Tour in the same week.
• If a player is in the qualifying of a Pro event (LTA GB Pro-Series/ITF Pro/ATP/WTA) they may also compete in an LTA British Tour in the same week – if a player qualifies for the main draw of the Pro event then they must withdraw (free from penalty) from the LTA British Tour. At ATP / WTA events a player losing in Qualifying still needs to be ‘released’ by the ATP / WTA Supervisor.
• A player must have lost in the qualifying of a Pro event, before playing their first match in the LTA British Tour.

It is the player’s responsibility to contact the relevant LTA British Tour event.

All singles matches are the best of 3 tie break sets (unless otherwise stated). A small number of finals will be appointed a chair umpire to officiate the match. A referee will be on-site for the duration of all tournaments. 

A leader board will operate for LTA British Tour tournaments. The points allocated to each tournament follow the LTA British Tennis rankings point’s distribution for grade 1, 2, & 3 tournaments, with enhanced leader board points for a player reaching the last four of a Premier Tier. Only main draw points count towards the leader board (see below). Points gained from ALL LTA British Tour events played count towards the Leader Board. This breakdown is as follows:

Points allocated for leader board positions will fall in line with the LTA ranking’s points for grade 1, 2, & 3 events. Player’s reaching the last 4 of a Premier Tier event, receive 1.5 the number of points of a grade 1 event.

Points are assigned to the losers of the round indicated above. A player needs to have played and won a match to receive points allocated for losers of last 16, and beyond.

See LTA British Tour Masters information, for how players qualify for the year end Masters.

Equal prize money is available in men’s and women’s main draws.

By entering a LTA British Tour event, a player is expected to be available to compete in each part of the event which they progress to. If a player is unable to start a match or withdraws from a match (including due to a prior commitment), the LTA British Tour Tournament Director may decide to withhold all or part of any prize (including any prize money) won by the player. Where the LTA British Tour Tournament Director decides to withhold any prize pursuant to this paragraph, they will notify the player as soon as practicable. The player may appeal against the Tournament Director’s decision by providing written notice of the appeal, with details of the evidence that will be provided in support of the appeal, to the LTA Disciplinary Officer (at ltadiscipline@lta.org.uk) within 72 hours of receipt of the notification of the decision to withhold all or part of the prize. In addition, where a club has increased the prize money, the club and tournament may withhold all or part of this additional sum.

The Prize money break down for 2018 is as follows:

There are some events which have increased the prize money stated above, for example, Sutton in August. 

Wild cards to LTA GB Pro-Series tournaments will be available to British players as follows. 

Men:

• Winner of a LTA British Tour Premier or Tier 1 event will receive a wild card into the main draw of LTA GB Pro-Series tournament in 2018 ($15k) - to be determined by the LTA Men’s Performance Team. There will be a maximum of 3 main draw wild cards for men i.e. if a player win’s 4 Tier 1 events in 2018, they would only be entitled to request a main draw wild card for 3 LTA GB Pro-Series events
• Winner of a LTA British Tour Tier 2 event will receive a wild card into the qualifying draw of a men’s LTA GB Pro-Series tournament in 2018 ($15k) - to be determined by the LTA Men’s Performance Team
• If a player wins 3 LTA British Tour Tier 2 events during 2018 they will receive a wild card into the main draw of a LTA GB Pro-Series tournament in 2018 ($15k) - to be determined by the LTA Men’s Performance Team

Players need to make a timely request, to the appropriate person in the LTA Men’s Performance Team. Which event the wild card is awarded, is at the discretion of the LTA Men’s Performance Team.

Women:

• Winner of 2 LTA British Tour Premier events in 2018 will receive a wild card into the main draw of a LTA GB Pro-Series tournament ($25k) within a 12 month period- to be determined by the LTA Women’s Performance Team.
• Winner of 1 LTA British Tour Premier event, or 2 Tier 1 events in 2018 will receive a wild card into the qualifying draw of a women’s LTA GB Pro-Series tournament ($25k) within a 12 month period - to be determined by the LTA Women’s Performance Team
• If a player wins 3 LTA British Tour Tier 2 events during 2018 they will receive a wild card into the qualifying draw of a women’s LTA GB Pro-Series tournament ($25k) within a 12 month period - to be determined by the LTA Women’s Performance Team.

Players need to make a timely request to the appropriate person in the LTA Women’s Performance Team. Which event the wild card is awarded, is at the discretion of the LTA Women’s Performance Team.

1.North Oxford (Premier Tier) 27 May-1 June, the winner of the Men’s & Women’s events will receive a wild card into the LTA Wimbledon Wild Card Play Offs. If the winner does not require a Wild Card, this will be released.

2.A wild card slot will also be allocated to the player at the top of the LTA British Tour leader board after North Oxford (27 May-1 June). If not required by the player at the top this will be offered to the second placed player, and then down to the third placed player only. If the wild card is then not taken up it will be released.

Download the LTA Wimbledon wild card play offs fact sheet.

In 2018, the male and female players who finish top of the Leader board, after the LTA British Tour tournaments staged during 2018 (excluding the Masters), will receive a Bonus Pool payment of £500.00. Where there are two or more players at the top of the Leader board on the same number of points, the £500.00 Bonus Pool payment will be equally shared.