Grand Prix tennis circuit

Background

Before the Open Era, popular professional tennis players, such as Suzanne Lenglen and Vincent Richards, were contracted to professional promoters. Amateur players were under the jurisdiction of their national (and international) federations. Later professional promoters, such as Bill Tilden and Jack Kramer, often convinced leading amateurs like Pancho Gonzales and Rod Laver to join their tours with promises of good prize money. But these successes led to financial difficulties when players were paid too much and falling attendances resulted in reduced takings.

In the early 1960s, the professional tour began to fall apart. It survived only because the U.S. Pro Tennis Championships, having been unable to give prize money to its 1963 winner, received prize money from the First National Bank of Boston for its 1964 tournament. At the same time, the concept of "shamateurism" – amateur promoters paying players under the table to ensure they remained amateurs – had become apparent to Herman David, the chairman of the Wimbledon Championships.

In 1967, David announced that a professional tournament would be held at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club after the 1967 Wimbledon Championships. This tournament was televised by the BBC and built public support for professional tennis. In late 1967, the best of the amateur players turned professional, paving the way for the first open tournament. Some professionals were independent at this time, such as Lew Hoad, Luis Ayala, and Owen Davidson, but most of the best players came under contract to one of two professional tours:

• The National Tennis League (NTL), run by George McCall and Fred Podesta.
  • Rod Laver, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Andrés Gimeno, Pancho Gonzales, and Fred Stolle
• World Championship Tennis (WCT), run by David F. Dixon, Albert G. Hill Jr., and Lamar Hunt.
  • Handsome Eight: John Newcombe, Tony Roche, Niki Pilić, Roger Taylor, Pierre Barthès, Butch Buchholz, Cliff Drysdale, and Dennis Ralston.

When the Open Era began in 1968, tournaments often found themselves deprived of NTL or WCT players. The first open tournament, the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth, was played without WCT players, as was that year's French Open. In 1970, NTL players did not play in the Australian Open because their organization did not receive a guarantee.

Formation of the Grand Prix

The manipulation of Grand Slam tournaments by professional promoters at the start of the Open Era led promoter Jack Kramer, the top male tennis player in the world in the 1940s and 1950s, to conceive of the Grand Prix in 1969. He described it as "a series of tournaments with a money bonus pool that would be split up on the basis of a cumulative point system." This would encourage the best players to compete regularly in the series, so that they could share in the bonus at the end and qualify for the special championship tournament climaxing the year.

When only a few contract players showed up for the 1970 French Open, the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) approved Kramer's Grand Prix proposal. In April 1970, its president Ben Barnett announced the creation of the Grand Prix circuit, on an experimental basis during its first year.

The first World Championship Tennis tournament was held 20 January 1968 in Sydney, Australia. The first NTL tournament was held 18–21 March 1968 in São Paulo, Brazil. In July 1970, the WCT absorbed the NTL. In 1971, WCT ran a twenty-tournament circuit with the year-ending WCT Finals held in November. At the end of 1970, a panel of journalists had ranked the best players in the world. The best thirty-two men based on this ranking were invited to play the 1971 WCT circuit, which included Ilie Năstase, Stan Smith, Jan Kodeš, Željko Franulović, and Clark Graebner.

The Australian Open was part of the WCT circuit while the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open were Grand Prix events. The conflict between the ILTF (running the Grand Prix) and WCT was so strong that Rosewall, Gimeno, Laver, Emerson, and other WCT players boycotted the 1971 US Open. The third professional circuit that year was the U. S. Indoor Circuit run by Bill Riordan, the future manager of Jimmy Connors.

In July 1971, the ILTF voted to ban all WCT contract professionals from competing in ILTF tournaments and from using ILTF facilities from the beginning of 1972 onwards. The 1972 editions of the French Open and the Wimbledon Championships excluded all contract professional players. Then in April 1972, the ILTF and WCT agreed to divide the 1973 tour into a WCT circuit that ran from January through May and a Grand Prix circuit that ran for the rest of the year. The conflict between the ILTF and WCT led all tennis players to attend the 1972 US Open where they agreed to form their own syndicate, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), through the efforts of Jack Kramer, Donald Dell, and Cliff Drysdale.

In 1973, there were four rival professional circuits: the WCT circuit battled with the U. S. Indoor Circuit from January to April and the Grand Prix until July; both tours competed with the "European Spring Circuit" until June.

In that same year, the ATP created controversy by calling for a boycott of the 1973 Wimbledon Championships after one of its members, Niki Pilić, was suspended by the Yugoslav Tennis Federation for failing to play in a Davis Cup tie against New Zealand. The ATP boycott went ahead after negotiations failed, with only three members of the organisation – Roger Taylor, Ilie Năstase, and Ray Keldie – breaking the picket. They were later fined for this. The men's draws for that year were subsequently made up of second-string players, lucky losers, and older players such as Neale Fraser, who reached the final of the men's doubles with fellow Australian John Cooper. The draw also showcased future talents such as Björn Borg, Vijay Amritraj, Sandy Mayer, and John Lloyd amid record crowds.

Governance

The governance of the Grand Prix was led by the Men's International Professional Tennis Council (MIPTC) from 1974 through 1989. (Its name was shortened to the Men's Tennis Council (MTC) in 1988.) The MIPTC's duties included imposing fines for violations of its Code of Conduct, drug testing, and administrating the Grand Prix circuit. It also moved the Australian Open from its December date – which had been adopted in 1977 so that it could be included in the Grand Prix points system – to January for the 1987 edition so that the Grand Prix Masters could be held in December from 1986 onwards. It failed, however, to prevent the number of tournaments on the Grand Prix circuit from growing, with 48 being held in 1974 compared to 75 in 1989.

Integration and the end

The WCT and Grand Prix circuits were separate until 1978, when the Grand Prix circuit integrated the WCT circuit. In 1982, the WCT circuit split from the Grand Prix again and created a more complex WCT ranking, similar to the ATP ranking. The split was short-lived, however, and in 1985 the Grand Prix absorbed the four remaining WCT tournaments.

During the 1988 US Open the ATP, led by then-World No. 1 Mats Wilander, staged an impromptu meeting known as the "Parking Lot Press Conference" during failed negotiations with the MTC over the organisation of the Grand Prix and key issues such as player fatigue. During this press conference, the ATP declared that it would be starting its own tour in 1990, meaning that the 1989 Grand Prix would effectively be its last. The final event of the Grand Prix was the Nabisco Masters Doubles held at the Royal Albert Hall 6–10 December 1989. Its last champions were Jim Grabb and Patrick McEnroe, who beat John Fitzgerald and Anders Järryd in the final.

Formation of the ATP Tour

In 1990, the Association of Tennis Professionals, led by Hamilton Jordan, replaced the MTC as the sole governing body of men's professional tennis and the ATP Tour was born. The nine most prestigious Grand Prix tournaments became known as the "Championship Series Single Week" from 1990 through 1995. In 1996, Mercedes began sponsoring these series of events, renamed as the "Super 9" until 1999. In 2000, they became known as the "Tennis Masters Series" until 2004, then the "ATP Masters Series" until 2009. They are now called the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments. Grand Prix tournaments below this level were originally called the Grand Prix Super Series. They were retained by the ATP and renamed as the "Championship Series". All remaining Grand Prix Tour events became part of the "World Series".

Seasons and sponsors

Based on USLTA Tennis Yearbooks and Guides and World of Tennis yearbooks the history of sponsors is as follows:

• 1970 Pepsi-Cola Grand Prix
• 1971 Pepsi-Cola Grand Prix
• 1972 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix
• 1973 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix
• 1974 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix
• 1975 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix
• 1976 Commercial Union Assurance Grand Prix{{cite news
• 1977 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix
• 1978 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix
• 1979 Colgate-Palmolive Grand Prix
• 1980 Volvo Grand Prix
• 1981 Volvo Grand Prix
• 1982 Volvo Grand Prix
• 1983 Volvo Grand Prix
• 1984 Volvo Grand Prix
• 1985 Nabisco Grand Prix
• 1986 Nabisco Grand Prix
• 1987 Nabisco Grand Prix
• 1988 Nabisco Grand Prix
• 1989 Nabisco Grand Prix

Season-end rankings

NB: All rankings were calculated using the Grand Prix points system and do not necessarily reflect the ATP rankings at the same time.

1970

1. USA C. Richey

2. USA A. Ashe

3. AUS K. Rosewall

4. AUS R. Laver

5. USA S. Smith

6. YUG Ž. Franulović

7. AUS J. Newcombe

8. CZS J. Kodeš

9. AUS T. Roche

10. AUS B. Carmichael 1971

11. USA S. Smith

12. ROU I. Năstase

13. YUG Ž. Franulović

14. CZS J. Kodeš

15. USA C. Richey

16. AUS J. Newcombe

17. FRA P. Barthès

18. AUS K. Rosewall

19. USA C. Graebner

20. USA To. Gorman 1972

21. ROU I. Năstase

22. USA S. Smith

23. ESP M. Orantes

24. CZS J. Kodeš

25. ESP A. Gimeno

26. RSA B. Hewitt

27. USA J. Connors

28. USA To. Gorman

29. Rhodesia A. Pattison

30. FRA P. Proisy 1973

31. ROU I. Năstase

32. AUS J. Newcombe

33. NED T. Okker

34. USA J. Connors

35. ESP M. Orantes

36. CZS J. Kodeš

37. USA S. Smith

38. USA To. Gorman

39. SWE B. Borg

40. USA A. Ashe 1974

41. ARG G. Vilas

42. USA J. Connors

43. ESP M. Orantes

44. SWE B. Borg

45. MEX R. Ramírez

46. ROU I. Năstase

47. AUS O. Parun

48. USA H. Solomon

49. USA A. Ashe

50. USA S. Smith 1975

51. ARG G. Vilas

52. ESP M. Orantes

53. SWE B. Borg

54. USA A. Ashe

55. ROU I. Năstase

56. USA J. Connors

57. MEX R. Ramírez

58. ITA A. Panatta

59. USA H. Solomon

60. USA E. Dibbs 1976

61. MEX R. Ramírez

62. ESP M. Orantes

63. USA J. Connors

64. USA E. Dibbs

65. USA H. Solomon

66. ARG G. Vilas

67. USA R. Tanner

68. POL W. Fibak

69. USA B. Gottfried

70. SWE B. Borg 1977

71. ARG G. Vilas

72. USA B. Gottfried

73. SWE B. Borg

74. ESP M. Orantes

75. USA E. Dibbs

76. USA R. Tanner

77. MEX R. Ramírez

78. USA J. Connors

79. USA V. Gerulaitis

80. USA H. Solomon 1978

81. USA J. Connors

82. SWE B. Borg

83. USA E. Dibbs

84. MEX R. Ramírez

85. USA H. Solomon

86. USA J. McEnroe

87. ARG G. Vilas

88. USA B. Gottfried

89. ITA C. Barazzutti

90. USA A. Ashe 1979

91. USA J. McEnroe

92. SWE B. Borg

93. USA J. Connors

94. ARG G. Vilas

95. USA V. Gerulaitis

96. USA R. Tanner

97. ESP J. Higueras

98. USA H. Solomon

99. USA E. Dibbs

100. PAR V. Pecci 1980

101. USA J. McEnroe

102. CZS I. Lendl

103. USA J. Connors

104. SWE B. Borg

105. USA G. Mayer

106. USA H. Solomon

107. ARG G. Vilas

108. ARG J. L. Clerc

109. USA E. Teltscher

110. USA B. Teacher 1981

111. CZS I. Lendl

112. USA J. McEnroe

113. USA J. Connors

114. ARG J. L. Clerc

115. ARG G. Vilas

116. SWE B. Borg

117. USA R. Tanner

118. USA E. Teltscher

119. USA V. Gerulaitis

120. FRA Y. Noah 1982

121. USA J. Connors

122. ARG G. Vilas

123. CZS I. Lendl

124. USA J. McEnroe

125. SWE M. Wilander

126. USA V. Gerulaitis

127. ESP J. Higueras

128. RSA J. Kriek

129. ECU A. Gómez

130. USA S. Denton 1983

131. SWE M. Wilander

132. CZS I. Lendl

133. USA J. McEnroe

134. USA J. Connors

135. FRA Y. Noah

136. USA J. Arias

137. ESP J. Higueras

138. ECU A. Gómez

139. ARG J. L. Clerc

140. USA E. Teltscher 1984

141. USA J. McEnroe

142. USA J. Connors

143. CZS I. Lendl

144. SWE M. Wilander

145. ECU A. Gómez

146. SWE J. Nyström

147. SWE H. Sundström

148. USA E. Teltscher

149. SWE A. Järryd

150. CZS T. Šmíd 1985

151. CZS I. Lendl

152. USA J. McEnroe

153. SWE M. Wilander

154. SWE S. Edberg

155. FRG B. Becker

156. USA J. Connors

157. FRA Y. Noah

158. SWE A. Järryd

159. RSA J. Kriek

160. SWE J. Nyström 1986

161. CZS I. Lendl

162. FRG B. Becker

163. SWE S. Edberg

164. SWE J. Nyström

165. FRA Y. Noah

166. SWE M. Wilander

167. FRA H. Leconte

168. ECU A. Gómez

169. USA J. Connors

170. SVK M. Mečíř 1987

171. CZS I. Lendl

172. SWE S. Edberg

173. SWE M. Wilander

174. SVK M. Mečíř

175. FRG B. Becker

176. USA J. Connors

177. AUS P. Cash

178. USA B. Gilbert

179. USA T. Mayotte

180. ECU A. Gómez 1988

181. SWE M. Wilander

182. FRG B. Becker

183. SWE S. Edberg

184. USA A. Agassi

185. CZS I. Lendl

186. FRA H. Leconte

187. USA J. Connors

188. USA T. Mayotte

189. SUI J. Hlasek

190. SWE K. Carlsson 1989

191. CZS I. Lendl

192. FRG B. Becker

193. SWE S. Edberg

194. USA B. Gilbert

195. USA J. McEnroe

196. USA M. Chang

197. USA A. Agassi

198. USA A. Krickstein

199. ARG A. Mancini

200. USA J. Berger

Grand Prix circuit winners

References

References

1. (18 July 2011). "The Relationships among Stakeholders in the Organization of Men's Professional Tennis Events". Universal-Publishers.
2. (9 April 1970). "ILTF agreement for Grand Prix tennis circuit to start". The New York Times.
3. GBMR. ''The Relationships among Stakeholders in the Organization of Men's Professional Tennis Events''. pp.141-151.
4. "How It All Began". Association of Tennis Professionals.
5. (3 January 1969). "Grand Prix for Open Tennis Suggested by Jack Kramer". [[Schenectady Gazette]].
6. Jack Kramer, with Frank Deford. (1979). "The Game: My 40 Years in Tennis". Putnam.
7. (9 April 1970). "Tennis Gets A Grand Prix". The Sydney Morning Herald.
8. (26 January 1976). "Grand Prix Tennis European Circuit". The Lakeland Ledger.
9. "History". International Tennis Federation.
10. Andrew Warshaw. (15 January 1989). "Men's tennis officials preparing for tour turmoil". The Daily Union.
11. (5 March 1990). "Newsbank Archive LA Times Reference to name". [[The Los Angeles Times]].
12. Chloe Francis. (9 May 2009). "Masters 1000 Tournaments: The Toughest Test?". Bleacher Report.
13. (23 June 1970). "Pepsi Cola Company Sponsorship". The New York Times.
14. (5 November 1976). "Colgate Palmolive sponsorship". The Sydney Morning Herald.
15. (5 September 1988). "Volvo Sponsorship". [[The New York Times]].
16. (28 September 1989). "Nabisco Sponsorship". [[The New York Times]].
17. (1977). "World of tennis 1977 : a BP yearbook". Macdonald & Jane's.
18. (1982). "Slazengers world of tennis 1982 : the official yearbook of the International Tennis Federation". Queen Anne Press.
19. (1983). "Slazengers world of tennis. 1983". Queen Anne Press.
20. (1987). "World of tennis 1987". Willow Books.
21. (1989). "World of tennis. 1989". Collins.
22. (1990). "World of tennis, 1990". Collins Willow.