Challenger Tour

The ATP Challenger Tour is the second-highest level of men's professional tennis, directly below the ATP Tour and above the ITF World Tennis Tour. The ATP describes it as "the bridge between potential and the world's biggest stages": hundreds of tournaments a season in more than 55 countries, where players compete for prize money and the ranking points that get them into ATP main draws and the majors. Events come in five categories named for the champion's points, Challenger 50, 75, 100, 125 and 175, with 2026 prize money from 63,000 to 300,000 US dollars per event.

When you see it

Challenger results rarely make headlines, but they explain a lot of what you see on the main tour: the qualifier who reaches a Slam's second week has usually spent the previous year winning Challengers, and a former top-20 player coming back from injury on a protected ranking often plays them to rebuild. The ATP's own summary is that the top 100 is "the gateway to main-draw entry at ATP Tour events and the season's four majors", and the Challenger Tour is where that gateway is reached. The circuit began in 1978. A Challenger title counts in the rankings like an ATP 250 result, among the "best other" tournaments: six of them for a player who has filled every Slam and mandatory Masters slot, more for a player who has not.

Rule basis

ATP Official Rulebook, Chapter I, 1.01: "ATP Tour tournaments and ATP Challenger Tour tournaments are governed by ATP", with the same regulations applying to both unless otherwise specified.