2020 ITA Summer Circuit Update

**Updates: Thursday, July 2, 2020**

Dear Parents and Players,

Hope all is well with each of you and your families. 

 First, let me extend my thanks for your support of the 2020 Oracle ITA Summer Circuit. We know that you are anxious to get back out on the courts and have tried our best to provide as many opportunities as possible in as many areas of the country as possible. This has certainly been a challenge and we appreciate your patience as we worked through this process.

As many of you get ready to play in one of the 2020 circuit events, we wanted to take a moment to stress the importance of adhering to health safety protocols at all circuit events. It is critically important that all players, parents, coaches, etc. comply with the health safety procedures stated on the UTR tournament home pages, at participating facilities and in email communications from tournament directors. Failure to comply with stated health safety protocols not only endangers yourself and others, but it hurts our ability to promote tennis as a social distancing sport and puts into question the short-term viability of tennis tournaments at all levels of our sport.  

Please know that the ITA will support a tournament director who chooses to remove players from the draw who are not in compliance with stated safety procedures. While a decision such as this is ultimately up to the discretion of each individual tournament director, the ITA fully supports measures that help ensure a safe environment for all involved. Please make sure you carefully review the stated safety protocols for each tournament on the UTR tournament homepage and at participating facilities. If you have any questions or concerns regarding these procedures, please reach out to the tournament director. 

Thank you for your cooperation during this difficult time. Best of luck to each of you this summer!

Best, Cory Brooks ITA Senior Director – Championships, Rankings, Rules & Officiating

**Updates: Thursday, June 11, 2020**

The Week 1 & 2 events in Long Beach, California have been removed from the schedule. Public health officials ultimately decided that these events should not take place. We did make an addition to the SoCal region adding an event in Week 2, which is hosted by Nelson Emery and Mark Weil at the Weil Tennis Academy and Ojai Valley Athletic Club. Registration is currently open for this event, as well as their event in Week 3.

We have also made additions to the schedule in Weeks 4 & 5, adding two events in Orlando, Florida at the USTA National Campus. Registration is scheduled to open for these events on Monday, June 15th at 10:00 AM EST.

Please click here to view the complete 2020 Oracle ITA Summer Circuit schedule as well as registration opening dates. We do make updates to the schedule almost daily so please continue to check back to see what tournaments have been added to the schedule.

** Updates: Wednesday, May 27, 2020 **

Tournament Registration

Summer Circuit events are open to all players on a first-come, first-served basis – there is no selection process for entry into an event. Entry fees are $65 (plus processing fees) for singles only. There will be no doubles play in this year’s circuit to keep in line with the social distancing guidelines. Tournament registration for Weeks 1 & 2 will now open June 3rd at 7:00am local time of each particular site. Registration will open June 8th for Weeks 3 & 4 and June 22nd for Weeks 5, 6 and 7.

Week 1 (June 20-22)
El Dorado Tennis Center
Long Beach, California
Hosted by Will Marino/Chapman University
Cancelled

Week 2 (June 27-29)
El Dorado Tennis Center
Long Beach, California
Hosted by Will Marino/Chapman University
Cancelled

Sterling on the Lake – $$
near Gainesville Georgia
Hosted by Chase Hodges/Georgia Gwinnett College
Registration Link – Open now

Prize Money

Oracle and the ITA have partnered for the second straight year to offer prize money during the 2020 Oracle ITA Summer Circuit. Prize money designated events will have a total purse of $2,000 to be split evenly between genders. The schedule for Weeks 1 & 2 is finalized with Georgia Gwinnett’s Chase Hodges implementing prize money for his event at Sterling on the Lake near Gainesville, Georgia. More prize money events will be designated on the schedule once they become finalized.

Distribution Amounts

Singles A Draw Winner – $375 Runner Up – $275 Semifinalists – $175

** Updates: Thursday, May 21, 2020 **

Membership Updates

We are working as fast as possible to make summer circuit membership and tournament registration live. As soon as they becomes available, we will send out a notice. As a reminder, the ITA Summer Playing Membership ($30) will be open to all collegiate players, juniors, and adults, and is required to register for 2020 Summer Circuit Events. Please note that the membership process is new this year and registrants will receive a new ITA Member ID.

Schedule Updates

A first wave of events has been posted to the Oracle ITA Summer Circuit schedule. No additional sites will be added to Weeks 1 & 2. We have added an additional weekend, Week 7 – August 1-3, as you will see reflected on the schedule. As more sites become available for Weeks 3-7, they will be added to the schedule. We will keep the schedule as updated as best we can so please check back for further updates. As you will see, some summer circuit events will be moving forward with events at off-campus locations due to continuing closures on campus.

As conditions regarding reopening vary not only from state to state, but from locale to locale, the decision to move forward with summer circuit events remains with individual tournament hosts. Those hosts will utilize federal, state and local guidelines to determine their ability to host an event safely. They will also use “USTA guidelines for safe play” to assist them in running a safe tennis event. Players should refer to each tournament homepage on the UTR platform for measures that each tournament may be implementing to ensure safe play.

** Updates: Tuesday, May 5, 2020 **

The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) continues to closely monitor the situation surrounding Coronavirus (COVID-19). When it comes to decision-making, our commitment is to protect the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches, and programs, as well as families and fans.

We have been reading guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, listening to such bodies and people as the USTA, NCAA and its Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Brian Hainline, as well as paying close attention to the decisions and actions of leading institutions of higher education and athletic conferences.

The ITA recognizes that the Coronavirus has been affecting different parts of the country in different ways and with different timing. With guidance, the USTA believes it will be possible for people to return to playing tennis safely in some cities and states sooner than in others. To determine what playing tennis safely means, the USTA released “Playing Tennis Safely” guidelines for players as well as facilities, which we strongly encourage you to read.

The Federal Government issued guidelines on April 16th for “Opening Up America Again” at WhiteHouse.gov/OpeningAmerica. By following these guidelines as well as those of local governments and health agencies, we will be able to make informed decisions as to when our events can commence.

The ITA is pleased to be a leader in helping the country open back up safely beginning with the 2020 Oracle ITA Summer Circuit powered by UTR. We are preparing to move forward with the circuit and promote tennis as a social distancing sport.

Schedule
The original schedule posted on the Oracle ITA Summer Circuit webpage has been removed. We are working very closely with our host site tournament directors and will be updating the schedule in increments throughout the months of May and June. Please note that the schedule will always be “subject to change” but we will do our very best to keep it updated and as accurate as we can.

Summer Playing Membership
The ITA Summer Playing Membership ($30) is open to all collegiate players, juniors, and adults, and is required to register for 2020 Summer Circuit Events. Please note that the membership process is new this year and registrants will receive a new ITA Member ID.

ITA Summer Playing Memberships will be available here.

Tournament Registration
All Summer Circuit events are open to all players on a first-come, first-served basis – there is no selection process for entry into an event. Entry fees are $65 (plus processing fees) for singles only. There will be no doubles play in this year’s circuit to keep in line with the social distancing guidelines. 

Tournament Registration will be available here starting Monday, May 25th for Weeks 1 & 2, Monday, June 8th for Weeks 3 & 4, Monday, June 22nd for Weeks 5 & 6 and Monday, July 6th for Week 7. Tournaments beginning on Saturday will have an entry deadline of no later than the preceding Tuesday.

Singles Only – No Doubles
To keep in line with the social distancing principle, doubles play will not exist in this year’s circuit. The entry fee will remain at $65 for singles play only but tournament directors will make their best effort to consider draw or scheduling options that might provide more than the two guaranteed singles matches that are normally provided, keeping in mind reasonable scheduling practices and player welfare.

For more information on tournament registration and wait lists, refund policy, draws and seeding and consolation and scoring, please click here.

For more information:
Federal Government Guidelines (April 16th)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
NCAA COVID-19/Coronavirus FAQs
USTA COVID-19 Playing Tennis Safely (Player Tips & Recommendations)
USTA COVID-19 Playing Tennis Safely (Facility & Programming)
ITF Issues First Set of ‘Return to Tennis’ Guidelines