Nationwide Series Offers Junior, Collegiate, and Pro Players the Opportunity to Compete Locally and Count Globally with High-Level Regional Play
The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) and Universal Tennis today announced the creation of the ITA Tour: Fall Circuit by UTR, a new initiative to provide local and regional matchplay opportunities to collegiate, junior and professional players.
The new tour kicks off with a 10-week circuit this fall, giving players the opportunity to participate in competition and have their scores count towards the Universal Tennis Rating (UTR). When match scores count for UTR, players can continue to play locally and have their matches count for a global rating, allowing them to track their progress and showcase their game.
Timothy Russell, Chief Executive Officer of the ITA, said, “Amidst these unprecedented and uncertain times for our country and the world of sports we are excited to build upon the long-standing tradition of the ITA’s Summer Circuit and the great success of the 2020 Oracle ITA Summer Circuit powered by UTR in presenting the innovative ITA Tour: Fall Circuit by UTR.”
The Circuit will follow strict health, safety, and social distancing guidelines, and is a continuation of the joint effort by the ITA and Universal Tennis to provide opportunities for high-level competition for junior, collegiate, and professional players. As many tennis seasons have been reduced or canceled, the Tour will give college coaches the opportunity to provide local matchplay for their players and increase engagement with their broader regional tennis community.
“We are pleased to launch this new initiative with our long time partners at the ITA to provide current student-athletes, recent graduates, juniors, and professional players with the opportunity to develop their game and participate in local high quality, competitive matches,” said Mark Leschly, Universal Tennis Chairman & CEO.
The ITA Tour: Fall Circuit by UTR will kick off on September 18th and run through November 22nd. This fresh model will feature singles play only, with events running for two to three days each weekend. Events will be limited to flights of 16 or 32 players and selections into the event will be based on UTR. Some events may have multiple flights based on court availability.
The schedule of play and locations will be announced on August 24th. Additional information for host sites applications, which open this evening, and player participants can be found by visiting the Tour page on the ITA website. Players can join the ITA Tour: Fall Circuit by UTR club page on MyUTR.com to stay up to date on the latest and register for events.
Why wouldn’t you use RadioTennis.com to cover some of your events? I was talking to some of the Texas coaches and we just can’t figure out why you haven’t cut some type of deal with them. They already cover college tennis better than you do and they only cover it when they’re not covering the pros.
Jay, thank you very much for your suggestion.
Although we won’t comment on potential partnerships, we would like to bring to your attention that during the past 12 months, the ITA has partnered with both ESPN and Cracked Racquets to provide event coverage.
Here are some details on the coverage provided by ESPN: “Series of Championships to be Aired on ESPNU.”
You can also watch on-demand matches that took place during the 2020 DI National Men’s & Women’s Team Indoors that featured Cracked Racquets play-by-play commentary on PlaySight’s new GO technology platform.
– 2020 DI National Men’s Team Indoors
– 2020 DI National Women’s Team Indoors
The ITA will continue to look for opportunities to expand our cover of college tennis. Again, thank you for your suggestion.
Team ITA