The British Tour was extended to Tier 3 in 2016. The Tier 3 events will be one day weekend competitions which will use the FAST4 format.
Why was the British Tour extended to Tier 3?
British Tour FAST4 events were introduced in 2016 to allow adult players who may have previously played at a high standard (such as players that have played at good club level, county, national or international standard) the opportunity to compete in one day competitions whilst fitting this around their busy lifestyles. Many adult players are not able to compete in current week long Tier 1 and Tier 2 British Tour events due to work commitments. The Tier 3 competitions allow players to play more matches in a short period of time.
Who will run British Tour FAST4 events?
The events will be run externally by venues and organisers who will have the opportunity to run British Tour FAST4 events on a specified weekend in a rotation in different locations around the country which will run as Grade 3 events.
Format
The events will use the FAST4 format.
Find out more about FAST4
All British Tour FAST4 events will be able to accept 16 Men and 16 Women over the weekend. Each event will use a 16 player elimination draw with compulsory first match (custom) consolation. Events are run over one day and ranking points will count towards the British Tour Leaderboard and to British Tennis Rankings.
Acceptances
Priority will be given to players with a season age of 19 or older and these players will be accepted first based on:
1. British Tennis Ratings
2. British Tennis Open Rankings
Players aged 18 or younger will be taken as a second priority and will be accepted based on British Tennis Rating and then British Tennis Open Ranking.
A player may only play in one event, within each rotation. If a player is found to have contravened the overlapping competitions regulation and competed in more than one event, then he/she will lose all ranking points from the relevant competitions.
Wildcards
Wildcards may be accepted if there are spaces on the acceptance list once players have been accepted. 1 wild card maybe accepted for every 8 spaces of the draw at the discretion of the tournament organiser. Applications must be received to the tournament organiser prior to the draw being published. A wild card may be seeded.
Prize Money
There will be no prize money provided by the LTA however organisers may provide prize money and this information will be available as part of the entry process.
Calendar
There will be 9 rotations on specified weekends in 2019 with some additional special events. Using the LTA Staged Rule, players will only be able to enter one event in a rotation where the dates overlap.
Download the FAST4 Calendar 2019.