Adult Tournaments
The National Tour includes all Adult Open tournaments. The main characteristics are:
Tournament Categories
At the end of every year, and before the Calendar for the following year is published, tournaments are awarded a Category, which depends in factors including the facilities of the club hosting the tournament, the experience of the organizing committee and the quality of the tournaments organized by the committee in the past.
The categories are:
- Super Category: Tour 1500
- National tournaments: Tour 1000.
- Provincial Tournaments: Tour 500.
- Regional Tournaments: Tour 200.
The majority of Tour 1500 to Tour 200 Open tournaments include events for a wide range of players from levels 1 to 7. Graded tournaments do not have Level 1 events. The values 1500, 1000, 500 and 200 reflect the ranking points that the winner of the top event in the tournament will receive.
Age
A) The minimum age to enter a Championship/Grade 1 adult event is 14 years old and in the Top 20 Junior National rankings of their own age group on the closure of entries.
B) The minimum age to enter a Grade 2 or below is 16years old on the closure of entries.
Level (Grade or Class)
With few exceptions, National Tour tournaments include different level events, which are reflected in the name of the event:
- Level 1 (most experienced players): MS1 (Men singles 1 or A), WS 1 (Women or Ladies singles 1 or A), MD 1 (Men Doubles 1 or A), WD (Women or Ladies 1 or A), XD (Mixed doubles 1).
- Level 2: MS 2, WS 2, MD 2, WD 2, XD 2.
- Level 3: MS 3, WS 3, MD 3, WD 3, XD 3.
- Level 4 (or B): MS 4, WS 4, MD 4, WD 4, XD 4.
- Level 5: MS 5, WS 5, MD 5, WD 5, XD 5.
- Level 6 (or C): MS 6, WS 6, MD 6, WD 6, XD 6.
- Level 7 (novice players): MS 7, WS 7, MD 7, WD 7, XD 7.
The Impact of WTN
The introduction of the WTN has brought a standardized and globally used value of the level of a player. Its accuracy improves as more players and results are added into the system. To make the use of the WTN easier for players and tournament organizers, Tennis Ireland in 2025 has rolled out using the WTN for seeding in all National Tour events.
Tennis Players across Ireland can now register directly for the ITF World Tennis Number (WTN) via the WTN website for free, with the ‘My Matches’ feature now available for players aged 18 and over, enabling players to submit match results.
Acceptance into events
Players must enter the events that cater for their level of play (see above table). They can enter events above their level, but not below it.
Some tournaments are extremely popular and get more entries than they can cater for. Unfortunately, this means that the number of entries into each event must be limited to 8, 12, 16, 24 or 32 players, depending on the number of courts available and the time length of the tournament. The tournament regulations will provide details if this is the case.
Acceptance into the higher level of events (1 and 2) is based on the strength of the players participating. Acceptance into level 3 or lower events is based on date and time of entry (first-come, first-served policy).
Calendar
The tournament calendar for the year is published before the end of the previous year. Some lower Category tournaments (Tour 100 & 200) may be added later.
