Qualification rounds are the matches that professional players need to win to be able to participate in prestigious tennis tournaments. Qualifying simply means that a player played in one or more matches in a qualifying tournament and earned a spot through winning, reserving him or her qualifying spot. There are four Grand Slam tournaments where professional tennis players can qualify. This includes the Australian Open hosted in January, the French Open in May, the Wimbledon Tournament hosted in July and the US Open held annually during September.
Qualifying in Grand Slam Tournaments in Tennis
The ATP rankings is the current method used to be able to determine participants in the Grand Slam tournaments. They are also the ones responsible for seeding the players in both singles and double tournaments. A total of 104 players are picked through their rankings. For non-qualified ranking players, participating in the Qualifying rounds gives them the opportunity to enter the grand slam tournaments. All of the four main grand slam tournaments offer a qualifying tournament 1 week before the main event. A total of 16 players are picked from the qualification rounds to be able to play on the Grand Slams. Wild card entries, a total of eight are then picked through the Wild Card option to complete all of the 128 players required for Grand Slam competitions.
How to Qualify for the Qualification Round Tournaments?
To be able to participate in the qualification round tournaments, a player needs to be ranked between the 105 to the 232th spot under the ATP rankings. A total of 16 players are taken from this round to qualify for the grand slams. A player needs to win in 3 matches during the qualification round to be able to get awarded with a ticket to the main draw of the grand slam tournament. The grand slam tournament starts immediately after the qualification rounds are concluded. For the women double qualifiers, three rounds of play are required by a starting field of 96 entrants. In some cases, lucky losers from the third round of the qualification round games fill in the vacancies.