The Open Era and the professional tours.

Open tennis, 1968

The decision to let amateurs and professionals play in the same tournaments was taken by the International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF) in 1968. Racquet magazine, seen only in a search summary, dates it to an extraordinary general meeting on 30 March 1968. The International Tennis Hall of Fame says only that it came earlier that year, so the exact day is unconfirmed here.

Bournemouth, April 1968

The Hall of Fame's Curator's Corner names the British Hard Court Championships at Bournemouth, in April 1968, as the first open tournament. Ken Rosewall beat Rod Laver in the men's final. The women's title went to Virginia Wade, who was still an amateur, which made her the first amateur to win a title in the Open Era.

The men's players form the ATP

The ATP says it was founded in 1972 as the men's players' association. Its first computer ranking was issued on 23 August 1973, and Ilie Nastase was the first No. 1. In an article dated 23 August 2023, the ATP describes the ranking as an objective way to decide who gets into tournaments and how they are seeded. It now runs over a rolling 52 weeks, and since 2000 it has counted a player's results from 18 events for most players: all the majors and ATP Masters 1000 events plus the best of their other results.

From the council to the ATP Tour, 1990

Until 1989 the men's circuit was run by the Men's International Professional Tennis Council, which brought together the ITF and player representatives, according to Wikipedia. Wikipedia and ATP heritage articles, the latter seen only in search summaries, say the ATP Tour began in 1990, with players and tournaments sharing control, after a breakaway announced at the 1988 US Open. The ATP's own heritage page was not opened, so the details of the 1988 announcement are unconfirmed here.

The women's players form the WTA

The WTA was founded in 1973 by Billie Jean King. Its own 2023 history article dates the founding meeting to 21 June 1973 in London. The meeting, the attendance figures (which differ by source) and the earlier Original 9 are covered on women in tennis. Wikipedia describes the WTA as formed partly in response to the founding of the ATP the year before.

The WTA says its computer ranking era began in 1974 and that Chris Evert became the first official No. 1 on 3 November 1975. It also says that in 1995 the WTA Players Association merged with the Women's Tennis Council to form the WTA Tour. How the ATP and WTA rankings work now is on rankings explained.

The majors act together

The four majors, the Australian Open, Roland-Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, act together as the Grand Slam Board for some rules. Tennis.com reported that on 16 March 2022 the board announced a trial, approved through the ITF Rules of Tennis Committee, under which all four would play a 10-point tie-break, won by two points, at six games all in the final set. Before that, the report says, the four had different rules:

The trial covered qualifying, singles and doubles, wheelchair events and junior singles, with a review promised after a full year. Whether and when it was made permanent was not confirmed by any source read for this site. The USTA, whose history is on lawn tennis and Wingfield, owns and runs the US Open, according to its own history page.

The international federation in the Open Era

The ILTF dropped "Lawn" from its name in 1977, becoming the International Tennis Federation. An International Paralympic Committee report of 26 June 2026 describes it, under its new trading name World Tennis, as overseeing the Davis Cup, the Billie Jean King Cup and the World Team Cup. The Davis Cup's own reforms, from the end of the Challenge Round in 1972 to the Finals format of 2019, are listed on Wimbledon and the early championships, and the 2026 team events are in tennis finals and team cups 2026.

The other sports' tours

Each of the other four sports formed its professional circuits separately, at different times and under different bodies: see squash at Harrow and after for the squash players' associations of the 1970s, badminton origins for the governing body, pickleball on Bainbridge Island for the PPA Tour, MLP and the APP, and padel from Acapulco for the World Padel Tour and Premier Padel.