2019-2020 APTA Grand Prix Series

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Tennis has the Grand Slam, golf its four majors, and platform tennis has the Grand Prix Series!   Grand Prix Q&A 2019-2020 Grand Prix Lottery Winners

Changes in 2019-2020 Men's Grand Prix Formats

See individual tournament pages for more details

Lake Invitational:
Men: 16 Premier, 32 Open draw – regular backdraws, Quarterfinal backdraw is mandatory for the Premier event
Teams that finish in the top 9 of the Premier draw qualify for Men’s Nationals.
The top 5 teams in the Open draw also qualify for Men’s Nationals.
Women: Traditional draw, regular backdraws

Chicago:
Men: Traditional draw, unlimited draw size based on participants, regular backdraw
Teams that finish in the top 9 will qualify for Men’s Nationals.
Women: Traditional draw, regular backdraws

Midwesterns:
Men: Traditional draw with 64 max draw, regular back draw
Teams that finish in the top 9 will qualify for Men’s Nationals.
Women: Traditional draw, regular backdraws

Boston:
Men: Traditional draw with 48 draw (and expanding 4 teams at a time if needed), regular backdraw
Teams that finish in the top 9 will qualify for Men’s Nationals.
Women: Traditional draw, regular backdraws

Philly:
Men: 16 Premier, 32 Open draw – Regular backdraws. Quarterfinal backdraw is mandatory for the Premier event
Teams that finish in the top 9 of the Premier draw qualify for Men’s Nationals.
The top 5 teams in the Open draw also qualify for Men’s Nationals.
Women: Traditional draw, regular backdraws

Since its inception in the 2014-2015 season, the Grand Prix series has improved and gained in popularity among both players and fans. The tournaments attract the best players in the country, and fans across the globe can watch the high caliber play through the Live Streaming service provided at each Grand Prix tournament.

The APTA factors location and date into its Grand Prix tournament selection as well as local support for the APTA. Efforts are made to spread the tournaments out both geographically and over the season’s time frame. All areas of the country that have sufficient courts and the ability to provide the technical capacity required for Live Streaming are eligible for Grand Prix selection and are encouraged to apply for consideration to become Grand Prix sites.

All Grand Prix tournaments will be rated at a minimum of 3.25. The rating may be higher depending on the strength of the entries.

• Men’s and Women’s Grand Prix standings will be updated and published after each Grand Prix event.
• Points will be awarded based on the final results of each Grand Prix event.
• All teams playing at least one Grand Prix event will receive points.
• Points will be calculated like all NRT’s using tournament strength for each GP.  A team’s top four Grand Prix results will be used to calculate the final standings.
• The men’s team with the most points at the end of the season will receive the Men’s Blanchard Cup.
• The women’s team with the most points at the end of the season will receive the Women’s Childress Cup.
• If two or more teams tie in points at the end of the season, both the Blanchard and Childress Cups will be awarded to the team that has: 1) won more Grand Prix tournaments; 2) won more head to head matches ; or 3) had the highest finish in more Grand Prix tournaments.
• The Tournament Committee reserves the right to make adjustments to procedures should any anomalies arise.
• The point structure listed below will be used.

 
Blanchard Cup Champions

Fessenden S. Blanchard -- a Founder of Platform Tennis 

 
Childress Cup Champions

The Childress Women -- a Family of Champions
Madeline Childress Beck -- Hall of Fame Page
Sally Childress Auxford
Mary Adair Childress Moore -- Hall of Fame Page

 
 Grand Prix Champions

 Current 2019-2020 Grand Prix Standings
(Includes Lake Invitational, Chicago Charities, The Midwesterns, Boston Open and Philadelphia Open)

Points are calculated based on the point structure at the bottom of this page multiplied by the weighting factor for each tournament as published under the APTA Men's and Women's National Rankings Webpage.

 
Points Structure