![\"Tournaments\"](\"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/files\/2014\/10\/Tournaments.jpg\")
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The\u00a02015 Australian Ranking tournament calendar<\/strong>\u00a0has been released today.<\/p>\n The calendar mainly comprises of the Australian Money Tournaments and Junior Tour tournaments, but also lists information outlining the Australian Pro Tour and Oceania ITF Junior events.<\/p>\n The calendar will be updated quarterly during 2015 if changes occur, but as of the release, there are\u00a0180 Australian Money Tournaments<\/strong>, offering a total prize money pool of\u00a0$933,500<\/strong>; this could approach the\u00a0magical\u00a0$1,000,000<\/strong>\u00a0mark with a number of tournaments finalising plans to offer players more than the minimum amount required.<\/p>\n On the junior tour, there will be\u00a0234 opportunities<\/strong>\u00a0to earn valuable Australian Rankings points across the country in 2015.<\/p>\n These are highlighted by the\u00a0Australian Championships<\/strong>\u00a0in December at Melbourne Park and the Platinum State Championships in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney during the major school holiday periods.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Australian Ranking tournaments continue to offer valuable opportunities for all players, whether it be prize money for those players embarking on a professional career or ranking points for juniors looking to climb the Australian Ranking ladder within their age group and ultimately succeed Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur in the future,\u201d said Francis Soyer, Tournament Development Manager at Tennis Australia.<\/p>\n \u201cWe continue to listen to feedback from a number of stakeholders such as the players, officials, parents, coaches and clubs throughout the year which is key to delivering a successful tournament calendar.\u201d<\/p>\n The main focus for 2015 was to improve on the following areas:<\/p>\n \u201cTrying to piece together a calendar of over\u00a0350 tournaments<\/strong>\u00a0is not easy and the team at Tennis Australia and within each Member Association have done a fantastic job with handling all the requests,\u201d Soyer said.<\/p>\n The new Tennis Australia\u00a0Fast4<\/strong>\u00a0format will also continue to be piloted throughout 2015 after a small introduction into tournaments at the end of this year.\u00a0 The Fast4 format allows tournaments to be finished in less days, meeting the needs of today\u2019s fast-paced society.<\/p>\n \u201cWe took a big picture look earlier this year and saw that our tournaments were only being catered to people that could commit to three to five days for 8-10 hours each day,\u201d Soyer said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Fast4 format won\u2019t overtake the traditional best of three sets at all our tournaments, but it is something different that has been used for the Asia-Pacific Tennis League to great success.<\/p>\n \u201cOur aim is to attract different people to tournaments or perhaps back to tournaments, one\u2019s that used to play but now have young families or work or study full-time.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition, there will be\u00a028 tournaments<\/strong>\u00a0that will comprise the\u00a0Australian Pro Tour<\/strong>\u00a0in 2015, highlighted by five men\u2019s ATP Challengers and four women\u2019s $50,000 ITF Pro Circuit events.\u00a0 Overall, the 28 tournaments will offer a total of\u00a0US$755,000<\/strong>\u00a0in prize money.<\/p>\n The new ATP Challenger on the calendar will be at the Happy Valley Tennis Club in South Australia in the week leading up to qualifying for the Australian Open.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is looking forward to the Happy Valley Challenger and based on previous events around the world in the week leading into qualifying of a Grand Slam, it should be the strongest Challenger event held in Australia for quite some time,\u201d Soyer said.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Australian ITF Junior circuit<\/strong>\u00a0will again comprise six lower-level events in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, with the major opportunity being the Grade 1 event in Traralgon and the Australian Open Junior Championships at Melbourne Park in January.<\/p>\n Australia will also host the Asia\/Oceania final qualifying for the\u00a0Junior Davis Cup<\/strong>\u00a0andJunior Fed Cup<\/strong>\u00a0in Shepparton and Tatura in Victoria during April.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope all tennis players take the opportunity to play a tournament during 2015, whether it be on a long weekend or during the school holidays because there is a format offered that caters to a number of different groups,\u201d Soyer said.<\/p>\n The Australian Ranking tournament calendar will also showcase new facility developments in Mornington and Craigieburn in Victoria, Tweed Heads in NSW and Canberra in the ACT.<\/p>\n\n