In 2020 we need to make a big change with how and when players enter world tour tournaments. So many players are entering tournaments very late that it is causing many problems for tournament directors. The earlier players enter tournaments the easier it is for tournament directors to make good plans which will simply result in better tournaments (and far less stressed tournament directors!).
As an example, for the world championships in Leipzig, 75 players entered the tournament in the last 12 hours before the “Regular Entry Deadline”! This caused a lot of problems as it meant we needed more courts and more space (which at that late stage were no longer available at the centre)…and some of these players were not able to play as we were over our capacity.
Tournament Entry Will Often Close Before the “Regular Entry Deadline”
Players also need to understand that tournaments are filling up quicker than ever before. Players are not guaranteed to be able to enter all the way up to the “Regular Entry Deadline”. If a tournament reaches its capacity then the tournament director will often close all entries way before the “Regular Entry Deadline” and not allow any more players into the tournament.
Last year this happened at the London Open (after only 4 hours!) + also at the Berlin Open and the World Championships all of which closed entries way before the “Regular Entry Deadline”…and in 2020 this has already happened at the Luxembourg Open and it is certainly going to happen at many other tournaments in 2020.
Please understand that if you don’t enter early for some tournaments in 2020 then it’s likely you will not be able to play!
Entering Early Helps Everyone
So we really need a change of attitude from players: if you know which tournaments you are going to play in, please enter them online as soon as possible (it is always possible to withdraw your entry at a later date).
Some players seem to want to wait to enter until some other players have also entered – if everyone did this then we would be in big trouble!
Entering early is a big help to our hard-working tournament directors, it helps the FIR and lastly, it helps you the players from missing out on tournaments if they become full quickly.
EUR10 “last-minute entry fee”
EUR10 last-minute entry fee was introduced with the 1.1.2018 regulations – this is not new and has already been used several times mostly at World Championships. However, in 2020 many more tournaments will be enforcing this EUR10 last-minute entry fee as we simply have to encourage players to start entering earlier.
This is how EUR10 2last minute entry fee” works:
For a tournament on May 8th – 10th, the published “Regular Entry Deadline” would be April 27th: any player who enters in the last 28 days before this “Deadline” (so any player who enters after March 30th) can be charged the EUR10 last-minute entry fee.
It would be great if you now went to fir.tournamentsoftware.com and enter all the tournaments you know you are going to in 2020 who have their online entry open!
Many thanks for helping us make the 2020 FIR World Tour a great one!
Duncan Stahl
FIR President
