Tournaments are often organized by gender and number of players. Common tournament configurations include men’s singles, women’s singles, and doubles, where two players play on each side of the net. There are also tournaments for players with disabilities, such as wheelchair tennis and deaf tennis. In the four Grand Slam tournaments, the singles draws are limited to 128 people for each gender.

Grand Slam tournaments
The four Grand Slam tournaments are considered to be the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. They are held annually and include, in chronological order, the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. Tennis Australia (Australian Open), the French Tennis Federation (French Open), the United States Tennis Association (US Open), and the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and Lawn Tennis Association (Wimbledon), are delegated the responsibility to organize these events.

Masters 1000
The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a group of nine tournaments that form the second-highest echelon in men’s tennis. Each event is held annually, and a win at one of these events is worth 500 ranking points. When the Association of Tennis Professionals, led by Hamilton Jordan, began running the men’s tour in 1990, the directors designated the top nine tournaments, outside of the Grand Slam events, as “Super Nine” events. These eventually became the Tennis Masters Series. In 2009, the Tennis Masters Series will undergo several changes. The series will be renamed again, this time as the “Masters 1,000 Series”, a reference to the number of points the champion of each event will get.

250 and 500 Series
The International Series for men is split into two categories, both run by the ATP: the 250 Series and 500 Series. Like the Masters 1000, these events offer various amounts of prize money to the professional tennis players from all over the world.