Formation of Grand Prix

In Open era, promoters of NTL and WCT began to control the whole game. For example, if Wimbledon didn't want to pay their price, the promoters held their players out of the event. To prevent such a control, Jack Kramer, the best player in the world in the 1940s and 1950s and a promoter himself, conceived the Grand Prix in 1969. He described it as "a series of tournaments with a money bonus pool that would be split up on the basis of a cumulative point system. This would encourage the best players to compete regularly in the series, so that they could share in the bonus at the end and qualify for a special championship tournament that would climax the year".

In 1970, only a few contract players showed up for the French Open. The International Lawn Tennis Federation (ILTF), predecessor of International Tennis Federation (ITF), alarmed by the control of the promoters, approved Kramer's proposition of Grand Prix. The first Grand Prix tournament was the British Hard Court Championships played on clay at Bournemouth on 28 April. Twenty seven tournaments including the three Grand Slams, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open were played that year with Stockholm tournament ended on 1 November. The independent professionals along with a few contract players entered the Grand Prix circuit. The contract players could play the Grand Prix events if they were allowed and had time left apart from their own circuit.