ABout the tour

The Takei World Tour has been created to fulfil the need for a transparent, reputable, professional tennis tour for the BLV (blind and low vision) tennis community, an offer which currently does not exist in the world. We chose the name Takei to honour the Japanese inventor of the sport, Miyoshi Takei, as a reminder of the dream that we share with him – to spread our beloved sport around the world.

OUR GOALS

Short term (2026):

Takei Tennis Tour begins with flagship tournaments

The ground-breaking structure will create a professional tennis tour for the visually impaired, based on the ethos of the ATP and ITF tours. The tour will consist of a number of established and well reviewed/highly-recommended international tournaments run by reputable organisers in locations that are financially and logistically accessible to players, with elite-level facilities and adequate human resources. The tour promotes:

  • An organised yearly calendar

  • Player empowerment - entry as an individual (as per ITF standards in mainstream and wheelchair tennis)

  • A transparent ranking system based on year-to-date performance (last 52 weeks)

  • Tennis at all levels with the creation of a stratified tier system (based on ATP standards)

MEDIUM term (2027-2030):

DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE GLOBE

  • Addition of smaller tournaments (including 250s, Challenger 100s and Challenger 50s).

  • Encourage established tournaments to increase their standards to upgrade their tier status

  • REAL global growth (promoting a structured, competitive as well as inclusive tour)

  • New classification system (to ensure fairness in competition)

  • Ball development (tailored to the individual categories and in the interest of reducing the financial barriers currently faced by players in terms of accessing equipment)

Long term (2030-2035):

INTEGRATION INTO FULLY PROFESSIONAL TOUR

  • Addition of more tournaments (increasing the opportunity to compete at all levels).

  • The emergence of established Grand Slam and 1000 tournaments. 

  • MORE global growth (attracting more players to the sport across the globe)

  • More prize money (to spearhead the eventual transition into a fully professional tour)

  • Greater visibility (with a respectful, serious and competitive image portrayed to onlookers)

  • More sponsors (helping to reduce costs for tournament organisers and competitors and provide more opportunities to attract potential tournaments)

  • ITF inclusion (hopefully leading to the full integration into a professional tour).