There are about 1,200 women who have a world ranking in professional tennis. At present, there are another 200 or so who have at least a fraction of a ranking point (0.25 is the smallest fraction awarded for playing the first round of an event). In all, about 1,400 women are playing professional tennis today. Their lives are both glamorous as well as ordinary.

Unfortunately, on average only about 16 women's names are familiar to most tennis players and fans, leaving more than 1,300 excellent players toiling around in obscurity, completely unknown to the general TV audience. 

Milangela Morales (below) is unknown at present. Her WTA ranking is 415 at the time of this article. Milangela is a fluid player with a beautiful one-handed backhand.

Allison Bradshaw (above) is one of many excellent, but unfamiliar players, who have the skills to be in the top 20.

Highly ranked players, such as Rosanna de los Rios (above), participated in the Troy Alabama $50K Challenger.

Of the approximately 1,200 ranked players, only about the top 50 can expect to get accepted into the main draw of any major event (except the grand slams, and one or two others). The remaining players must enter these tournaments through qualifiers. Only the top 200 or so can expect to get into the qualifying for a major event. This leaves about 1,000 professional women in need of a place to play tennis. The International Tennis Federation (ITF) provides these venues in the form of satellite and challenger events whose total prize money, per event, ranges from $5,000 to $75,000.

These ITF events should be called the true backbone of women's tennis, as it is here that the majority of players get their start. While the main draw is usually a field of 32, the qualifying rounds of a $10,000 event can be as many as 64, 128, or even open to all who show up to play. For US events of $25,000 and above, the qualifying is generally limited to 32 players.

Tour officials begin arriving at the site of the event on Saturdays around 2:00pm, in order to set up the tournament desk for check in, which begins at 3:00pm. This is usually a popular time for renewing old acquaintances, as the tour returns to established venues each year. Bunny Williams and Missy Malool (right) greet Charlottesville $25K tournament director. The local tournament directors are key figures in the success of the events. They are optimistic, up-beat individuals, who supply the energy to keep things moving. Tournament directors are responsible for everything - from organizing the event, to meeting players' needs, and anything in-between that no one else wants to take care of.

Eric Hayes (above) is the high-energy tournament director of the Troy, Alabama $50K Challenger.		The happy smile and cheerful greeting from Charlottesville, VA $25K Challenger tournament director, Ron Manilla, is very reassuring to the players

Getting started is exciting, as well as challenging. It is exciting, because of the possibilities it opens up for those who aspire to be professional players. It is challenging, because it is a more difficult and less glamorous life than it appears. Most players who are playing an ITF qualifying event for first time are very nervous or even scared. It is a strange, new world marked by order and discipline in the conduct of the events, and by the uniform format adhered to by those managing the them.

Players arriving at the tournament site.	A weary coach takes a break in Charlottesville.

A player who has been admitted to a qualifying event (usually based on ranking), is required to sign in at the tournament site, in person, between 3:00pm and 6:00pm the Saturday before the start of play, which is generally Sundays. During this short, three hour span, women from diverse locations all over the world converge at the site. It has the feel of a United Nations of tennis players, with competitors from Australia, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, South America, Spain, the United States, and anywhere else in the world where players have the chance to train at a high level. At right, Bunny and Missy assist Becky in finding her name on the roster to determine her current position on the alternates list. Becky was unable to get into Charlottesville.

During sign in, players renew acquaintances. Below, Becky greets Diana Ospina whom she met in Allentown, Pa earlier this year.

Diana Ospina is one of the eternally happy players on tour. She not only manages to lift the spirits of everyone around her, she also is an outstanding player with a WTA ranking of 266. Diana is a perfect example of how great the satellite and challenger events can be. Terrific players whom you have never seen on TV can be watched up close and personal, without having to pay for tickets. You can just walk up, ask questions, or simply say hello without any barriers between you and the players.

At most events, there are familiar faces seen regularly, as well as many new faces.

Marnie Mahler is an emerging player looking for a sponsor to keep her on the tour. With beautiful strokes, Marnie is one of many players from Europe who come to the United States to play the toughest satellite and challenger events in the world. What makes these tournaments so competitive is the omnipresence of well-trained, disciplined NCAA college players from schools such as Florida,Georgia, Stanford, and Texas. Photo to the immediate left is courtesy of http://www.tennis.info

Everyone has a different life story, as well as a distinct view of what is required to reach the top. Many are dedicated to classical methods and training, while others search for new, modern, and scientifically proven methods to gain an advantage.

The aches and pains from playing are similar for everyone, and an every day experience. An injury can put a player out of work for several weeks. Even with medical insurance, the lost income cannot be recovered. The interplay between players and their coaches - not every player has a coach -  is a subplot worthy of study in itself. The younger players often travel with a parent, which appears to be a great advantage. Recent college graduates on the other hand, even though well-trained and disciplined, seem to be at a disadvantage while in transition from college tennis to professional play. This is mostly due to the fact that, in college, tennis is a team sport, whereas professional tennis is not. The reality of this difference can be dramatic for some, and even traumatic for others.

Aneta Soukup-Zahalka and her husband/coach discuss the condition of her shoulder.

The personalities of the women on tour cover the whole spectrum. Players range from being surly to gracious. Some of the fiercest competitors are also the best sportswomen, while some of the less competitive players are the most aloof. As a rule, the better players are also those who show the greatest respect for players just getting started and new to the tour.

As one event ends, another will soon begin elsewhere. For players this means another plane ride, taxi cab, motel registration, shuttle ride to the new site, sign in, and phone call to the tournament director to find out the order of play. This ritual is repeated almost weekly - given that one can survive the pace - by as many as 100 women from far away places. The site of this ritual is truly inspiring, very exciting, a little frightening (when you are new), and quite touching: women seeking to find themselves through the medium of sports, women trying to understand what it takes to be excellent at something, women pursuing a dream. The ITF has created a "little world" for these competitors to explore and discover: truly wonderful, yet painfully difficult, with all the drama and uncertainty of a lifetime compressed into one-week segments.

As a player, waiting to see whether you got into a qualifier can seem like an eternity, especially when you have traveled over 1000 miles in hopes of playing. As the clock winds down towards  6:00pm on Saturday, the deadline for signing in, every minute can seem like an hour. Getting into one more challenger event could be the difference in how many other tournaments you are eligible to enter in a year. It can move your entry position by as many as twenty slots and mean the difference between playing four events versus twenty events per year. For emerging players from high school or college, this poses a significant barrier which could make or break their careers. Players who are able to participate in tournaments frequently have a significant advantage over those who cannot. This advantage pays off in the form of increased experience in tournament play.

Billie Lipp (left) is a Senior USTA official. Billie Lipp has been officiating for the USTA since 1974. Billie and other tournament supervisors are responsible for the conduct of the tournament in accordance with the regulations of the USTA. Tournament officials are responsible for matters ranging from supervising the draw for fairness to monitoring the court temperature for compliance with safety guidelines.

The WTA/ITF satellite and challenger events are an excellent venue for anyone wishing to learn about life, achieving goals, and maturing, not only as a player, but as a person as well. The tour life provides a clear insight into the sacrifices required to reap the rewards of achieving your goals. The tour also provides the players with insight into coping with success gracefully, accepting losses with dignity, and winning with modesty. Just about anyone can learn something useful about life by spending a year on the tour. It is a world of rapid and rewarding growth for those who choose to pursue this path.

Tournament directors are constantly trying to keep the tournament running on schedule. Their work entails long, hard hours, worry, and true dedication. Tournament directors are not compensated, yet without their commitment, the satellite tour would not exist.

The draw is an important event usually attended by two or three players. The process is aided by a computer program in conjunction with required player participation.	Green tokens are drawn at random from a bag, as seen above, and paired to a player by the computer. This procedure assures consistency and fairness in establishing the draw.

At the Troy Alabama $50K Challenger a father and his son enjoy a women's match at a local facility. The quality of play provides a great source of inspiration for any aspiring player.	Hot dogs and other fast food is usually available as a quick snack for the audience.

A moment of celebration is in order as Becky discovers that she got into the qualifying tournament.

Satellite and challenger events are good places to learn ball-girl/ball-boy skills, while getting a closer look at talented and emerging players long before they appear on TV.

Professional tennis, whether you play the circuit or teach, is a difficult life. Very few players, particularly women, ever make a good living, yet every year there are new faces eagerly dedicating themselves to this sport, and life on the tour, with dreams of being number one.

Men and women who have devoted themselves to learning how to hit a tennis ball with precision and grace have done so at the expense of other activities that most of us take for granted. Teenagers who aspire to play in college or professionally usually head to the practice court after school rather than hanging out with their friends. They have to stay up late to finish their homework and get up early to practice again, oftentimes before school starts. They spend their weekends on the court rather than at the beach, and learn at an early age about the price you have to pay and the sacrifices it takes to reach a high level of skill in any area. Tennis professionals examplify commitment, dedication, determination, desire, discipline, and the pursuit of excellence.

Every time we play a professional tournament, Becky and I marvel at the endurance and spirit that these young people must have in order to endure the hardships of professional tennis. You might wonder about this statement since it is hard to see how Capriati or Henin are making a sacrifice by being on TV and earning a six-figure paycheck for a week's work. But this is only the public disguise which conceals the true cost of professional tennis.

In order for anyone to reach the top ten in the tennis world there must be hundreds of other players that form the backbone around which a major tournament can be organized. These are the satellite and challenger events. They are the heart and unseen soul of professional tennis. The major tournaments are only major because there are also many lesser known tournaments. In turn, the lesser known tournaments would be unpopulated without the satellite and challenger events. In short, the top ten professional men and women players stand on the shoulders of over two thousand dedicated, but 'unknown' and unseen players, without whom there would be no professional tennis circuit. The constant flow of new faces and new challengers into the top ranks is a direct result of the vast array of smaller tournaments and yet unknown players who are dedicated to doing something well.

More importantly, the hardships that women endure far exceed those of their male counterparts chiefly because, for the same work they receive only a fraction of the pay.

The "story of tennis" is a powerful story of human achievement and values. This story is always unfolding, as nearly every week players from many nations converge on the tournament venue before the 6:00pm sign-in time, full of hope that this week they will, at last, make their breakthrough.