ATLANTIC BEACH (Florida): The men’s ATP Tour stepped up its plans to enhance earnings for players in the feeder Challenger Tour on Wednesday by announcing a record prize pot of $28.5 million for the 2025 season, up $6.2 million from this year’s total and a 135% increase since 2022. The Challenger Tour is the second rung of the professional ladder and features nearly 200 tournaments across more than 40 countries each season, helping players gain vital experience, ranking points and prize money to progress to the ATP Tour. Players at the lower levels often struggle to maintain their careers due to a lack of steady sponsorship as well as expensive coaching, travel and accommodation but the ATP has delivered key reforms in the Challenger Tour via its OneVision strategic plan. “Creating a sustainable player pathway to the ATP Tour is vital for the future of our sport,” ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi said in a statement. “Since 2022, we’ve invested in significant reforms on the Challenger Tour. “The results have been clear: record-breaking prize money, year-on-year increases and most importantly, more players inside the top 250 provided with greater financial compensation at this level.” The governing body of the men’s game said the establishment of Tennis Data Innovations, an independent joint venture between ATP and ATP Media, and the successful commercialisation of the Challenger Tour rights had fuelled recent prize money increases. It added that calendar enhancements had also played a major role in driving the growth of the circuit through the introduction of premium Challenger 175 tournaments and the rise in Challenger 100 and 125 events.