This article discusses the relationship between success of professional male tennis players according to the country and world region from which they originate and the professional tournament structure in men’s tennis in that world region and country. The success of a country or world region was defined by the number of players in the top 300 ATP rankings and was calculated for seven time periods between 1975 and 2008. The results showed the correlations between the total number of top 300 ranked players, the total number of tournaments, and the annual tournament prize money of the specific country. The correlations were nearly perfect in the 1975-1990 period (r = 0.93-0.95; p < 0.01) but only high in the 2005-2008 period (r = 0.60-0.64; p < 0.01), suggesting that the association between the number of top 300 ranked tennis players and professional tournaments, while still significant, is in decline. These data should inform the policy and investment decisions of regional and national federations, particularly as they relate to domestic professional tennis tournament structures and to explore opportunities to include professional tournaments of neighbour countries in their player’s development programs.

• This paper observes relation changes between the total number of players, total number of ATP tournaments and total annual prize money in particular continents from 1975 to 2008.

• The correlation between the tennis success, total number of tournaments and total annual prize money in tournaments was highest from 1975 to 1989 and was gradually decreasing from 1990 to 2008.

• The leading tennis countries organise over 20 ATP tournaments and entry professional tournaments per year. Tennis less developed countries very often is using the competition systems of the most successful tennis countries.

• Indications are that tennis will continue to become increasingly global and that this trend may be unlikely to reverse.