Before the advent of the Open era of tennis competitions in April 1968, only amateurs were allowed to compete in established tournaments, including the four majors.
However many top tennis players turned professional to play legally for prize money in the years before the open era.
In addition to the head-to-head tours, there were also major pro events, where the world's top professional male players often played.
Jack Kramer designated the four major professional tournaments for the 1958/1959 seasons as follows; Forest Hills, Kooyong, L.A. Masters, Sydney.
The tournament was held at various locations in several states until 1964, when it moved to the Longwood Cricket Club in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.
[7] From 1930 the French Pro Championship was always played at Paris, on outdoor clay at Roland Garros except from 1963 to 1967 where it was held at Stade Pierre de Coubertin on indoor wood.
Some survived sporadically because of financial collapses while others temporarily rose to the highest levels of competition when other tournaments weren't held.
These include: Sometimes labelled "Professional Championships of France" this tournament was held on the French Riviera at Menton, at Cannes.
[37] List of World Pro winners: This was a team tournament created by Bill Tilden and modeled on the Davis Cup format.
(The CBS Dallas pro tennis tournament in 1965 was filmed and broadcast one match at a time in a weekly series.)
The current designation by the West Side Tennis Club of the 1957–59 Forest Hills TOC is "WCT Tournament of Champions".
[47] Kramer's contemporary brochures described the Ampol series, of which the 1959 Forest Hills TOC was a part, with the term "World Championship Tennis".
List of Tournament of Champions winners: Forest Hills (New York) White City (Sydney) and Kooyong (Melbourne) Round Robin in Los Angeles, held from 1956 to 1960, and again in 1964, 1965, and 1967.