NEXT year's AEGON Ilkley Trophy will become the world's biggest joint tournament below Grand Prix level.

Prize-money for the 2017 tournament will more than double to $225,000, with $125,000 available at the ATP Men's Challenger and $100,000 for the ITF Women's Pro Circuit Event.

At last year's successful inaugural tournament, where the men's and women's singles titles were won by Denis Kudla and Anna-Lena Friedsam, prize-money for both men and women was a mere $50,000 each.

But now Ilkley, which is part of the new-look pre-Wimbledon circuit, will become one of the highest-value challenger events in the world in only their third season.

LTA chief executive officer Michael Downey said: "After delivering an outstanding event in 2015, we are delighted to see Ilkley rewarded moving forward.

"This is all about delivering a bigger and better set of grass-court tournaments for the players and our fans. It represents another major step in the evolution of the British grass-court circuit.

"At the same time, this new-look calendar will help optimise the players' preparation for competing in the world's premier tennis tournament – The Championships at Wimbledon."

Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club chairman Stephen Hepplewhite said: "We are absolutely delighted.

"Following the success and the tremendous enthusiasm for our first Challenger last year, hosting an upgraded event will undoubtedly further increase interest and participation throughout the whole of Yorkshire."

Sir Gary Verity, chief executive of Welcome to Yorkshire added: "This is fantastic news, not only for tennis but for sport as a whole, as Yorkshire once again raises the bar.

"Following our announcement last month that we have hugely increased the prize money for the Asda Tour de Yorkshire women’s race, I’m delighted to see that once again Yorkshire is putting itself at the heart of the sporting world map."

Among the changes to next year's calendar, men's tennis heads back to Eastbourne from Nottingham.

A joint event was held on the south coast the week before Wimbledon between 2009 and 2014, and the men's ATP 250 tournament will leave Nottingham after only two years.

The women's tournament, their flagship event of the Wimbledon run-in, will feature a 48-player main draw, with a 28-player men's draw.

Nottingham will keep its WTA event, and will stage a men's Challenger Tour tournament the same week.

The LTA is also doubling prize-money at Surbiton and Manchester, as well as Ilkley.