The entry lists are lists of players who sign up to participate in a certain tournament. Based on the size of the tournament, the list can include up to 128 players, which is the size of a main draw for a Grand Slam tournament.
There are also tournaments with 96, 64, 48, and 32 players, and entry lists for tournaments of all sizes are usually posted at around the same time, which is about three to four weeks prior to the tournament start.
Often, a few players are announced first for a tournament as the organizers attempt to drive up ticket sales and get the attention of potential visitors. Unfortunately for them, it's often these players who are most prone to withdrawing, as their participation is announced months prior to the tournament's start.
Then, the aforementioned three to four weeks before the tournament starts, an initial entry list is published for the tournament, which includes all of the players, who signed up for the tournament in time.
This initial entry list most often features only a certain group of players, those that entered the tournament directly or using their protected or special ranking. As the tournament nears, there are multiple other ways that players can still get into the main draw.
One of them is wild cards, which can be announced even a few hours before the tournament starts, depending on possible withdrawals and changes. Then, players can get special exempt (SE) entry into a tournament based on their performance in the previous week.
Of course, one of the most popular ways for lower-ranked players to enter the main draw of a tournament is through qualifying, and successful qualifiers usually join the main draw one day before it begins.
