The ATP Challenger Tour travelled far and huge to host tournaments each week this season. From the world’s largest cities, to intimate settings in distant areas, the Challenger circuit introduced high-quality tennis to all corners of the globe.
This season completed with a record-setting 184 tournaments throughout 38 nations. While gamers work exhausting for factors, prize cash, and the prospect of launching their profession, match administrators, supervisors, and volunteers additionally put in exhausting yards to run the occasions.
ATPTour.com opinions Challenger tournaments in Finland, Bosnia, Lithuania, South Korea, and Japan, the place particular milestones have been celebrated this yr.
In July, the Tampere Open, which is the longest-running occasion on the Challenger Tour, grew to become the primary match to have fun its 40-year anniversary.
Led by match director and former World No. 48 Veli Paloheimo, a local of Tampere, the match has grow to be a beacon on the Challenger Tour and a summer time staple in Finland.
“Of course we’re proud of it,” Paloheimo mentioned. “This is the biggest tournament in Finland, so it is nice that we have this here for so long in Tampere. It is a full effort with a few hundred volunteers every year. Coming together as a community is what makes this so special for everyone.”
The Challenger Tour is the springboard to success for the celebrities of tomorrow and the Tampere Open has seen gamers reminiscent of Carlos Moya, Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet and David Goffin all compete on the clay court docket occasion earlier than rising to embellished careers.
The Srpska Open, situated in Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina, celebrated their twentieth yr anniversary in August. With a inhabitants centre of simply 138,000, Banja Luka is likely one of the smallest cities to host a Challenger match for 20 years or extra. The Banja Luka Challenger is the longest-running males’s skilled tennis match within the Balkan area of southeast Europe.
Top professionals reminiscent of Felix Auger-Aliassime, Diego Schwartzman, Fabio Fognini and Janko Tipsarevic have all competed on the Challenger in Bosnia earlier than climbing to the Top 10 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The clay court docket occasion has carved its personal id on the Challenger Tour for the previous twenty years and has left a robust impression on gamers.
“I really enjoyed my time in Banja Luka,” mentioned 2021 champion Juan Manuel Cerundolo. “The tournament is very nice. The people there are very warm and welcoming and a lot of fans come to watch the tennis. To win there was very significant, it put me very close to the Top 100 and it gave me the momentum to reach the Top 100 a few weeks later. Congratulations to them for this 20th anniversary.”
In the 45-year historical past of the ATP Challenger Tour, Lithuania had by no means hosted a Challenger match. That all modified in October, when the Challenger circuit turned its eyes to the nation’s capital metropolis, Vilnius. Lithuania grew to become the 91st completely different nation to welcome a Challenger match.
The SEB Arena, host venue of the Vilnius Challenger. Credit: SEB Arena
The Challenger 80 occasion is held on the largest indoor tennis complicated in central Europe, the SEB Arena. The state-of-the-art facility boasts 28 indoor tennis courts and a current enlargement venture included the development of a stadium court docket for the debut match.
After almost a decade of dreaming and brainstorming what the Vilnius Challenger would appear like, match director Ramūnas Grušas was delighted to see it come to fruition this yr.
“We began to consider having a Challenger in 2013,” Grušas mentioned. “We made a visit to some Challengers in Europe and talked to the organisers there and eventually, we’re doing it. We are actually joyful and excited.
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“It’s actually essential to point out people who we’re right here. We have high-quality services, I feel it’s exhibiting that we’re getting into a great path. We usually are not taking a look at this match for a extremely business facet. We need to have good high quality.”
Following a close to three-year absence because of the pandemic, the Challenger Tour returned to South Korea and Japan within the latter a part of this season. A 3-week swing in South Korea was capped off by the Challenger 125 occasion in Busan.
The ultimate 5 weeks of the season featured 4 tournaments in Japan, together with in Kobe and Yokkaichi, the place residence favorite Yosuke Watanuki captured back-to-back titles.
Bourbon Beans Dome, residence of the Kobe Challenger. Credit: Kathryn Riley
The 2023 Challenger Tour season is ready to start 2 January with 5 tournaments throughout opening week, together with occasions in Australia, New Caledonia, Thailand, Argentina, and Portugal.