Water Covers 71% Of Earth; ATP Challenger Tour Covers The Rest

The ATP Challenger Tour travelled far and wide to host tournaments every week this season. From the world’s largest cities, to intimate settings in remote areas, the Challenger circuit brought high-quality tennis to all corners of the globe.

This season finished with a record-setting 184 tournaments across 38 countries. While players work hard for points, prize money, and the chance of launching their career, tournament directors, supervisors, and volunteers also put in hard yards to run the events.

ATPTour.com reviews Challenger tournaments in Finland, Bosnia, Lithuania, South Korea, and Japan, where special milestones were celebrated this year.

In July, the Tampere Open, which is the longest-running event on the Challenger Tour, became the first tournament to celebrate its 40-year anniversary.

Led by tournament director and former World No. 48 Veli Paloheimo, a native of Tampere, the tournament has become a beacon on the Challenger Tour and a summer staple in Finland.

“Of course we’re proud of it,” Paloheimo said. “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 stars of tomorrow and the Tampere Open has seen players such as Carlos Moya, Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet and David Goffin all compete at the clay court event before rising to decorated careers.

The Srpska Open, located in Banja Luka, Bosnia & Herzegovina, celebrated their 20th year anniversary in August. With a population centre of just 138,000, Banja Luka is one of the smallest cities to host a Challenger tournament for 20 years or more. The Banja Luka Challenger is the longest-running men’s professional tennis tournament in the Balkan region of southeast Europe.

Top professionals such as Felix Auger-Aliassime, Diego Schwartzman, Fabio Fognini and Janko Tipsarevic have all competed at the Challenger in Bosnia before climbing to the Top 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. The clay court event has carved its own identity on the Challenger Tour for the past two decades and has left a strong impression on players.

“I really enjoyed my time in Banja Luka,” said 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 history of the ATP Challenger Tour, Lithuania had never hosted a Challenger tournament. That all changed in October, when the Challenger circuit turned its eyes to the country’s capital city, Vilnius. Lithuania became the 91st different country to welcome a Challenger tournament.

The SEB Arena, host venue of the Vilnius Challenger. Credit: SEB Arena

The Challenger 80 event is held at the largest indoor tennis complex in central Europe, the SEB Arena. The state-of-the-art facility boasts 28 indoor tennis courts and a recent expansion project included the construction of a stadium court for the debut tournament.

After nearly a decade of dreaming and brainstorming what the Vilnius Challenger would look like, tournament director Ramūnas Grušas was delighted to see it come to fruition this year.

“We started to think about having a Challenger in 2013,” Grušas said. “We made a trip to some Challengers in Europe and talked to the organisers there and finally, we are doing it. We are really happy and excited.

“It’s really important to show people that we are here. We have high-quality facilities, I think it’s showing that we are going in a good direction. We are not looking at this tournament for a really commercial side. We are looking to have good quality.”

Following a near three-year absence due to the pandemic, the Challenger Tour returned to South Korea and Japan in the latter part of this season. A three-week swing in South Korea was capped off by the Challenger 125 event in Busan.

The final five weeks of the season featured four tournaments in Japan, including in Kobe and Yokkaichi, where home favourite Yosuke Watanuki captured back-to-back titles.

Bourbon Beans Dome, home of the Kobe Challenger. Credit: Kathryn Riley

The 2023 Challenger Tour season is set to begin 2 January with five tournaments during opening week, including events in Australia, New Caledonia, Thailand, Argentina, and Portugal.