This year six challenger tournaments were played in the country, including the one in Buenos Aires that he just won Juan Manuel Cerundolo. All were won by Argentine players, which represents not only a good number of points for the ranking but also monetary support with lower travel and lodging costs.
Argentine tennis will have, at the end of 2022, six ATP Challengers and one WTA 125 (the Argentina Open, which will start on November 15). As for the ITF Tour, there will be six women’s and five men’s events. The numbers show the distance with the structures of other powers, which support the competition with the income of tournaments such as the Grand Slams or the ATP/WTA 1000.
European tennis players, it is known, have the advantage of finishing competing and returning home due to the short distances. Not only because of the proximity of the countries, but also because many of them designed a player-friendly scheme with dozens of tournaments in the same territory. For example, Spain or Italy opted to nurture the local calendar.
Argentina has two very important factors against it. In the first place, the distance from the nerve centers of global tennis. On the other hand, economic fluctuations conspire against any career. So many players have to plan long tours to take advantage of the pace and offset some expenses.
The South American tour of challengers was revitalized with the creation of the South American Legion, a circuit throughout the continent that includes thirty tournaments from that Tour and also from the ITF. It was founded by former tennis player Horacio de la Peña and has the financial support of a brand of beauty products. In the different countries, the associations accompany with the presence and the formalities that the entities that govern the circuits request, such as the confirmation of the dates.
An illuminating case is that of the Buenos Aires Mariano Navone. Most of the championships in which he participated this year were in Argentina, although he also undertook tours of Europe. He played three finals at the Challenger level and added another semifinal: all four were tournaments in the country. He started the year ranked 561 in the ranking and is now 265.
Part of the explanation of the change that the ATP will implement in the Challenger Tour from 2023 responds to these historical proposals of the players. More tournaments with better prize money changes the equation completely.
“Lately the ATP is doing a good job. I am present at the talks at the tournaments and in meetings with the ITF and the direction in which they are advancing is quite good. In the future I think it will be very good,” he points out in dialogue with Ámbito Juan Pablo Paz, tennis player and member of the ITF Players Panel and recent founder of the Tennis Player Agency, an agency dedicated to helping athletes.
The focus is usually on the network of betting mafias, which turn to players in need of money to fix matches. How many of these situations would change if there were a financial balance in world tennis?
In that sense, athletes often end up condemned by an unbalanced system. For Paz, “for many years the business was taken care of more than the players. But the players became more aware of the role we play and everything is beginning to change.”
The premise is clear: the more expanded the local structure is, the better the situation for Argentine players to go out and compete abroad. Even so, with problems and delays, national tennis continues with a formidable production of talent.
Aiming for excellence is the best way to reach it. Each one with its resources, times and contexts. It may be impossible to emulate the systems of giants like the US and Italy, but sources of inspiration lie there. Although in most countries it is difficult to make a living from tennis and reach the elite, it is necessary that the base is solid and reliable.
Source: Ambito
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