On a Tuesday in the desert, Reilly Opelka, an American with a cannon serve, was battling it out against French number 1 Arthur Rinderknech. Kei Nishikori, a former US Open finalist, beat Luca Nardi of the Italian new wave, while Brazilian phenom JoaoFonseca defeated Pavel Kotov who had reached the 50th position in the world by 2024.
These matches could have easily been taken from the BNP Paribas Open, the premier tournament in the world. pro tennis Circuit outside Palm Springs The Arizona Tennis Classic was attended by over 500,000 people. This was Phoenix at the Arizona Tennis Classic, a much less prestigious event. Each year, the world’s top tennis players descend on the US for the Sunshine Double—BNP in California followed by the Miami Open—those who were cut quickly from the former often stop in for some rallies in Arizona before carrying on to Florida. The game is one of the best-kept secret for fans.
In the last year, 116 professional tennis tournaments took place worldwide between the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association. The majority of tennis fans and spectators are centered around the four big players: Australian OpenRoland Garros French Open), WimbledonThe. US Open. I want to tell them: Don’t worry about the Grand Slams. A trip to London to attend Wimbledon can be as difficult in terms of planning as the D-Day landings. Tickets are difficult to get for the French Open, which was my first choice, but it is small, crowded and has a limited capacity. The Australian Open is perfect, no notes, but it’s on the bottom of the earth, and the US Open…well, it was great before content creation, the Honey Deuce, unreasonably big crowds, and extortionate ticket prices. These lesser tournaments take place all year and offer a great opportunity to see high-quality, close-up tennis.
“The Majors, although still the most important dates in the calendar, are now exorbitant trips tailored to corporate and elite clients, much like the Super Bowl,” Craig Shapiro said of The Golden Ticket. This tour operator specializes in well-rounded tennis tours. “Tickets for the major tournaments are sold out.” Even the practice courts have lines. Shapiro says he has been receiving inquiries from people who want to go on trips. Gstaad, Switzerland; Buenos Aires; Estoril, Portugal; Tokyo“Our clients are interested in exploring other cities besides tennis.”
There are 45 ATP tournaments at the lowest level in places like Mallorca; Dallas; Hong KongBucharest (Romania), Chengdu (China) and Adelaide (Australia). Australia40 of these tournaments are also attended by women. These tournaments are dominated by big-name players. Novak Djokovic is expected to play at the Hellenic Tennis Championships in Athens because it’s organized by his family. Naomi Osaka is always a regular at Tokyo events because she represents Japan. Frances Tiafoe will be a crowd favorite at the DC Open as he represents his hometown. Carlos Alcaraz is the same in Barcelona.
The smaller tournaments are reminiscent of the US Open of the ’80s. There, I was able to obtain Michael Chang’s autograph (which has long since been lost) and wait in front of players’ lounge for a glimpse at a teenage Boris Becker after he had won his first Wimbledon. Recently, I was seated next to Jamie Murray in a plane to the UK. Montreal Yannick Noah was not willing to give his autograph when he visited the airport lounge ahead of National Bank Open Doha, where I had gone to catch the semifinals at the Qatar Open; and talked baseball with former French Open champ Andrés Gómez at the Challenger in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
