What a blow Argentine and South American tennis received this Friday with the publication of the 2025 ATP calendar, confirming that the Córdoba Open on clay will no longer be played and will be replaced by one in Mallorca, Spain, on grass.
“The decision of the ATP to bring an ATP250 to Argentina and the entire region is confirmed… From 4 tournaments to only 3… Taking tournaments and possibilities to all of South America, I don’t see it as a great decision. A shame,” tweeted Diego Schwartzman, one one of the first to speak out once the news was known.
With the elimination of the Córdoba Open, which had six editions between 2019 and this year, South America will be left with only three tournaments by 2025, being one of the regions most relegated by the ATP, just when Saudi Arabia’s petrodollars pounce on the sport of the little yellow ball.
South America will then host the tournaments in 2025 in Buenos Aires, from February 10 to 16, in Rio de Janeiro, from February 17 to 23, and in Santiago de Chile, from March 24 to 30. Buenos Aires and Santiago are in the 250 category, the lowest in the ATP, while Rio de Janeiro is 500, one step below the Masters 1,000, a category that has never passed through this subcontinent.
Córdoba then joins the extinct events that once took place in Viña del Mar (Chile), Bogotá (Colombia) and San Pablo (Brazil), for example. Of its six editions, four were won by Argentines: the local Juan Ignacio Lóndero inaugurated it in 2019, Juan Manuel Cerúndolo gave it a hit in 2021, Seba Báez won it in 2023 and this year it went to the nationalized Italian from Geselino Luciano Darderi. While the other two were distributed between the Chilean Christian Garín in 2020 and the Spanish Albert Ramos Viñolas in 2022.
The Golden Tour or Golden Swing, as the tournaments that are played in South America are known between the start of the season in Australia and the start of the Masters 1,000 on North American cement, has been put on the back burner for sporting as well as financial reasons.
In terms of competitiveness, several rackets choose to spend those dates in European indoor tournaments, such as Rotterdam (Netherlands) and Marseille (France), before traveling to Doha (Qatar) and Dubai (United Arab Emirates) since it represents a better acclimatization by not changing surfaces. He goes from the cement of Australia to the cement of Europe or the Middle East (against the South American brick dust), before flying to the United States and continuing on the hard court in Indian Wells and Miami, the first Masters 1,000 of the year.
In February 2025, South America competes with Europe and the Middle East. (ATP.com)
And regarding economics, we only have to compare the prizes awarded by Rio de Janeiro and Dubai, two tournaments of the same category. Seba Báez took home $392,000 for being crowned in Rio, while Frenchman Ugo Humbert pocketed $550,000 for winning in Dubai.
Thus, in 2025, of the total of 61 ATP tournaments that will be held in the world, only three will take place in South America. This contrasts with the five that are played in Oceania or the two that take place in Mexico. In the United States alone, for example, nine are held, including three Masters 1,000 and one Grand Slam: in France, five, including one Masters 1,000 and one Grand Slam; and in China, four.
Along with Africa, which only celebrates the tournament in Marrakech (Morocco), South America is the great forgotten one on the tennis calendar.
On the contrary, the European continent brings together almost 50% of the tournaments, with 30 events. It is no coincidence that since 2009 there has been no non-European Grand Slam champion. The last “heretic” was Juan Martín del Potro from Tandil, at the 2009 US Open.
2024-03-22 15:49:44
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