Five things to look forward to on the Challenger Tour in 2017 - UBITENNIS

Five things to look forward to on the Challenger Tour in 2017

By Alex Burton
5 Min Read
Denis Shapovalov is just one name that might use the Challenger Tour to aid a consistency to his game in 2017 (Zimbio.com)

With the 2017 season little more than a week from starting, I preview five things that could make the 2017 Challenger Tour almost as enticing a prospect as the ATP Tour.

1. Casper Ruud. The young Norwegian made headlines when he won the Seville Challenger by defeating a number of clay veterans and Top 100 players. Still just eighteen, Ruud is likely an prospect that many ATP tournaments would be pleased to offer a wildcard to boost interest in young talents. Despite this, Ruud will likely look again to the Challenger circuit to solidify a consistent rise up the rankings. Given the wide availability of clay Challengers through most of the year, as clay is the young Norwegian’s best surface to date, we can expect to see a lot of Casper Ruud in the Challengers in 2017.

2. Familiar dominance. Is there is one thing that the Challengers have been able to offer over the last few years, it is the success and consistency of a few select names.  Dudi Sela and Yen Hsun Lu are to the Challenger Tour what the likes of Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are to the ATP Tour. With more than forty career Challenger titles to date, Lu and Sela can be expected to continue their Challenger dominance in 2017 after both won titles in 2016.

3. Veteran players. With Tommy Haas claiming he is ready for a final comeback attempt under the watchful eye of Marcelo Rios, and with the likes of Mikhail Youzhny, Tommy Robredo, and Janko Tipsarevic filling out Challenger draws regularly in 2016, you could almost have a draw with ten former top ten players. Such is the level of Challenger play in the current age. Slightly younger veterans who have perhaps started to decline including the likes of Marcel Granollers, and Jeremy Chardy could find themselves more regularly participating in Challenger draws. It could be that high profile players such as Phillipp Kohlschreiber who endured an indifferent 2017 could find themselves playing in Challengers more often.

4. Surprising comebacks. Who would have thought that Florian Mayer would finish the year ranked at no.50 after such hard injury troubles? Almost no one. Yet the German veteran took the tour by storm, playing in Challengers and winning the Halle Open by shocking young German Alexander Zverev in the final. The Challenger circuit is often the first port of call for any player attempting a comeback from long-term injury. Often we do not know which player it will be until they announce it or their name appears in the draw, but it is always exciting to see well-known players make their first competitive steps in a comeback.

5. Graduation. Taylor Fritz, Borna Coric, Alexander Zverev. These are names that have largely moved on from the Challenger circuit (though I suspect we may see Taylor Fritz appear in a few to start the year). It is not a sad feeling seeing these youngsters move up. On the contrary, the Challenger circuit should welcome it. These players are testament to the usefulness and importance of the Challengers as a valuable stepping-stone in a player’s professional progression.Such is the nature of tennis that these and the likes of Frances Tiafoe and Hyeon Chung, who will hope to graduate in 2017, will always be replaced by other top young stars looking to make an impact. Casper Ruud is already featured here, but the likes of Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger Aliassime, and Alex de Minaur are just a few names that we might see more prevalent in the 2017 class.

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