The ATP has confirmed to Ubitennis that they are conducting an internal review of their tournament calendar as South American tournaments seems destined to move from the clay to hard-courts.
Speculation over the future of the South American events mounted earlier this year. Rio Open tournament director Luiz Carvalho told the Press Association in February that he is contemplating a change in surface. The driving force behind the move is supported by the newly built Olympic Tennis Centre, which hosted the tennis tournament at Rio 2016. Since the Olympics, the venue has suffered a similar fate to others of slowly falling into decay.
”We trust a hard-court event would fit better because of the current situation of the tour,” Carvalho said. ”The next generation is hard-court focused.”
World No.16 Nick Kyrgios has already voiced his support for the move. During a question and answer session on Twitter earlier in the week, the Australian said he would play at the Rio Open if it changed surface.
The Latin American clay swing takes place during February, between the Australian Open and the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. A total of four clay events in three countries takes place (two in Brazil, one in Argentina and one in Ecuador). There is yet to be any decision about the future of those events. The ATP has confirmed to Ubitennis that they are reviewing the issue without elaborating further.
“The ATP is currently undergoing an internal review of its calendar and tournament structure, with a view to ensuring continued growth and establishing a long-term vision for the Tour for 2019 and beyond.” Simon Higson, the vice-president of PR and communication, told ubitennis.net.
“This structural review process, which incorporates input from all our tournament members, is not expected to conclude until the end of 2017. As such, and while we are aware of the speculation in the media related to tournaments in South America, it would be premature to comment any further at this stage.”
A hot topic in Miami
South America’s clay-court dilemma is one that has become a talking point at this week’s Miami Masters. World No.20 Alexander Zverev is the latest player to weigh in on the topic. Shortly after his fourth round win over Stan Wawrinka, the 19-year-old said it is the surface and not the location keeping players away from South America.
“The only reason why maybe not a lot of top guys are going there is because schedule-wise it maybe doesn’t make too much sense playing on clay for a lot of guys between Australian Open and Indian Wells and Miami, because those are the big tournaments.” He said.
“So maybe some of them prefer to stay in Europe and play hard courts there. I think that’s the main reason why a lot of players decide not to go to South America.”
Zverev’s perspective is supported by this year’s blockbuster Acapulco Open in Mexico. The tournament switched from the clay to hard In 2014. Last month their field featured five top-10 players, a record for the tournament.
2017 winners on South American clay
Ecuador (ATP 250) – Victor Estrella Burgos
Buenos Aires (ATP 250) – Alexandr Dolgopolov
Rio (ATP 500) Dominic Thiem
Sao Paulo (ATP 250) – Pablo Cuevas
Roger Federer, a player who has won 62 titles on a hard-court, is more open minded regarding to any future change. The 35-year-old has never played a South American clay-court event in his entire career.
“Surface change is always tricky, you know. We saw it with Stuttgart. They took a chance and I think it pays off. Maybe others have made a surface change and it didn’t work out so well.” Federer explained.
“I think it’s important to have an open mindset moving forward. Sure, I think now that the brave new world is coming to an end, what is it, next year, we’ll see what comes after 2018 and the next ten years.”
One fierce defender of the move is the ‘king of clay’ Rafael Nadal. Throughout his career the Spaniard has won 49 clay-court titles, sharing the all-time record with Guillermo Vilas. At the French Open, the pinnacle of clay tournaments, Nadal has won the title a record nine times.
“If there is 80% of the tournaments on hard, is normal that the best players of the world are hard court specialists, Not clay court specialists. So if we still are putting more tournaments on hard, then no one top player will be a specialist on clay.” Nadal argues.
“These tournaments for sure will never have a top player because the top players are always playing on hard.”
There is yet to be any action taken regarding the future of the clay tournaments in South America. It is understood that some are already in negotiations with the ATP.
