Canberra Challenger to stay in the calendar in 2020 regardless of ATP Cup
Staged at the Canberra Tennis Centre, Riggall Place, Lyneham, the East Hotel Canberra Challenger has been staged for the fifth time this week, with the Pole Hubert Hurkacz winning the title following a hard-fought 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Ilya Ivashka in just under two hours. With the newly-appointed changes on the Challenger Tour for 2019 season, the event gathered 48 players in the main draw and the crowd had a chance to see former top-40 players like Jiri Vesely and the upcoming youngsters who are making their first steps at this level of competition.
With the ATP Cup scheduled to take place between January 3-12, 2020, nothing will ever be the same in the opening month of the men's tennis calendar, with a realistic possibility to lose the majority of the pre-Australian Open ATP 250 tournaments and Hopman Cup as well. The 24-nation team competition will take place in Sydney, Brisbane and addition Australian city and it should gather around 100 players who will compete for the singles and doubles ATP points. That third city will certainly not be Canberra that intends to host the Challenger event in the years to come, with the Tennis ACT Chief Executive Officer Kim Kachel being confident about the importance of this event for the players ranked outside the top-80 or so who will still opt to play it as the last preparation for the Australian Open.
"The ATP Cup is an extremely exciting initiative with the top 24 nations and their respective teammates here in Australia beginning the summer of tennis, all best players in the world will be here," Kachel said. "It will be a brand new, innovative and exciting lead up to the Australian Open. I'm very much looking forward to it and Canberra is very committed to continuing to host fantastic pro tour events. If anything, the ATP Cup is likely to bolster our event as a lead-in to the Australian Open. We’ve seen lots of great players come here previously and we'll continue to provide top tennis.
It has been another great Canberra Challenger and I'm looking forward to seeing several of the guys play in Melbourne at the Australian Open this week. We have to review things in line with changes to the Challenger tour but there's potential to bolster our event and I'm confident we'll continue to attract some of the best players in the world."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2QIu15H
No comments