Challenger event serves up some top-flight tennis
Inaugural Calgary tournament set to feature 90 players from 27 countries
Challenge accepted.
Er … make that Challenger accepted.
Calgary ’s Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre holds court for the next nine days beginning Saturday by welcoming some of the best players on the planet.
It’s Year 1 of the Calgary National Bank Challenger, a new event on the ATP Challenger Tour calendar.
“You’ll see a lot of really good tennis,” said tournament director Danny Da Costa of an event that features players ranked from No. 50 to No. 300 in the world.
“Calgary has never hosted a tennis event of this stature,” Da Costa continued. “Some similar players compete in the ITF Futures event at the Calgary Tennis Centre every summer, but the level of this one is significantly higher.”
Many of the top names currently in tennis have played Challenger events in the past, including Canadian superstars Milos Raonic, Eugenie Bouchard and Denis Shapovalov.
World-renowned stars Ivo Karlovic, of Croatia, and Tommy Robredo, of Spain, are also among those making their way to Calgary.
Karlovic, known for holding the record for the second fastest serve in tennis at 251 km/h, has defeated many top-ranked players, including Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic. Karlovic has been ranked as high as No. 15 in the world and was a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon.
Robredo, a former top-five player in the world, has competed in seven Grand Slam quarter-finals and has beaten Federer, Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka among others in his career.
The players list includes other notables such as American Donald Young, Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis and former top-ranked world junior players Casper Ruud of Norway, and Filip Peliwo of Canada.
Another Canadian, Harrison Scott, a Calgarian in his junior year at University of Texas and former Canadian junior national champion, will make his ATP debut, when the main event begins Monday.
And University of Calgary students Shane Nicholls of Manitoba and Andrew Ochotta of Ontario have drawn wild-card entries into the qualifying rounds, which begin Saturday.
The playoffs begin Oct. 19, with the finals set for Oct. 21.
All totalled, the event is made up of more than 90 competitors representing 27 countries.
“It’s incredible that Calgary gets to host athletes of this calibre in our inaugural event,” said Da Costa, who doubles as GM of the Osten & Victor Alberta Tennis Centre. “People in attendance are certainly in for a world-class tennis experience, and we are looking forward to making this event one of the best ATP Challenger events in the world.”
It’s already the third largest tennis tournament in the nation behind the two Rogers Cup events annually held in Toronto and Montreal.
And that makes it Canada’s largest indoor professional tennis event.
The Calgary National Bank Challenger features prize money of US$75,000 and will increase over the three-year commitment the city has made.
“It’s turning out to be a great event,” said facility chair and cofounder Ron Ghitter, a former politician and senator, an Order of Canada inductee known for his commitment to human rights and social justice.
“The competition is going to be really stiff,” Ghitter added. “The younger ones want to come in particularly to get points (to put towards qualifying on the ATP Tour). The Raonics and Shapovalovs of the world all went through the Challenger before they moved into the bigtime.”
DANIEL NESTOR DAY
Canadian star Daniel Nestor will be honoured during the event on Oct. 19. As honorary tournament director, Nestor’s involvement in this ATP World Tour event will include holding doubles and kids clinics and participation in the National Bank Pro-Am Tennis event and SportsNet960 Kidsport Day.