Carlos Alcaraz defeated Cameron Norrie, became his champion Argentina Open 2023 and gave impetus to the illusion that the country can host a ATP 500 in the future. The tournament, it is worth remembering, is currently ATP 250, the lowest category of the main phase of tennis world.
For some time now the illusion has been in the air in the organization, as well as the public and trading partners, that the event go up “rank”. There is a possibility, both for the Buenos Aires Open and for any other tournament on the circuit: during 2023 the governing body of men’s tennis will open a presentation period class promotion projects and will select three tournaments of the circuit that will be able to raise their status.
What does it mean for a tennis tournament to be ATP 500 or ATP 250?
The name of the division in each tennis tournament indicates the number of points it awards to its champion. So, the champion of an ATP 250 gets 250 points for the world ranking, while the winner of an ATP 500 logically gets half a thousand points. In the ranking then there are the Masters 1000, which also indicate the points to his name, and above all the Grand Slams, which award the champion with 2000 points.
The first immediate effect that the upgrade would have, then, is this The higher the number of points that will be distributed, the more players are interested in playing in the tournament.
Of course, the organization (in the case of the Argentina Open corresponds since 2017 to the Spanish company Tennium, which currently already manages almost a dozen tournaments in the world, including the ATP 500 in Barcelona and Hamburg) must also rise steadily: The facilities must be improved, the capacity of the pitches -which could be done through mobile tubular stands-, the facilities for players, audience, sponsors, protocol… And logically, apart from increasing the number of points to be distributed, the prize money that tennis players get should go up.
How much money do the ATP 250 and ATP 500 tournaments distribute?
It’s not just grades and glory that are at stake on the tennis courts. For professional players, this is nothing more and nothing less than their job and although it is played every week to make history, tennis players also have to be mindful of the revenue that their performance in a tournament will bring. AND while at the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires the Argentina Open rewards participants with a total of $711,600 (an almost identical award to Delray Beach, which is in the same category), this week the ATP 500 Rotterdamto cite an example that is contested at the same time, are distributed just over 2,220,000 euros, nearly $2,400,000.
In a country where every dollar in circulation is withheld by almost any means by the national authorities, with multiple restrictions that have affected the general life of Argentines as well as sports (in River Plate, for example, they assert that the difficulties of earning dollars was decisive factor in the departure of Juan Fernando Quintero), such a goal does not seem easy, though The Argentina Open has a small advantage: be able to act as a “tourist spread agent” (players usually campaign on iconic sites and these are the images that are spread internationally), which allows them to access favorable exchange rate in relation to other sectors; In addition, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Nation itself is one of the sponsors through Visit Argentina, the area responsible for tourism of the National Institute of Tourism Promotion of the country.
Can Argentina Open become ATP 500?
According to a report by journalist Sebastián Torok in La Nación, Tennium executives claim they are “Focused on growth, but not obsession”, and work to put the tournament in the necessary conditions. So, the article states, the company is “open for project presentation” to upgrade.
In favor of the Argentina Open, factors such as variety, that if the ATP takes note, it could lean towards South America (where there is only one ATP 500, that of Rio de Janeiro). one cooperate with the Brazilian competition and, why not, with its organizers Acapulco Open (Mexico’s ATP, which is also in the 500 category and often has draws worthy of the Masters 1000), could also motivate players to come to this area and play the three tournaments in a row for no less than 1500 points in three weeks.
That would be just as much of a situation as the other ATP 500s available at the moment are Rotterdam in Europe and just two weeks later Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. There, of course, they have many factors in their favor, including “appearance money” either display endwhich is the money that tournaments give players just for participating (and which is over and above prizes for competition performance).
The ATP will have the final say, however. And the Argentina Open is dreaming.
