The Golden Swing is now upon us again and the classic red clay tournaments at the beginning of the year are always popular among a big group of tennis fans.
Are there big changes coming to these events though? There’s been some discussion going on recently regarding changing the surface from clay to hard-courts. Something that would probably not go down well with everyone.
Let’s look closer at what has actually been said about this.
Hard to attract players
The Golden Swing is a classic part of the ATP tour, with clay events in Buenos Aires (Argentina), Santiago (Chile), and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil). The Rio Open is an ATP 500 event and it’s the biggest tournament this year. It’s usually played between the Australian Open and the Sunshine Double (Indian Wells and Miami Open). And that seem to be the main issue here, the timing in the ATP calendar.
According to the tournament directors, it’s getting more and more difficult to attract top players to clay events this time of year. Being played in between major hard court events (AO and Indian Wells) many players seem to prefer staying on hard court, to be better prepared for the Sunshine Double.
“In South America, on clay, it is already much more difficult for us to attract players, because they come from an important hard court swing in Australia and are preparing for another important one in the United States…” commented Chile Open director, Catalina Fillol.
One tournament has already taken this step, as the ATP Acapulco was previously the fourth event on the Golden Swing, but back in 2014 they made the decision to change from clay to hard courts, for similar reasons. And we’ve seen more players coming to Acapulco since the switch.
Any change of surface would need to be approved by ATP’s board first, and it’s unclear wether the Rio and Buenos Aires organisers are also considering this change. We know that the Rio directors has previously been talking about a possible surface and venue change to the Olympic Tennis Center.
“It must stay on clay”
There would be a lot of upset fans if these changes would go through. The opinions among many seem to be that the last thing the ATP calendar needs is more hard courts and that these events would lose a lot of their personalities. This is something Nadal spoke about already back in 2017.
It could also be devastating to many of the South American players, as they are known for their clay specialists and it’s the surface they are used to playing on growing up. How would it affect players like Nicolas Jarry and Sebastian Baez?
It’s a loved part of the calendar but in the end it might be a struggle to keep the tournaments on clay, if it gets too hard to attract good players. We’re also seeing some upcoming players from this region, that are more adaptable to all surfaces, such as Brazil’s Joao Fonseca.
What are your thoughts on this struggle for the Golden Swing? Can this part of the season be moved or swapped? Should South America get a Masters 1000 event? Comment below!
