STARNBERG, March 13, 2018
The Spanish National Tennis Federation RFET announced its decision to buy three new weeks of ATP Challenger competition. The Federation will also continue to financially support other tournaments of this category already existing in Spain, held in El Espinar as well as the Copa Sevilla.
The three new tournaments owned by the RFET are:
-Academia Equelite Juan Carlos Ferrero, Villena, $50,000 (1-8 April)
-Academia Rafa Nadal, Manacor. $50,000 (27 August – 2 September)
-To define location. $75,000 (1-7 October)
These five previous tournaments are joined by the $50,000 Casino Admiral Trophy, another new event that takes place in Puente Romano, Marbella, between March 25 and 31, and is also subsidized by the RFET.
A total of six ATP Challenger events will take place between the months of March and October, which means tripling the tournaments of this category held in Spain in one year.
Miguel Díaz Román, president of the RFET, assures that “this impulse will allow our players to compete close to home. As owners of the tournaments we can award wild cards into the tournaments to support our players. Up to now our calendar offered with the Open Castilla y León in El Espinar and the Copa Sevilla only two events, but now the players will be able to play six ATP Challenger tournaments from March to October. It is clear that a tennis nation like Spain needed a boost in this type of tournaments to consolidate its leadership and underpin the future of our sport. This is only a first step, since our next objective will be to add more tournaments to the Spanish tennis calendar.”
