STARNBERG, October 17, 2021

There’s 14 days to go until the ATP Challenger Tour returns to the Canary Islands. After two successful editions of the Gran Canaria Challenger organized by MEF Tennis Events and hosted by the El Cortijo Club de Campo in Telde in February this year, the circuit will soon arrive in Tenerife, the largest and with about 920,000 inhabitants the most populous island of the archipelago. Approximately five million tourists visit the island each year, making it the most visited island in the autonomous community.

Tenerife has already been home to Challenger tournaments two times, in 1993 won by Frenchman Jean-Philippe Fleurian, and 2009 when Marco Chiudinelli from Switzerland lifted the trophy.

The 2021 Tenerife Challenger is scheduled from November 1 to 7 on the hard courts of the Abama Tennis Academy in Guía de Isora, a municipality in the western part of the island. Gran Canaria native David Marrero will be the tournament director.

🌴☀️🎾¡Alegría anticipada! 🎾☀️🌴

📸: Marta Magni/MEF Tennis Events pic.twitter.com/aqmS5z7DJ2

— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) October 14, 2021

Griekspoor leads the field

The entry list is led by red-hot Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor. The World No. 118 has already captured six ATP Challenger titles this season, winning the tournaments in Prague, Czech Republic, Bratislava, Slovakia, on home soil in Amersfoort, at the Murcia Open in Spain and twice in Napoli, Italy. Frenchman Quentin Halys, Marc Polmans of Australia and Elias Ymer from Sweden are expected to round out the Top four seeds.

Interestingly, no Spanish player can be found on the list – neither as direct entry, nor as one of the Top 20 alternates. However, three main draw wild cards are still up for grabs. One contender could be Tenerife native Marc Owen Endler. The 18-year-old son of an US-American mother and German father was granted a wild card into the main draw of the Gran Canaria Challenger 1. The teenager lost in the first round of his Challenger debut to Alex Molcan in straight sets. Maybe there will be a second chance for him, this time on his home island.

Entry List Tenerife Challenger

Tallon Griekspoor 118
Quentin Halys 158
Marc Polmans 159
Elias Ymer 163
Altug Celikbilek 169
Emilio Gomez 174
Joao Sousa 182
Frederico Ferreira Silva 193
Jay Clarke 195
Gian Marco Moroni 207
Kimmer Coppejans 210
Lorenzo Giustino 213
Borna Gojo 216
Thomas Fabbiano 225
Chun-hsin Tseng 254
Constant Lestienne 258
Timofey Skatov 271
Nuno Borges 273
Manuel Guinard 275
Hiroki Moriya 288
Michael Geerts 295
Andrey Kuznetsov 296
Joris De Loore 968