Argentina Open: The Buenos Aires Open is a tournament that already requires a jump

The tournament already had six players who were number 1 in the world before or after landing in Ezeiza, all the best Argentine tennis players from 2001 to today and also several attractions to experience inside and outside a stadium that is symbolic of the national sport. And the presence of Carlos Alcaraz this year was also the icing on the cake, an attraction comparable only in recent editions to Juan Martín Del Potro’s decision to get back on track (and eventually retire) in Buenos Aires in 2022, according to says the manager of Tennium, the company that has owned one of the two ATP 250s played in our country for six years.

But what is missing at the Buenos Aires Open to, precisely, change that category and become an ATP 500 and thus make a huge leap in quality? Simply the decision of the Association of Professional Tennis Players itself. There is a plus point: the ATP wants fewer ATP 250 tournaments and more ATP 500 for the most obvious thing: for its members (players) to earn more.

But the ATP also imposes the obligation to accept this change of status. For example, a larger investment would be required. It is that if today the tournament gives out a little more than 700 thousand dollars, that figure should be multiplied by three and if today it hands out a certain amount of money as collateral to ensure the presence of players like Alcaraz, for example, that figure should be doubled. Not to mention how much it would have to spend to improve a stage steeped in tradition and history but lacking greater capabilities and a powerful touch of modernization.

An ATP 500 would mean securing more and better players every year. It wouldn’t even be necessary to call upon the power of seduction of Jaite and company, but many would come uninvited. It would not be the case of Tsitsipas (the Greek had the current edition of the tournament on his radar), Zverev or Kyrgios, three examples of players that Tennium dreams of every year because the organization wants “young and charismatic tennis players so that the public can enjoy them ”; but surely the three of them and many others would find more reasons to go to the ends of the earth and enjoy an ever more attractive tournament. For the people and for the protagonists themselves.