By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
So the Hall of Fame Open in Newport, R.I. is now no longer an ATP Tour level event.
The 48th and final edition of the event as an tour event on the ATP Tour calendar ended with U.S. Olympian Marcos Giron defeating Alex Michelsen 6-7, 6-3, 7-5 in a thrilling final in front of a sell-out crowd. Next year, as part of a restructuring of the ATP Tour’s summer schedule, the event will return, but as a combined men’s and women’s 125-level Challenger event. To compare with baseball, the event will more or less be the AAA baseball equivalent in tennis. For the most part, the transition from “minor league tennis” to the “the show” can be seamless as there are a good number of players playing Challengers who fans will see play in Grand Slam tournaments or ATP or WTA tournaments perhaps even just after playing a Challenger. Most Challengers feature players ranked No. 100 and lower, however it is not uncommon to have a handful of top 100 players playing in Challengers.
As charming and historic as the Hall of Fame Open has been through the years, it probably has had the worst player fields of any ATP 250–level event, mostly due to the fact that it is held the week after Wimbledon and on grass, when players are putting the grass season behind them and preparing for the U.S. Open on hard courts. In 2024, the Hall of Fame Open had only 10 of its 28 singles players ranked in the top 100, led by top seed and defending champion No. 25 Adrian Mannarino and No. 2 seed and eventual champion Marcos Giron, ranked No. 46. The lowest-ranked direct entry in the field was Benoit Paire at No. 227. In 2023, the lowest ranked direct entry was Michelsen, who actually had an incredible run to the final, when he got into the event with a ranking of No. 250.
Through the years, many of players with low-rankings have had inspiring runs in Newport, as documented in my book “On This Day In Tennis History” (for sale and download here: https://a.co/d/ceAgJ7G) In 1993, Greg Rusedski was ranked No. 151 when he won his first ATP title. Leander Paes, a member of the 2024 Hall of Fame class, was ranked No. 120 in the world when he won the title in Newport in 1998, Prakash Amritraj, the son of 2024 Hall of Fame class member Vijay Amritraj, was ranked No. 305 in the world in 2008 when he was the singles runner-up in Newport. In 1991, Bryan Shelton, the father of current top U.S. pro Ben Shelton, was ranked No. 147 when he won the title in Newport. In 2006, Mark Philippoussis, ranked No. 214 in the world, also won the title in Newport, although he was once ranked in the top 10.
So what can fans expect player fields to look like for the joint men’s and women’s 125-level Challenger in 2025? For example, one can look at this week’s Chicago 75 Challenger (slightly lower than a 125 event) where the top seed is Terence Atmane of France, ranked No. 120. Benjamin Bonzi of France, ranked No. 136, is the No. 2 seed. Five players who competed in the main draw of Newport are in the field in Chicago, Li Tu, ranked No. 208, Marc Polmans, ranked No. 217, Alex Bolt, ranked No. 210, Coleman Wong, ranked No. 170 and Gabriel Diallo of Canada, ranked No. 165.This week’s 125 Challenger in Zug, Switzerland has No. 87 Botic Van De Zandschulp as the top seed and No. 146 Matteo Gigante as the No. 2 seed.
What about a potential women’s field? This week’s WTA 125-level Challenger is in Warsaw, Poland and the top seed is No. 109-ranked Rebecca Sramkova of the Slovak Republic and the No. 2 seed is No. 110-ranked Mai Hontama of Japan. The lone American entry in Warsaw is Alycia Parks, who is ranked No. 124. Since the “Newport Challenger” is obviously in the United States, the field will certainly feature more American players and one can expect a handful of up-and-coming young American players, seeking ATP and WTA ranking points to help them move up to the higher levels of tennis, to receive wild card entries into the tournament.
A combined men’s and women’s event in Newport starting in 2025 means twice the number of matches for fans. For the ATP Tour Hall of Fame Open, there were 25 total main draw singles matches and 15 main draw doubles matches. For the combined Newport Challenger, there will be 32-player singles draws and 16-team doubles draws. This means there will be 62 main draw singles matches and 30 main draw doubles matches for both genders combined. (Pray for little or no rain as there can’t be night play on grass!) The Hall of Fame announced that five match courts will be used for the event, which probably also means laying out two courts (or perhaps three courts) on the Stadium Court grass footprint, as was done in the past.
The total prize money for the 2024 Hall of Fame Open as an ATP event was $742,350 with the winner, Giron, earning $100,000, the runner-up Michelsen earning $58,000 and first round losers earning $7,000. Giron earned 250 ATP ranking points as the winner and Michelsen, as runner-up, earned 165 ranking points. The total prize money for the Newport Challenger, which will offer equal prize money for both men and women, will be about $160,000 per event (men and women), so it is about a 75 percent decrease in prize money (for the men, of course). Each singles winner will receive about $20,000 and the runner-up about $12,000 and first round losers will earn about $1,000. The winners will receive 125 ranking points and the runner-up will earn 64 ranking points.
While the prize money will be much smaller, there shouldn’t be too much of a drop off in level of play. However, it will be interesting to see the player fields based on the fact that many players may want to focus on getting ready for the hard court season. Also, the Newport Challenger will be held during the second week of Wimbledon, July 6-13 with the tournament’s opening day occurring on the middle Sunday of Wimbledon and players who are in the top 100 will be at Wimbledon, unsure of when they will be eliminated in singles, doubles or mixed doubles. However, for players who wish to play at Wimbledon in the future and want to get some experience playing more grass court tennis, the Newport Challenger provides that opportunity.
