Acapulco was originally the fourth stop on the Golden Swing, until the tournament made its own switch from clay to hard courts in 2014 for similar reasons.
“The decision was something that we were looking for a long time ago, maybe five or six years, but the Player Council didn’t feel it was OK,” said Raul Zurutuza, Acapulco’s tournament director until 2022, at the time. “Then two years ago, there was a gap in the calendar… and the pieces clicked. It makes a lot of sense to have Acapulco on a hard court.”
It made a lot of sense to top players too, who have been flocking to the tournament since its surface switch.
Now, other Golden Swing tournament directors say they want the all-clear to make the same change.
According to Fillol, Rio Open tournament director Luiz Carvalho is already on board, with Buenos Aires organizers reportedly the holdouts in pushing to keep their clay-court status. Any change would need to be approved by ATP’s board.
