Tennis’ two main tours are frenzied races from one end of the globe to the other. Yet compared to the ATP’s Challenger Tour, they can seem like calm ocean waters that cover up the impossibly intricate ecosystems beneath.
Similar to baseball’s minor leagues or the NBA’s G League, Challengers, as the name implies, are where the sport’s hundreds of hungry hopefuls, of all ages, make their livings, hone their skills and, most important, do whatever it takes to get themselves into The Show.
There are roughly 200 Challenger events each year, and they come in five different levels—50, 75, 100, 125 and 175—based on the number of ranking points they offer. While the sport’s top men fight it out in one spot—Indian Wells—this week, Challenger players will fan out in all directions, to Phoenix, Arizona (a 175), Cap Cana, Dominican Republic (175), Cherbourg, France (75), Santiago, Chile (75) and Crete, Greece (50).
Next week, there are 75s in Asunción, Paraguay; Mérida, Mexico; Murcia, Spain and Zadar, Croatia.
