Before we head to the short ATP Challenger Tour break, here are a bunch of stats and facts about what took place in 2024. The overall number of events reached 207, breaking yet another record. Feel free to check out the previous editions of this piece about the seasons – 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
Challenger Tour By the Numbers
Tournaments by surface
- 104 – Clay (including two indoor events in Szekesfehervar and Maia)
- 68 – Outdoor hard
- 32 – Indoor hard
- 3 – Grass
2024 was the year when carpet courts disappeared off the Challenger circuit with Ismaning switching to host a W75 ITF event instead. Grass remains alive only in the United Kingdom. Interestingly, the number of indoor hard court events stayed the same as in 2023 with outdoor hard (+5) and clay (+7) posting small growth. For this article, Blois was counted as a clay tournament despite 95% of the action eventually having to be moved to an indoor hard venue due to extreme rain.
Number of events per country
- 23 – United States
- 19 – Italy
- 18 – France
- 16 – Spain
No surprises here, although Italy lost 9 events over two years (28 in 2022, 23 in 2023) and eventually its spot at the top of the leaderboard to the United States. American Challengers were still organized basically every other week.
Titles won per country (singles)
- 24 – France
- 22 – Argentina
- 18 – United States
- 12 – Italy
- 11 – Spain
Italy falls off a bit here too, which is probably connected to a big group of its young stars “graduating” to the main circuit this year – Matteo Arnaldi, Flavio Cobolli, or Luciano Darderi (although the latter still claimed one Challenger title in 2024). Australia dropped out of the double-digit zone while Spain went up from 7 titles in 2023.
Most titles won (singles)
- 6- Damir Dzumhur
- 4 – Jacob Fearnley
- 3 – Benjamin Bonzi, Tristan Boyer, Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Francisco Comesana, Hugo Dellien, Federico Agustin Gomez, Lloyd Harris, Jozef Kovalik, Kamil Majchrzak, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Alexander Ritschard, Learner Tien, Camilo Ugo Carabelli, Valentin Vacherot, Otto Virtanen
The Tallon Griekspoor record still looks unbeatable (8 titles in 2021), but it’s interesting how many players ended up with 3 trophies this season. Damir Dzumhur went a perfect 6-0 in finals to top this list, matching the achievements of Younes El Aynaoui (1998), Juan Ignacio Chela (2001), Facundo Bagnis (2016), Sebastian Baez (2021), and Benjamin Bonzi (2021). Jacob Fearnley will dominate another stat later in the article.
Most titles won (doubles)
- 7 – Sander Arends, Theo Arribage, Luke Johnson, Ryan Seggerman, Patrik Trhac, Marcus Willis
- 6 – Christian Harrison, Orlando Luz, Piotr Matuszewski
Ryan Seggerman and Patrick Trhac were the winning-est pair of the season with a 7-3 final record (the former also made the Szczecin final with Szymon Walkow). Sander Arends and Luke Johnson took two titles together and five with other partners, while the feel-good story of the doubles season was Marcus Willis of 2016 Wimbledon/Snickers+RC Cola fame getting the best results of his career. Theo Arribage was one of the more eclectic players with seven titles alongside five partners.
Most match wins (singles)
- 49 – Camilo Ugo Carabelli
- 44 – Tristan Boyer
- 41 – Nishesh Basavareddy, Damir Dzumhur, Adam Walton
Tristan Boyer won 44 matches at all levels in 2024 with each of these wins coming in Challengers (he lost in the first round of three Slam qualifying events and Houston ATP 250 Q1). Calvin Hemery at 35 wins was the player who picked up the most match victories without a title. The Frenchman reached three finals but is still looking for his first trophy since Tampere 2017 (1-9 final record). All players at 40+ wins posted their personal-best figures. Camilo Ugo Carabelli was looking for his 50th win on the very last day of the season, but lost the Temuco final to Hady Habib in a classic that went all the way to the deciding set tie-break.
Best win percentage (singles main draw only, minimum 20 matches played)
- 90% – Jacob Fearnley (27-3)
- 88% – Valentin Vacherot (21-3)
- 85% – Pedro Martinez (17-3)
- 80% – Learner Tien (35-9)
Jacob Fearnley’s meteoric rise to the Top 100 right after wrapping up his college career was incredible and the Brit at one point held a 25-1 win/loss record in Challenger main draws this year. Valentin Vacherot looked like a certain Top 100 debutant for the first few months of the season, but was stopped in his tracks by an injury and played just one event since the grass season (US Open qualifying). Pedro Martinez reached the final in 4 of his 5 Challenger appearances, while Learner Tien’s streak of not losing before the quarterfinals lasted until his last tournament of the year in Champaign.
ATP Top 50 singles participation (Challenger 175 category excluded)
- 39 – Cameron Norrie – Nottingham – Lost to Jack Pinnington Jones in the second round
- 40 – Borna Coric – Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve – Lost to Leadro Riedi in the final
- 41 – Luciano Darderi – Perugia – Title
- 45 – Pedro Martinez – Valencia – Title
- 46 – Adrian Mannarino – Rennes – Lost to Jacob Fearnley in the quarterfinals
The Challenger 175 category is excluded from this list since players ranked 11-50 are allowed to enter these events without a wildcard pre-approved by the ATP. Otherwise, five Top 50 players used this route in some specific spots this season – Borna Coric in the second week of the Australian Open, Pedro Martinez in the second week of the ATP 1000 in Shanghai, Adrian Mannarino during the Davis Cup break. Luciano Darderi wanted to keep playing on clay for a while longer after the French Open, while Cameron Norrie interestingly opted for a grass Challenger at home instead of appearing at either of the ATP 250s in Stuttgart or ‘s-Hertogenbosch.
Finals between top seeds (singles)
- (1) Jurij Rodionov over (2) Brandon Nakashima in Koblenz
- (2) Camilo Ugo Carabelli over (1) Federico Coria in Piracicaba
- (2) Sumit Nagal over (1) Luca Nardi in Chennai
- (2) Damir Dzumhur over (1) Harold Mayot in Barletta
- (1) Arthur Fils over (2) Pedro Martinez in Bordeaux
- (1) Hugo Gaston over (2) Alexandre Muller in Lyon
- (2) Jozef Kovalik over (1) Camilo Ugo Carabelli in Karlsruhe
- (2) Francisco Comesana over (1) Federico Coria in Buenos Aires
- (2) Thanasi Kokkinakis over (1) Rinky Hijikata in Syndey
9 finals between the top two seeds in 207 events is merely 4%. Second seeds took this rivalry with a 6-3 record. Thanasi Kokkinakis and Rinky Hijikata were heavily outranking the rest of the field in Sydney (by about 100 spots), while perhaps the most interesting was the showdown between Sumit Nagal and Luca Nardi – the winner was going to break the Top 100, the runner-up had to wait for that achievement.
Qualifier champions
- Valentin Vacherot – Nonthaburi-1
- Leandro Riedi – Ottignies-Louvain-la-Neuve
- Gianluca Mager – Punta del Este
- Mikhail Kukushkin – Tenerife-3
- Chun-hsin Tseng – Szekesfehervar
- Nicolas Mejia – San Luis Potosi
- Alejo Lorenzo Lingua Lavallen – Santos
- Jerome Kym – Prostejov
- Jacob Fearnley – Nottingham
- Kamil Majchrzak – Bratislava
- Federico Agustin Gomez – Milan
- Federico Arnabolid – Verona
- Gijs Brouwer – Saint-Tropez
- Tung-lin Wu – Nonthaburi-4
- Elmer Moller – Braga
- Murphy Cassone – Calgary
- Borna Gojo – Sioux Falls
8% of Challenger Tour events were won by qualifiers in 2024. Alejo Lorenzo Lingua Lavallen had been the lowest-ranked champion on the circuit this year at #665 until the very last week of the season (see the section below).
Wildcard champions (singles)
- Kamil Majchrzak (Kigali-1)
- Adolfo Daniel Vallejo (Sao Leopoldo)
- Francesco Passaro (Turin)
- Jaime Faria (Oeiras-4)
- Luciano Darderi (Perugia)
- Learner Tien (Bloomfield Hills)
- Richard Gasquet (Cassis)
- Pedro Martinez (Valencia)
- Fabio Fognini (Montemar)
- Rei Sakamoto (Yokkaichi)
Luciano Darderi and Pedro Martinez were top-seeded at their respective events, only requiring the wildcard due to being ranked inside the Top 50. Fabio Fognini and Richard Gasquet didn’t sign up for Montemar and Cassis at first, but were one of the top seeds when the draws came out. The other players on the list wouldn’t have made the main draw at these tournaments otherwise. Kamil Majchrzak and Adolfo Daniel Vallejo interestingly received these opportunities at events away from their home country. Rei Sakamoto at #682 became the lowest-ranked champion this year in the very last week of the season.
Lucky loser champions
- Edas Butvilas – Charleston
Edas Butvilas lost a dramatic clash to Alex Rybakov 7-6(2) 5-7 5-7 in the final qualifying round in Charleston, but received the lucky loser spot and ended up claiming his first Challenger title at the end of the week. Meanwhile, Rybakov lost to Nishesh Basavareddy in his main draw opponent, the same opponent Butvilas would later beat to pick up the trophy. It’s the second year in a row with one lucky loser champion (Matteo Gigante at 2023 Tenerife-3).
Longest super tie-break – 20-18 Nicolas Mejia/Andres Urrea against Clement Chidekh/Luca Sanchez
Nicolas Mejia and Andres Urrea came out on top in this Granby quarterfinal, having already saved a match point in the second set. Despite going all the way to 20-18, they only needed to fend off one further match point in the super tie-break with almost all the chances coming their way. It took ten of them for the Colombian duo to eventually prevail. Boris Arias and Federico Zeballos won a 19-17 match tie-break over Sander Arends and Matwe Middelkoop in the first round in Madrid (8 match points saved), while the longest breaker in a final came in Brasov as Javier Barranco Cosano and Nicolas Moreno de Alboran took out Karol Drzewiecki and Piotr Matuszewski 3-6 6-1 [17-15].
Singles and doubles champions at the same event
- Tristan Schoolkate – Guangzhou (with Blake Ellis)
- James Trotter – Tyler (with Hans Hach Verdugo)
- Daniel Rincon – Tampere (with Inigo Cervantes)
James Trotter was close to repeating his achievement from Little Rock in Columbus, winning the doubles title (also with Hans Hach Verdugo) and going all the way to a deciding set tie-break with Naoki Nakagawa in the singles final. Counting both singles and doubles, the Japanese picked up seven trophies this year (2 and 5, respectively).
Double bagels (main draw only)
- Jesper de Jong over Titouan Droguet – Noumea
- Colton Smith over Joshua Lapadat – Lincoln
- Ariel Behar/Luke Johnson over Anton Shepp/Joan Torres Espinosa – Lincoln
- Benjamin Bonzi over Eliakim Coulibaly – Orleans
- Dalibor Svrcina over Federico Arnaboldi – Olbia
- Liam Draxl over Evgeny Karlovskiy – Puerto Vallarta
- Liam Draxl over Alex Hernandez – Puerto Vallarta
A few anomalies here with no double bagels from January to August and then suddenly two in one event, or Liam Draxl reaching the Puerto Vallarta quarterfinals without dropping a game. Jesper de Jong beating Titouan Droguet was probably the biggest surprise out of all of these (bookmakers were pricing this match as close to even), while Eliakim Coulibaly got this treatment right after beating a Top 100 player (Quentin Halys) in his previous round. No double-bagel happened in a quarterfinal or later into the event.
Shortest final ever – Learner Tien over Bernard Tomic in 39 minutes
It’s no surprise that a player known for quick losses (28 minutes against Jarkko Nieminen at the ATP 1000 in Miami) delivered this record, four minutes shorter than Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeating Dudi Sela at 2019 Cassis. Bernard Tomic was mentally/physically fried by the time he made the Fairfield final and had no chance to compete with Learner Tien, but these points were instrumental in allowing him to set up a return to Grand Slam qualifying stage at the 2025 Australian Open after three years of missing out.
Grand Slam semifinal rematch – Marin Cilic vs Kyle Edmund
The first-ever Grand Slam semifinal rematch at the Challenger level came in 2023 when Stan Wawrinka defeated Andy Murray in Bordeaux. This time it was Marin Cilic and Kyle Edmund, who had previously squared off at the 2018 Australian Open (Cilic won that match and lost to Roger Federer in five sets in the final). In their first meeting since, the Croat proved superior in the second round of a Challenger in Cassis and went on to pick up an ATP Tour title in Hangzhou later that month.
Won an ATP Tour and an ATP Challenger Tour title in the same year (singles)
- Benjamin Bonzi (Metz ATP 250/Winnipeg, Roanne, and Saint-Brieuc Challengers)
- Nuno Borges (Bastad ATP 250/Phoenix Challenger)
- Luciano Darderi (Cordoba ATP 250/Perugia Challenger)
- Arthur Fils (Hamburg and Tokyo ATP 500s/Bordeaux Challenger)
- Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard (Lyon ATP 250, Basel ATP 500/Nottingham-1, Cuernavaca, and Acapulco Challengers)
- Alejandro Tabilo (Auckland and Mallorca ATP 250s/Aix-en-Provence Challenger)
Arthur Fils and Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard were able to clinch title(s) at the ATP 500 level. Fils is appearing in this chart for the second straight year, this time playing just one Challenger all season. Mpetshi Perricard started by going 24-9 on the Challenger Tour before his tour-level breakthrough. Benjamin Bonzi won the ATP 250 in Metz right after an insane Challenger run (14-1 in 3 weeks, had three match points to beat Otto Virtanen in the last match). Alejandro Tabilo also played just one event this year, while Nuno Borges (7-1) and Luciano Darderi (12-3) compiled strong records in just a few appearances. Borges, Fils, and Tabilo won Challengers of the highest category – 175.
Second-youngest and third-oldest singles champion ever – Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet announced his retirement this year (he will say goodbye at the 2025 French Open), but not before he produced a fantastic achievement that proves his incredible longevity. A wunderkind in the early 2000s, the Frenchman was already the second-youngest Challenger Tour champion at 16 years of age behind Michael Chang. By winning the 2024 Cassis Challenger, he also became the third-oldest champion in history.
Youngest Challenger Tour singles champions
- 15 years and 7 months – Michael Chang at 1987 Las Vegas
- 16 years – Richard Gasquet at 2002 Montauban
Oldest Challenger Tour singles champions
- 39 years and 7 months – Ivo Karlovic at 2018 Calgary
- 38 years and 3 months – Fernando Verdasco at 2022 Monterrey
- 38 years and 2 months – Richard Gasquet at 2024 Cassis
More African representation – Kigali and Brazzaville
The ATP Challenger Tour visited a couple of African countries for the first time in 2024 with Rwanda and Congo. Kigali hosted 2 consecutive events in February/March with Kamil Majchrzak (a title and a semifinal) and Marco Trungelliti (a final and a title) dominating that stretch. We already have confirmation that these tournaments will be returning to the calendar in 2025. The Challenger in Brazzaville at the end of October wasn’t as popular of a selection among the players (just three qualifying draw matches were needed and the field was one of the weakest in tour history).
2010 World Cup Golden Ball Winner makes an appearance – Diego Forlan
Reminiscent of when Paolo Maldini featured in a Challenger doubles draw in 2017, Villareal/Atletico Madrid legend Diego Forlan played the Montevideo Challenger this year. The Uruguayan had been competing in 45+ events with decent success, leading to some media hype and his eventual partnership with Federico Coria for this event. For this amateur against pro scenario he did alright, but was obviously by far the worst player on the court as he and Coria lost to the experienced Bolivian duo Boris Arias/Federico Zeballos 1-6 2-6. He’s better at tennis than Maldini, no doubt.
Main photo credit: Clayton Freeman/Florida Times-Union
