Interesting that the USA has the most prestigious set of ATP Tournaments for any country

[FrontHeadlock]

1. It has the US Open, which is the most prestigious hard court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world
2. It has 3/9 Masters tournaments, including 2 of the Top 3 most prestigious Masters events (IW and Cincy), which coincidentally are the top two most prestigious hard court Masters in the world
3. A fourth Masters is literally played on its Border (Canada Masters)
4. It has one 500 level tournament.

What's the country with the second most prestigious set of ATP Tournaments? Probably France, with RG (most prestigious clay court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world), Paris Masters and the Monte Carlo Masters which for all intents and purposes can be considered to take place in France.

I probably normally would have said UK (Wimbledon, WTF, Queen's), but it recently lost the WTF and you could argue it might now rank behind Italy with both the WTF and the Rome Masters.

 

[MugOpponent]

I don't think of Cincy as being particularly prestigious. Clearly above Madrid and Paris but for me after Indian Wells and Rome, it's very subjective. Indian Wells is clearly the most coveted of Masters events. Miami used to be really strong.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

I don't think of Cincy as being particularly prestigious. Clearly above Madrid and Paris but for me after Indian Wells and Rome, it's very subjective. Indian Wells is clearly the most coveted of Masters events. Miami used to be really strong.

I agree. Cincy is #3 after IW and Rome.

 

[BGod]

Considering the US size it's not that impressive and the USO has lost a lot of prestigious over the last decade with some trash draws.

I like Cincy, but I don't think it's above Rome or even Monte Carlo personally. IW has its own issues although the luster is quite obvious.

There's a big question of how 500 tournaments can be viewed, with some certainly close to Masters level atmosphere. You also have the USA's roster of nice 250 tournaments, so really it's a no contest for volume.

But France has a nice ensemble with RG, Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Metz.
Spain has Madrid, Barcelona, Mallorca
UK has Wimbledon, Queens, Eastbourne

Germany has the best field of 3-4th tier tournaments with Halle, Hamburg, Munich & Stuttgart it's seriously underrated and Halle may get upgraded to Masters. Switzerland not far behind with Geneva, Gstaad & Basel.

China may have rivaled the USA in the coming decades but I feel the tide has turned and they'll be replaced eventually.

 

[BlueB]

1. It has the US Open, which is the most prestigious hard court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world
2. It has 3/9 Masters tournaments, including 2 of the Top 3 most prestigious Masters events (IW and Cincy), which coincidentally are the top two most prestigious hard court Masters in the world
3. A fourth Masters is literally played on its Border (Canada Masters)
4. It has one 500 level tournament.

What's the country with the second most prestigious set of ATP Tournaments? Probably France, with RG (most prestigious clay court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world), Paris Masters and the Monte Carlo Masters which for all intents and purposes can be considered to take place in France.

I probably normally would have said UK (Wimbledon, WTF, Queen's), but it recently lost the WTF and you could argue it might now rank behind Italy with both the WTF and the Rome Masters.

Yes, USA is famous for grabbing, or high jacking, whatever they can get their claws on. You including the Canada open, just because it's close to the border, is the best example of it.

 

[ghostofMecir]

Yes, USA is famous for grabbing, or high jacking, whatever they can get their claws on. You including the Canada open, just because it's close to the border, is the best example of it.

The U.S. carried the ATP and WCT tours in the ‘70s and ‘80s respectively. Look at the list of tournaments played in the U.S.

 

[Deleted member 788697]

But isn't Cincy likely to have weak fields? Because if someone goes deep at Canada they'll potentially withdraw from Cincy or not have much left for it....

 

[yokied]

I love Larry’s Octogon as much as the next guy but does it have Stadio Pietrangeli?

 

[FrontHeadlock]

Yes, USA is famous for grabbing, or high jacking, whatever they can get their claws on. You including the Canada open, just because it's close to the border, is the best example of it.

It's just right there for most of the Northeast.

To be fair, I also gave France credit for a tournament that is in Monte Carlo.

 

[Lorenn]

1. It has the US Open, which is the most prestigious hard court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world
2. It has 3/9 Masters tournaments, including 2 of the Top 3 most prestigious Masters events (IW and Cincy), which coincidentally are the top two most prestigious hard court Masters in the world
3. A fourth Masters is literally played on its Border (Canada Masters)
4. It has one 500 level tournament.

What's the country with the second most prestigious set of ATP Tournaments? Probably France, with RG (most prestigious clay court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world), Paris Masters and the Monte Carlo Masters which for all intents and purposes can be considered to take place in France.

I probably normally would have said UK (Wimbledon, WTF, Queen's), but it recently lost the WTF and you could argue it might now rank behind Italy with both the WTF and the Rome Masters.

It is simply a mater of where the interest is located and where there is money to be made. Miami is not even listed and was a huge draw in the early days.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

It is simply a mater of where the interest is located and where there is money to be made. Miami is not even listed and was a huge draw in the early days.

Miami is one of the 3/9. I just didn't separately list it because it's a "Tier 2" Masters.

 

[Langwang]

Most important tournaments for the most important country. Makes sense.

 

[Mainad]

What's the country with the second most prestigious set of ATP Tournaments? Probably France, with RG (most prestigious clay court tournament in the world and one of the Top 3 most prestigious tournaments in the world), Paris Masters and the Monte Carlo Masters which for all intents and purposes can be considered to take place in France.

I probably normally would have said UK (Wimbledon, WTF, Queen's), but it recently lost the WTF and you could argue it might now rank behind Italy with both the WTF and the Rome Masters.

No, you couldn't. None of Italy's tournaments are more prestigious than Wimbledon!

 

[sureshs]

That is all very good, but the lack of American winners, especially on the men's side, makes it a kind of bad joke.

 

[Mustard]

The U.S. carried the ATP and WCT tours in the ‘70s and ‘80s respectively. Look at the list of tournaments played in the U.S.

Look at Germany in the 1990s compared to now. In the 1990s, they had both YECS (the ATP one in Frankfurt 1990-1994 and Hanover 1995-1999, the ITF one in Munich 1990-1999), they had Stuttgart Indoor on carpet that became a Super 9 event in 1996, Stuttgart Outdoor on the clay, Essen as a Super 9 on indoor carpet in 1995, the Hamburg Super 9 event on clay. Didn't they lose nearly all of it?

 

[TopspintheTerrible]

Halle may get upgraded to Masters.

Halle is unwatchable at times with the shadows. I don’t think it can be fixed either.

 

[Steffi-forever]

I agree. Cincy is #3 after IW and Rome.

The Canadian Open is the second oldest tournament on tour after Wimbledon. It’s up there too!

 

[FrontHeadlock]

No, you couldn't. None of Italy's tournaments are more prestigious than Wimbledon!

That’s a fair argument. I thought about that.

On the whole Italy definitely has more prestigious tournaments than Australia though.

 

[FrontHeadlock]

Considering the US size it's not that impressive and the USO has lost a lot of prestigious over the last decade with some trash draws.

The USO has lost a lot of prestige, but not because of any draws. All the majors have had some crappy draws now and again.

It's mostly because the USTA is a bumbling mess that can't do anything right.