:quality(85)//cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/infobae/N3MBCIHJZNAZZCBXJYEBYCP6GY.jpg "Otto Virtanen qualifies for round of ATP 250 tournament in Doha 1")
Finnish tennis player Otto Virtanennumber 176 at the ATP, won by 6-4 and 6-4 in one hour and twelve minutes Alexander Shevchenkotennis player, ATP number 114, during the previous qualifying round of the ATP 250 tournament in Doha. With this victory, Virtanen manages to add new points to his ranking to be able to participate in the ATP 250 tournament in Doha.
the tournament of Doha (ATPDoha) has a preliminary access phase that tennis players with the lowest scores must pass to participate in the official tournament. Specifically, in this phase of the competition, a total of 16 players compete against each other. Likewise, it takes place between February 18 and 25 on an outdoor hard court.
A sport that lasts over time
Tennis is unquestionably a classic sport. Each year, four tournaments (called “Grand Slams”) attract all the attention of the world: the season begins with the Open Australiacontinue with the dirt track of Roland Garrosthen moves to London with the celebration of Wimbledon and finally ends in the United States with the U.S. Open.
The rest of the year, players continue to play around the world, completing seasons on different surfaces: hard or fast track, clay oh grass.
Tennis was born in Europe at the end of the 18th century and since 1926 it is a professional sports after the creation of the first tour. It was particularly popular among the upper classes in English-speaking countries, but today it is a world sport. Divides into categories: the male (ATP) and female (WTA) competition.
ATP
There ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) is the association of professional tennis players which brings together players from all over the world in the men’s category.
The ATP circuit organizes several tournaments throughout the year: ATP Masters 1000 (where the winner of the tournament will take 1000 points to add to the ATP rankings), ATP 500 and ATP 250. Below these tournaments, in a lower echelon is the ATP Challenger Tour, where the future stars of world tennis compete . In addition, the association also takes care of the Grand Slams.
The fight to be the best in history does not stop in the men’s category. The Spaniard Raphael Nadalhe Serbian Novak Djokovic and the Swiss Roger Federer they compete to improve all records and win the most Grand Slam tournaments. The three players are commonly referred to as ‘big three‘ in front of the new generations or ‘Next Gen’.
These future tennis stars have stormed onto the world tennis circuit, as in the case of the Greek Stefanos Tsitsipasfrom Italian Matthew Berretinigerman Alexander Zverev or the russians Medvedev y Rublev.
Novak Djokovic currently holds the record for weeks at number 1 in the ATP rankings, closely followed by Roger Federer, the legendary American player Pete Sampras, Iván Lendl and Jimmy Connors.
WTA
There WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) was founded in 1973 by the famous former tennis player Billie Jean King. The Californian has won 39 Grand Slam titles during her active phase and is a reference and an icon for the world of tennis.
Today, many female tennis players are also battling to stay at the top of the world tennis elite and surpass Stefanie Graff or Serena Williams. Players like the Polish Iga Swiatek (Roland Garros champion in 2021), the Greek Maria Sakkari oh Paula Badosa (the first Spanish winner of Indian Wells) are fighting to stay in the top 10 of the WTA rankings.
In 2022, the Australian player Asleigh Barty announced his permanent retirement from tennis and ended an impressive career with several Grand Slam tournaments behind him. Now is the chance for other players to take over and become number 1.