ATP 500 for the 1st time in Brazil

The 7th edition of the Rio Open, considered the biggest tennis event in South America, will happen between February 15 and 23 on the Jockey Brazilian Club, Rio de Janeiro. This year’s edition, however, stands out for his innovation. For the first time, Brazil hosts an ATP World Tour 500, giving the country an opportunity to receive one of the most important events on the Tennis season. Besides that, it will feature the debut of the electronic review system, the same as VAR in football, on a clay tournament.

Electronic Review

This system has been tested already on three different tournaments, both in ATP 250, 500 and Masters 1000, but never on this type of surface. The players could ask for the challenge whenever they want, resulting in the umpires not having the need of leaving their chairs to check the ball marks on the court. There will be more than 40 ultra-speed cameras installed, capable of generating more than 100.000 images per second, beyond a laser scanner to track the position of the players on the court as well as every movement of the ball. This way, no play will be left out for statistics or tactical analysis.

ATP announces electronic review trial on clay courts, beginning with the @RioOpenOficial in February. — ATP Tour (@atptour) January 24, 2020

Tournament

The two first days are reserved for the qualifying stages, which will define four players to join the main draw. Afterwards, the rounds will happen split two in two days. The semi-finals and the final will be played on the next weekend. Between every player who’s going to participate in this tournament, there are a several standouts.

Dominic Thiem - The Austrian is the World No. 4 on the ATP rankings and vice-champion of Roland Garros and the most recent Australian Open.

Matteo Berretini - A player who’s been making noise on the ATP Tour in the most recent months, currently No. 8 in the World.

Diego Schwartzman - No. 14 in the rankings, the Argentinian was the champion of the Rio Open back in 2018.

Borna Coric - One of the biggest talents on the Tour, who’s been having trouble lately, but nonetheless, a great player.

Fernando Verdasco - The Spaniard veteran, winner of the Davis Cup for three times already. Always dangerous on clay courts.

The Brazilians Thiago Monteiro (Brazilian No.1) and Felipe Meligeni (Winner of the Maria Esther Bueno Cup) will participate as well.

Check out more Tennis news on our blog!