As one of the world’s most popular sports, tennis tournaments attract scores of fans hoping to catch a glimpse of their favorite players.
There are eight major tennis tournaments throughout the year; four are grand slams. While getting tickets to the major tennis tournaments is often challenging, attending smaller tournaments is much easier and less expensive. Keep reading to learn about the biggest non-grand slam tennis tournaments.
BNP Paribas—Indian Wells Tennis Masters, California
The Indian Wells Masters is the most-attended WTA Premier and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament worldwide, making it a must-see event for tennis fans everywhere.
Many tennis enthusiasts enjoy wagering on the matches, and tennis online betting has become a popular pastime. Outside of the four Majors, the India Wells is the largest two-week tennis event, making it a must-see for anyone who loves tennis. The tournament’s humble beginnings can be traced to an ATP fundraising event in Tucson, Arizona.
It then moved to Coachella Valley’s Mission Hill Country Club in California in 1976. Today, the tournament’s main events take place at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Indian Wells, California.
ATP Finals—Pala Alpitour Stadium, Turin
This men’s end-of-year tournament features the world’s top eight qualified singles players and doubles teams. It’s played in a round-robin format where the best four players and doubles teams make it to the semi-finals knockout stage.
The ATP finals represent the highest tier of tennis outside of the Grand Slam tournaments and is traditionally played in 15 cities worldwide. The finals were based in London for many years; however, this year’s eight-day event will be held in the Pala Alpitour Arena in Turin.
Roger Federer has the most titles with six, followed by Novak Djokovic with five.
WTA Finals—Shenzen, China
The WTA Finals are set up like the men’s ATP finals, with the top eight singles and doubles players in the world qualifying to participate in the finals. Shenzhen China’s Bay Sports Center will host the 2022 finals, the second time the city has hosted the tournament.
The tournament began in 1972 in Florida as an end-of-the-year event. The finals have been played in Madrid, Doha, Istanbul, and Singapore since 2006. The final boasts the largest amount of prize money on the women’s tour outside the majors.
Martina Navratilova has won the most WTA finals, with six singles and 13 doubles titles to her name.
Laver Cup—O2 Stadium, London
This tournament was named for Australian pro tennis player Rod Laver and is relatively new compared to the other contests on our list. The weekend tournament has been held annually since 2017 and features matchups between Team Europe and Team World.
The teams are composed of six players, three of whom qualify based on their ranking. The team captains choose the other three players to complete their team. Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe have served as team captains since the beginning of the Laver Cup tournament.
The tournament rotates throughout Europe and the rest of the world. This year’s tournament will be held in London from September 23rd to September 25th.
Madrid Open—Madrid, Spain
The Madrid Open is an annual competition that takes place in late spring. Players go head to head on a red clay court, and it often becomes a home tournament because so many Spanish players are clay-court specialists.
The tournament brings in more than 200 million euros and has been owned by billionaire businessman Ion Tiriac since 2009. The event always attracts large crowds, and hometown favorite Rafael Nadal holds the record for most titles, having lifted the trophy five times.
Serena Williams, Simona Halep, and Petra Kvitova have won the title twice.
Rogers Cup—Toronto and Montreal
The hard court season begins each year in Canada at the Rogers Cup, after the French Open and Wimbledon. The Rogers Cup is the first Master’s tournament of the season and is played in both the men’s and women’s draw.
It is the third oldest tennis tournament in the world behind Wimbledon and the US Open. It attracts some of the biggest names in tennis, and past champions include Serena Williams, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal.