The Decision to Play a Challenger Instead of US Open Qualifying

As the singles qualifying tournament started last week, players from around the world battled for the incredible chance to play at one of the four biggest tennis tournaments in the world: the US Open. The US Open, with it's total purse of $36,324,000 for the men's and women's singles tournament and a $1,938,400 purse for the qualifying tournament alone in women's and men's singles tournament, not to mention the many ranking points to be gained at the US Open, would seem like an opportunity too good to pass up. However, many male players in the clay court Manerbio Challenger did pass up the opportunity to play in the US Open and opted for a Challenger instead. This article will look at the ramifications of male players playing in the Manerbio Challenger as opposed to US Open qualifying.

From a points perspective, I can, perhaps, understand the decision to play a Challenger instead of trying to qualify for a Grand Slam. A realistic goal at a clay court Challenger where many of the top clay court players are in New York City trying to qualify for the US Open would be the Semifinals. And, the Semifinals of the Manebrio Challenger does give out 29 ranking points. However, a quick First Round loss doesn't give a player any ranking points, and a Second Round loss isn't much better, only handing out six ranking points. A Quarterfinalist would get 15 ranking points. A Finalist in Manerbio would receive 48 ranking points, while the winner receives 80 ranking points.

Qualifying and then losing in the First Round of the US Open, however, would give you more points than even a Semifinals at this Challenger event, giving qualifiers 35 points. Qualifiers get 25 points for qualifying and then 10 more points for losing in the First Round. So, essentially, by winning the same number of matches (3), you would get 6 more points by playing qualifying at the US Open.

Now, the rankings of the players playing US Open qualifying are generally, on the whole, higher than the rankings of players playing in Manerbio, so an argument could be made that it makes more sense to try to play in Manerbio as compared to New York City. However, you never know with the draws, and even if a player doesn't think he can qualify, he could still get a favorable draw and have a good shot at qualifying and a good draw in the main draw could even give a player a chance of winning even more (where the potential monetary and ranking possibilities sky rocket).

From a monetary perspective, it just makes much more sense for players who can play in US Open qualifying to do so. A lot of these qualifiers for the US Open are in a financial battle to stay on the tour, and even a First Round loss in qualifying can do a lot of good for players struggling financially. The differences in prize money in Manerbio compared to US Open qualifying are substantial.

A First Round loss in Manerbio will give a player 450 Euros, which is the equivalent of $483.36. Now, I'm sure a lot of players will say that they don't expect to lose in the First Round, but upsets happen. In contrast, a First Round loss in US Open qualifying will hand a player $5,606 dollars. That's over a $5000 dollar difference! A Second Round loss in Manerbio gives player 730 Euros, or $871.25. A Second Round loss in US Open qualifying $10,900 for over a $9000 difference. Again, sure there are generally higher ranked players in US Open qualifying as compared to Manerbio, but these differences in prize money for winning the same number of matches are incredible to think about.

A player would have to win Manerbio in order to get more money than they would have won losing in the First Round of US Open qualifying. Players winning all five matches in Manerbio would receive less money than winning one match in US Open qualifying. From a purely monetary perspective, it just seems to make a lot more sense to at least head to New York and hope to qualify. While I don't totally understand how this works, qualifiers for the US Open women's and men's singles tournament make $16,350, while women's and men's players losing in the First Round of the main draw make $43,313. Those are staggering cash amounts which are just much greater than what a player could make in Manerbio. And if a player goes further than the First Round of the main draw of the US Open, the numbers for money earned (in addition to ranking points earned) really sky rocket.

This post is not meant to shame anyone who decided to play in Manerbio instead of the US Open. I understand that a lot of players would much rather play on a clay court as opposed to a hard court, and would, thus, prefer to play on the clay courts of Manerbio as opposed to the hard courts of Flushing Meadows. I also understand that travel is expensive, and going to New York City could be much more expensive than going to Manerbio.

However, in my opinion, the potential for financial and ranking gain is very high for US Open qualifying and the draw could always be very favorable to a player! In any case, with US Open qualifying over, it is time for the US Open to begin later this morning. Enjoy the last major of the season!