Ultimately, one word is enough to decree the success of the ASPRIA Tennis Cup – BCS Trophy , the prestigious ATP Challenger on the court at the ASPRIA Harbor Club in Milan: continuity . In a volatile world like that of tennis, where events come and go, the Milanese tournament has become a fixed point. The one scheduled from 23 to 29 June will be the eighteenth edition, yet another chapter in a story that has continued uninterrupted since 2006 (except for the forced break due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which in 2020 blocked the entire circuit for six months) and has allowed the tournament to build an extraordinary reputation, both among players and institutions. Meanwhile there is Milan in the background , the economic capital of the country; then there is the beauty of the ASPRIA Tennis Club , one of the most prestigious clubs in the country and capable of providing facilities and services worthy of a major circuit tournament; and then there is the Makers organisation, now consolidated and capable of guaranteeing first-rate standards to the demanding protagonists of tennis. Without forgetting the important institutional support: the tournament will benefit from the patronage of the Lombardy Region and Municipality 7 of the Municipality of Milan, to which is added the support of the Italian Tennis and Padel Federation and CONI Lombardy . We start again from the success of Facundo Diaz Acosta, an Argentinian who played an impeccable tournament last year and started a run-up that brought him close to the top 50 and won an ATP tournament (Buenos Aires, just a few weeks ago). But 2023 was also the edition of the young Italians: the finalist Matteo Gigante, the semi-finalist Flavio Cobolli and the quarter-finalist Luca Nardi. Kids born between 2002 and 2003 who are growing up great and (in the case of Cobolli and Nardi) are vying for a place at the Paris Olympics.
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On the other hand, Milan has often launched future big names in world tennis, respecting the spirit of the Challenger tournaments. Jannik Sinner (who in 2018, as world number 1,169, played his first Challenger in Milan), Holger Rune and several players who have written the recent history of tennis, including Slam winners (Gaston Gaudio and Dominic Thiem), Olympic gold medalists (Nicolas Massu) and former top-10 players such as Tommy Robredo, Nicolas Almagro and Ernests Gulbis. Accustomed to the varied world of Challenger tournaments, the players quickly understood how Milan offers unprecedented services and standards for a tournament of this level, not to mention the many collateral events and initiatives that color the club on match days. The 2024 edition will have three important innovations: the first concerns the placement in the calendar . After last year it was played in the first week of July, the ASPRIA Tennis Cup – BCS Trophy returns in the last week of June, at the same time as the Wimbledon qualifiers. It will be the only ATP Challenger of the week in Europe, and this will help renew the tradition by bringing some top-100 players to Milan, perhaps some clay court specialists looking for points. The mission will be facilitated by novelty number 2, the moving of the final: it will no longer be played on Sunday, but on Saturday . In this way, whoever is on the draw at Wimbledon will have an extra day to travel to London and will therefore be encouraged to play in Milan with maximum commitment. The “compressed” format, among other things, will offer full days of tennis at the start of the tournament, guaranteeing the public an even denser show than in the past. A show that will be available to everyone thanks to the third new feature: the full live broadcast on SuperTennis TV (and on the SuperTenniX streaming platform) . For the first time, FITP-owned broadcaster will broadcast all matches on center court. The tradition is therefore confirmed: the appointment is from 23 to 29 June, naturally at the ASPRIA Harbor Club in Milan.
