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ATP Challenger Tour Monastir Open

Monastir’s ascent: from weekly ITF tournaments to its first ATP Challenger

Monastir hosted its first ATP Challenger in 2025 after building a dense ITF calendar. A steady rise.

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Monastir has quietly emerged as one of the busiest stops on the lower tiers of professional tennis. The coastal city of about 90,000 people, known for its turquoise waters, sandy beaches and landmarks such as the Ribat of Monastir and the Mausoleum of Habib Bourguiba, now hosts a near-continuous run of events that attracts players from the international circuit.

In 2025 the city staged roughly 25 to 30 ITF World Tennis Tour tournaments for men and women combined, with competitions held almost every week. Most events were staged in the M15 and M25 categories for men and W15 and W35 for women, primarily at the Magic Hotel Monastir Skanes Family Resort between Monastir and Sousse. Organisers say it is difficult to find a player on the Pro Circuit who has not competed there at least once.

That dense calendar has helped Monastir become a dependable place to earn ATP and WTA ranking points and build match fitness. In late October the city added a new chapter by hosting its first ATP Challenger Tour event, the Monastir Open. The tournament was organised by the Tennis Club Monastir in cooperation with the Dubai-based International Tennis Coaching Company, which also runs Challenger events on Crete. Players benefited from sunny conditions with temperatures above 20°C (68 °F).

During the week 124 players were accommodated in the Magic Hotel Monastir Skanes, which has 360 rooms and also hosted two parallel ITF events. The hotel will close for renovation until March, but organisers note tennis remains important to its business outside peak tourist months of June to August, when guests mainly come from Germany and the U.K.

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“I’ve been here before for Futures events, but the Challenger is another level,” said Croatian rising star Lukas Mikrut, the top seed in Monastir who reached the quarterfinals. “I like the courts – they’re not too fast, so you can get good rallies. The weather is perfect, not too hot, though the wind can be tricky. It’s also very convenient to have the hotel right on site. Everything is close, and you can even train before your matches.”

“The Center Court is very slow,” noted the 34-year-old Italian. “Courts 1 and 2 are faster, which suits my game more.”

“When I play on the ITF circuit, I usually stay in Spain,” explained the Barcelona-based player, who lives there with his wife and child. “But the courts here are excellent, the bounce is very consistent, and the organization is great. The food is fine, everything is clean—there’s really nothing to complain about,” added the world No. 269 with a smile.

Tournament Director Chiheb Belhaj Youssef, who is also President of the Tennis Club Monastir, said: “We’re very satisfied and so are the players,” and “Our goal is to promote the city and to give local players a chance to compete internationally. With Malek Jaziri, we’ve already had a Tunisian in the Top 100, and we’d love to see more follow in his footsteps. That’s part of the club’s mission, to develop young talent.” He conceded, “Finding sponsors is not always easy.”

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Sinner’s serve numbers reveal a mixed picture despite his dominance

Sinner’s serve stats show elite power, but his first-serve percentage still leaves room for growth.

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Jannik Sinner’s serve has long been viewed as a major part of his rise to the top of the men’s game, yet the numbers from the past year tell a more complicated story.

The world No 1 adjusted his service motion shortly before he began establishing himself as a leading force on the ATP Tour, and that weapon stood out again when he defended his Wimbledon title earlier this month.

After losing the US Open final to Carlos Alcaraz last September, Sinner made it clear that he wanted more variety and consistency on serve. His own words at the time showed how deliberate that change was:

“I can say that I’m gonna become a better tennis player and I’m gonna change a couple of things on the serve, just small things, but, they can make big differences and then we see how it goes,” said Sinner. after that defeat against Alcaraz in New York.

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“I’m looking forward to play these matches again, something new is now that I’m not No 1 anymore. Now you chase, it’s different.

“Maybe I will lose some matches from now on, but I will try to do some changes, trying to be a bit more unpredictable as a player and because I think that’s what I have to do, trying to become a better tennis player.”

Even with his strong recent run, the ATP Tour figures for the last 12 months show that there is still work to be done in one area. Sinner ranks 35th in first serve percentage at 63.8%, well behind Alexander Zverev, who leads the list at 72.5%.

The Italian, however, is far more dominant once the first serve lands. He leads the tour in service points won at 80.9%, just ahead of Reilly Opelka on 80.8% and Taylor Fritz on 79.7%.

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He also tops service games won at 92.9%, underlining how difficult he is to break. Opelka follows on 90.6%, with Ben Shelton third at 90.4% and Alcaraz at 89.9%.

One remaining area is ace production. Sinner is 27th in that category with an average of 8.2 per match, while Opelka leads with 18.5, followed by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard on 15.1 and Fritz on 14.1.

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Sinner climbs to No 4 on all-time prize money list after Wimbledon defence

Sinner’s Wimbledon defence lifts him to No 4 on the all-time prize money list in 2026.

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Jannik Sinner’s successful Wimbledon title defence brought more than another major trophy. It also lifted the Italian to No 4 on the all-time career prize money list.

Before Wimbledon 2026, Sinner sat at No 6, with Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer occupying the top three spots and Alexander Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz positioned above him. Zverev had recently passed both Alcaraz and Sinner after his French Open run, but the order shifted again once Sinner collected $4,830,756 (£3,600,000) for his latest Wimbledon triumph.

That result leaves Sinner close to becoming only the fourth player to move beyond $70m in career prize money. He has already earned $11,620,364 in 2026 and is on track to break the $20m barrier for the first time in a season.

His rise has been rapid. Last year, he took in $19,120,641, a total that included a record $5,071,000 for winning the ATP Finals undefeated. He finished second on the 2025 earnings list behind Alcaraz, who made $21,354,778, after leading the way in 2024 with $19,735,703.

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At the end of the 2024 season, Sinner stood on $37,238,688. Since the start of the 2025 campaign, he has added another $32,347,873. From just $36 in prize money in his first professional year, he now sits on $69,586,561.

Zverev is fifth with $68,392,312, while Alcaraz is on $64,997,598 after not adding to his tally since April because of injury. Andy Murray has fallen to No 7 on $64,687,542, with Daniil Medvedev eighth on $52,192,594. Djokovic, Sinner, Zverev, Alcaraz and Medvedev are the only active players to have passed $40m.

Djokovic remains far ahead in first place with $194,656,816, including $3,000,801 earned in 2026. Nadal is second on $134,946,100 and Federer third on $130,594,339.

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ATP French Open Grand Slam

Auger-Aliassime Reaches Career-High No. 4 After Breakthrough at Roland Garros

Auger-Aliassime rises to No. 4 after best Roland Garros run, tying second-highest Canadian rank. Now

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Felix Auger-Aliassime moved to a career-high No. 4 in the ATP rankings following his deepest run at Roland Garros, where the 25-year-old reached the quarterfinals for the first time before losing to eventual finalist Flavio Cobolli. The result completed a personal Grand Slam milestone: having previously reached the quarterfinals or better at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open, he became the first Canadian man to reach the quarterfinals or better at all four majors in his career.

The rise from No. 6 to No. 4 surpasses his prior best of No. 5 and places him tied for the second-highest-ranked Canadian in ATP or WTA rankings history. The only other Canadians to reach the top four are Milos Raonic and Bianca Andreescu. Raonic went as high as No. 3 in 2016, following his run to the Wimbledon final that year, and Andreescu peaked at No. 4 in 2019 after winning the US Open.

Canadian tennis has seen seven players reach the top 10 in either ATP or WTA history, with official rankings available since 1973 for the ATP and 1975 for the WTA.

Auger-Aliassime still has ground to cover to move higher in the standings. He is 2,865 points behind the current world No. 3, Alexander Zverev, with the rankings showing Zverev at 7,305 points and Auger-Aliassime at 4,440.

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The Canadian will shift his focus to grass. He begins his grass-court season this week at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, entering as the No. 1 seed. After a first-round bye he will open against either Hubert Hurkacz or Marton Fucsovics.

The new ranking reflects a season of important progress for Auger-Aliassime and cements his place among the highest-ranked Canadians in modern tennis history.

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