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ATP Challenger 75 Rwanda Challenger

Rwanda Challenger returns to Kigali as a model for tennis growth in Africa

Rwanda Challenger returns to Kigali as an ATP Challenger showcase blending clay courts and growth…

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The ATP Challenger Tour is back in Africa for the third edition of the Rwanda Challenger, staged in Kigali from March 2 to March 15. The event runs over two weeks: the first offers $107,000 in prize money and 75 ATP ranking points for the champion, the second increases to $177,000 and 100 points.

Launched in 2024, Rwanda became the seventh African nation to host an ATP Challenger. The inaugural final drew high-profile attention, with President Paul Kagame, First Lady Jeannette Kagame and 1983 Roland Garros champion Yannick Noah among the guests. The tournament is held at the IPRC Kicukiro Ecology Tennis Club on a university campus in northern Kigali, where clay courts, Challenger branding and Visit Rwanda messaging meet a compact, shaded centre court and free public entry.

Visiting the venue is part of the experience. Many arrive by Boda Boda, the motorcycle taxis that thread city traffic, and encounter a clean, secure city guarded by detection dogs and a visible police presence. Beyond the courts, Rwanda’s identity appears everywhere, from gorilla imagery to coffee brands. Some players have taken time to visit Akagera National Park; the Kigali Genocide Memorial remains an important place of reflection.

Tournament director Arzel Mevellec, who runs Challenger events in Quimper, Brazzaville and Abidjan, has pushed to re-establish professional tennis in sub-Saharan Africa. Mevellec describes the continent as “a great subject of development for tennis,” pointing out that since 1990 there had been no ATP Challenger tournaments in sub-Saharan Africa. “North African countries like Tunisia and Morocco are well connected to Europe. They have a couple of tournaments and many players. But in sub-Saharan Africa? Nothing,” he stated last year.

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On organising, Mevellec said: “You are able to organize tournaments in France totally disconnected from the clubs. In Africa, you need to be connected to the local clubs. I think it’s just a matter of culture,” Mevellec said. “We want to organize something like we did in Quimper, where the tournament has grown over the past years. We also want to support the locals, but we need to respect all the standards and ATP rules.” He added: “Africa is becoming a key focus.”

Mevellec continued, “I hope that my local partner will become the tournament director within the next few years. I hope to come and just see the improvements—that they are able to develop the tournament by themselves,” he added. “In the past the French were good in giving advice to people all over the world. I am not like this. I just want to share my experience with local people because there are many with a lot of talent here.”

The field is led by world No. 134 Marco Trungelliti, the 35-year-old Argentine who won the inaugural event in 2024, defeating Clément Tabur in the final. Trungelliti begins this year against Garrett Johns. France’s 21-year-old Arthur Gea, fresh from the second round of the 2026 Australian Open and an upset of world No. 56 Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard in Montpellier, is second seed and opens against a qualifier. Luka Mikrut is the third seed against Jonas Forejtek, while Roberto Carballés Baena, the fourth seed, begins versus Sandro Kopp.

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ATP

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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ATP

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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