- Acapulco will celebrate its 25th anniversary with 5 players from the Top 10 in the world ranking.
- Lesia Tsurenko, Kristina Mladenovic and Sloane Stephens will headline the WTA brand.
- The Telcel Mexican Open presented by HSBC is recognized as the 2017 best tournament in the ATP 500 and WTA International categories.
- The Tennis Parade is announced in Mexico City to kick off the 25th anniversary celebration
- A new Tennis event is added to Grupo Pegaso’s sports division.
Mexico City.- With the confirmation of Spain’s Rafael Nadal (No.1 in the ATP ranking), Germany’s Alexander Zverev (No.4), Austria’s Dominic Thiem (No.5) and Croatia’s Marin Cilic (No.6), the Telcel Mexican Open presented by HSBC (AMT) already had the guarantee to feature four Top 10 players, but with the return of Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro to the 10th place in the standings, Acapulco will have five of the 10 best rackets in the world.
In addition to the top stars, the AMT will enjoy the participation of the american Sam Querrey (No.13), defending champion and Los Cabos Open 2017 winner, as well as Spain’s David Ferrer (No.33), four times champion in Acapulco. Thereby, the Telcel Mexican Open, presented by HSBC, will feature for the first time four champions still active on the court (Nadal, 2005 and 2013, Thiem, 2016, Ferrer, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015, and Querrey, 2017). A genuine luxury for the first 25 years commemoration.
To this great list, South Africa’s Kevin Anderson (No.12), finalist in the previous US Open; Australia’s Nick Kyrgios (No.17) semifinalist in Acapulco 2017; Japan’s Kei Nishikori (No.24); Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman (No.26); Germany’s Mischa Zverev (No.35), Spain’s Feliciano López (No.38) and Fernando Verdasco (No.40); the americans John Isner (No.16), Ryan Harrison (No.45) and Steve Johnson (No.48), and France’s Adrian Mannarino (No.27).
As if that were not enough, with Germany’s Zverev as NextGen’s main representative, the AMT XXV will take a step towards the future of world tennis, since its frame will include Canada’s Denis Shapovalov (No.50), chosen as the Star of Tomorrow 2017 at ATPWorldTour.com; the american Jared Donaldson (No.54); Russia’s Andrey Rublev (No.32), and South Korea’s Hyeon Chung (No.58), champion of the first edition of the NextGen ATP Finals in Milan.
Along with the men’s side, WTA tournament line-up at the Mexican Open was presented, which will celebrate its 18th edition in Acapulco.
Ukraine’s Lesia Tsurenko (No.43) along with the french and 2017 finalist Kristina Mladenovic (No.11) will return to the AMT with a thirst for a rematch, and to conquer the individual title and be able to add it to their achievements. Mladenovic will seek to become the fourth player to win both titles, singles and doubles, of the Mexican Open, just as this was achieved by her fellow Emilie Loit, Germanys’ Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Sara Errani.
The one who also returns to Acapulco and as new US Open champion will be the american Sloane Stephens (No.13), who could not defend her AMT title in 2017 due to an injury that took her off the courts for a year. Along with Tsurenko, Stephens will seek to include her name in the exclusive list of players with two titles in Acapulco (Amanda Coetzer, Flavia Pennetta, Venus Williams and Sara Errani).
The women’s tournament will include China’s Shuai Zhang (No.34), France’s Alizé Cornet (No.42), the U.S.’ Christina McHale (No.73), Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu (No.40), Puerto Rico’s Mónica Puig (No.58), Germany’s Mona Barthel (No.53); the czech Krystina Pliskova (No.61) and the british Heather Watson (No.68), Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic (No.78), as well as Kaia Kanepi from Estonia (No. 79) and Belgium’s Kirsten Flipkens (No. 75).
“What can I tell you? We are very excited to present this line up for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Mexican Open. We worked very hard from the outset of the tournament’s planning stage and today I can say with great pride that this will be the most special edition of all. We’re bringing to the line-up the players that we wanted to have, including four former champions, and that’s something that not every tournament can boast,” said Raúl Zurutuza, tournament director.
In addition to the presentation of the main draw, Zurutuza made a special mention for the the Mexican Open recognition as the best tournament in the ATP 500 and WTA International categories during the 2017 season.
“All the effort we invested in 2017 paid us back with the best rewards. With the exception of Indian Wells [best Masters 1000 tournament and Premier Mandatory between 2014 and 2017], no other tournament in the world had managed to be the best in their respective categories in the same year. The goal now will be to repeat and keep us there this year and the following ones,” said the director.
As part of the AMT XXV celebrations, there was also the Tennis Parade exhibition, created jointly by Grupo Pegaso and Locos por el Arte, and which will feature 50 giant replicas of tennis balls intervened by different artists assembled in 25 sculptures on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma. This exhibition will be held from February 4 to March 8 and during the tournament’s week, 10 of the pieces will be displayed in different iconic places in Acapulco.
Finally, Grupo Pegaso announced the unveiling of a new event to its sports division for 2018: the CDMX Open, part of the ATP Challenger Tour category that will take place in Mexico City in the month of April with a purse of $150,000 dollars and 125 points to the champion.
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