Francisco Cerundolo Slams Stefanos Tsitsipas for His Comments on South American Swing

Francisco Cerundolo has blasted Stefanos Tsitsipas for saying that the lack of financial incentives is the major reason he doesn’t play in the South American clay swing. The Greek star’s statement comes after Alexander Zverev had revealed last year that he wouldn’t have played at the Buenos Aires and Rio Open.

Two-time Grand Slam finalist Tsitsipas said during an interview with CLAY that he never received a good offer (an appearance fee) from the Argentina Open and Rio Open compared to the Middle East swing. In the ATP, February is known as the Golden Swing, which is a series of events in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, and Mexico on both clay and hard courts.

However, during the same month, events are also held in the Middle East, the United States, and France. At the Qatar Open, which Carlos Alcaraz won in flying colors, 8 out of the top 20 players competed at the event. Also, Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner were given over $1 million as appearance fees.

At the ongoing Dubai Tennis Championships, seven top 20 players competed, while five featured in Acapulco and one at the Chilean Open. Dubai and Acapulco are both ATP 500 events, which means they always offer the same number of points, but the former offers $619,160 in prize money to the champion, more than $200,000 of what Acapulco offers.

Without a doubt, the South America swing has a historic place in the heart of the ATP Calendar, but the region will come under pressure in the future when Saudi Arabia’s Masters 1000 tournament starts in 2028. The event is expected to.be mandatory. Nonetheless, Cerundolo, who is the only top 20 player at the Chilean Open, was not pleased with Tsitsipas’ comments:

If you don’t want to come here, don’t come. All those who want to play on clay, discover South American cities, and play a different style of tennis will be more inclined to join us. Those who don’t will head to the Middle East or straight to Acapulco. The beauty of the schedule is that players can choose the tournaments they want to play. The positive is that the calendar is flexible, aside from the Masters 1000s and Grand Slams.

The enormous prize money offered by the Middle East tournaments will always attract players. Despite players’ willingness to compete for silverware and ranking points, they also want the money. During the South America swing, more players from the region than from top European countries compete in the tournaments.

Francisco Cerundolo exited in the semi-finals of the Chilean Open

Francisco Cerundolo was seeking his second title of the season at the Chilean Open, also known as the Santiago Open. The top seed claimed an excellent victory over American Emilio Nava 6-1, 6-1 in just an hour and six minutes at the ATP 250 tournament. He won the Argentina Open earlier this month after beating Luciano Darderi in the final.

He has now won seven of his last eight matches on the South American clay, with his lone defeat coming in the second round of the Rio Open, where he suggested the organizers were prioritizing Joao Fonseca to win. After his win against Nava, he revealed that he’s happy to reach the semi-finals of the event:

I didn’t expect this. I have seen Emilio play really good tennis the past couple of days, so I started super concentrated on my game because I knew it was going to be a really tough match. But I thought I played really well. I rarely missed any shots today. I am really happy with my performance.

Cerundolo then faced Yannick Hanfmann in the semi-finals on Saturday (February 28) for a place in the final of the Chilean Open. However, he was beaten in straight sets by the German.

Also Read: Kim Clijsters Offers Advice to Coco Gauff After Claiming Serve Struggles Criticism is Affecting Her Confidence

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