Something amazing happened at the ATP Seoul, Korea Challenger this past weekend. Even with paid admission, a total of 15,000 spectators attended over the week, with 12,000 for the weekend semis and final. According to Tennis Korea, tournament supervisor John Blom said, “I’ve been on Tour for a long time, but this is the first time I’ve seen so many spectators at an ATP Challenger Tour event.”
ATP Challenger Seoul Open featured two thrilling semifinals – Japan’s Sho Shinabukuro defeating Sweden’s Elias Ymer 61 46 63 and Hong Kong, China’s Coleman Wong survived a 76(2) 46 62 struggle versus China’s Yi Zhou.
The photo in this article is from the Seoul final and with the fairly full stadium, it’s a lot more successful than a handful of ATP and WTA main tour tournaments which sometimes have about a half dozen fans in seats.
This is proof that Challenger tennis has a larger potential which has not been maximized. There is a market for sports fans who want to pay to see less expensive, lower level professional tennis which to the naked eye is no different to what we see on TV or in Grand Slams.
Shinabukuro defeated Wong in the Seoul Challenger final 64 63.
ATP Challenger · Coleman Wong · Seoul · Sho Shinabukuro
Cory · November 5, 2025 at 12:15 pm
Big fan of the Challengers. If they were in my vicinity, I’d be out there all the time. It’s annoying to attend overhyped pro sports, dealing with parking lot herding, unaffordable food as well.. There IS a market for the “lesser” pro sports and like you posited, is there that much difference in the level of quality? I enjoy going to indie league or A-AA-AAA baseball too… the quality is nearly equal.
Scoop Malinowski · November 5, 2025 at 2:40 pm
Same level same quality Cory, earlier this year Brooksby won Houston 250 and then lost in his next to following tournaments 1R at Tallahassee and Savannah Challengers after taking the week off of Sarasota Open between, where he was supposed to play but withdrew to rest from Houston. The difference of main tour and challengers is the conditions and pampering of players is much better. Unfort there are no challengers in NJ or NY or PA.
Cory · November 5, 2025 at 8:50 pm
And as far as i have seen, no ITF either. Shame. I vaguely recall hearing about a UTR somewhere in south Jersey.
Scoop Malinowski · November 6, 2025 at 7:13 am
Cory, there is a women’s ITF in Landisville, PA. And the Lehigh Open in Allentown, PA has been won by Stefan Kozlov the last two years, he picked up $10,000 each. That tourney is in late July.
Cory · November 6, 2025 at 12:40 pm
Scoop, thx for that. I will likely check that out. July perfect time of year for a road trip. Allentown just a couple hours west.
PS, Akira Santillan has been doing well in the ITFs this year. Climbed from oblivion 1000+ down to 300 something now. Been catching some of his matches. Looks like he may finally be healthy and ready for a run. Now or never. He faces Nishioka in a Challenger tonight, I’ll be watching. Always loved his game. Bit of the Australian badass / attitude problem, but stuff is great.
Scoop Malinowski · November 6, 2025 at 1:04 pm
Cory, it’s a really nice lil tournament, high level too. The guy who wrote Forensic Files is a club member and funds the prize money. Speaking of Akira Santillan, nice to see him bouncing back after a long time in obscurity. He did this nice Biofile in Newport about 8 yrs ago https://www.tennis-prose.com/bios/biofile-akira-santillan-interview/