Mariano Navone declared some of the ATP's decisions as "weird," and the Argentinian tennis player also accused the association of "boycotting" the South American region.
Even before the clay season officially starts in April, players have a chance to get some action on the dirt since multiple clay tournaments take place in South America in February. Truth be told, it was never easy for the organizers to bring the top players to South America during that part of the year simply because players preferred to stay on hard ahead of Indian Wells and Miami.
This year, it became even more difficult for the Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and Santiago organizers to bring well-known names to their events after the ATP upgraded Doha and Dallas - two February tournaments - from the 250 to the 500 category.
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Alexander Zverev was the biggest and pretty much the only top player who agreed to go to South America earlier this year. Recently, the German said that it was a mistake and confirmed that he would stay in Europe to play hard-court tournaments in February.
Navone: I feel like the ATP boycotts South America
Everything is weird, its difficult. The ATPs ideas are somewhat controversial at times. I feel like theyre boycotting it. Its the tour where the most tickets are sold. It makes me sad because were a country with an incredible tennis tradition. Theyre putting sticks in the wheels. Theyre tournaments that sell a ton. I dont understand this perspective," world No. 72 Navone said on DSportsRadio.
Navone, who achieved a career-high ranking of No. 29 in June 2024, has been regularly competing in the Golden Swing for the past few years.
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Last year, Navone made the Rio de Janeiro final as a qualifier before losing to Sebastian Baez.
