As Nadal and Alcaraz can attest, the Golden Swing is a tremendous opportunity for players—and a lively festival for fans

One Year Ago: Carlos Alcaraz kicks off what would become a historic season with a title in Rio

A February Sunday night in South America. Here, below the equator, summer is in full swing. Under the lights, a red clay court crackles—feet scuffling, legs in motion, one rough-and-tumble rally after another. Add to that an exciting X factor: a lively, highly vocal crowd, excited for the chance to watch the best tennis players in the world grind and grit their way through their matches.

Welcome to what’s become known as “The Golden Swing”—a quartet of ATP clay-court tournaments that ring loudly with sounds associated more with soccer than tennis.

“The fans live a different experience at these events,” says Nicolas Pereira, a Venezuela-raised former pro and Tennis Channel analyst. “The crowds are so much more spirited than anywhere. The Latin American spirit is high.”

The Golden Swing began February 6 in Cordoba, Argentina, with the title won by a sizzling Argentine, Sebastian Baez. It continues this week in Buenos Aires, where world No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz has made his 2023 debut. On it goes to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, then west across the continent to Santiago, Chile.

Kuerten was like Michael Jordan. Wayne Richmond, who ran the Americas for the ATP from 1990-2003, on the Brazilian star

Time was when February ATP tennis was largely confined to indoor events played in North America and Europe. As high-quality as the tennis has been at these events, the atmosphere is often stately and understated, the bulk of the crowd’s enthusiasm usually reserved for the grand conclusion, reactions as tempered as if they’d just witnessed a fine musical performance.

The volume and engagement level is much higher during the Golden Swing. It’s a participatory experience that is “almost like a Davis Cup environment,” says J. Wayne Richmond, who ran the Americas for the ATP from 1990-2003. “You can’t imagine the energy.”

Three of the four tournaments are ATP 250 events. The Rio Open, the swing’s sole ATP 500 tournament, began in 2014, kicking off in grand style with a title run by a young Rafael Nadal. One key plot line was that year was Nadal’s recovery from a back injury that had hindered him several weeks earlier during the Australian Open final.

“Always when you win a title, it’s special,” said Nadal that Sunday night in Rio. “The first edition of a big tournament like Rio, it’s a very important city in the world, and after coming back from injury, it always makes the victory a little more special.”

Subsequent Rio champions include David Ferrer, Dominic Thiem, Diego Schwartzman and the current title holder, Alcaraz. Back in 2020, Rio was the city where Alcaraz earned his first ATP Tour match victory at 16. Two years later, ranked 29th in the world, Alcaraz went much further, winning his second career singles title and also becoming the youngest man to ever win an ATP 500 tournament since the category’s creation in 2009.

Alcaraz’s Rio run was the first of five tournaments he’d go on to win in 2022, a breakthrough year that culminated with a US Open triumph and concluded with the passionate Spaniard becoming the youngest man to ever finish the year ranked No. 1.

Certainly, as Nadal and Alcaraz demonstrate, one factor in South America’s ascent in pro tennis is the result of star power. Over the years, Argentine Guillermo Vilas, Chilean Marcelo Rios and Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten were each stylish, charismatic and popular.

Says Richmond, “Kuerten was like Michael Jordan.”

But there was also a bottom-up aspect. As Richmond pointed out, many of the seeds of South America’s success were planted in the late ‘90s. In 1997, Butch Buchholz, founder of the Miami Open, created the Copa Ericsson, a series of new Latin America-based Challenger level events.

“By having this tour, we will develop younger players,” Buchholz said at the time. “If you start to get better players out of it, you start building a TV audience.”

Sure enough, that soon happened. The Golden Swing is a tremendous opportunity for many players—and a lively festival for fans.

“This is a great chance for clay-court players to earn points and get themselves in a good position for Roland Garros,” said Pereira. “It’s vacation time. Adults are on vacation. Youngsters are out of school. It’s a lot of fun.”