ALMATY – It is a common misconception that the end-of-season indoor swing begins and ends in Europe. Eight tournaments in just six weeks make up a stretch of the calendar that still has one event swimming against the tide: the Almaty Open.
Kazakhstan’s biggest tournament is the only event at this time of year played outside Europe, after Saudi Arabia lost the hosting rights for the Next Gen Finals.
In fact, across the entire season, Almaty and the ATP 500 in Dallas are the only two indoor events not played in Europe. The US tournament, however, takes place in February, the same week as Rotterdam, making it more of an exception than part of a swing as such.
“It’s a big privilege and honour to host the event here and to showcase our country and Central Asia. We are conveniently located on the way to Europe after the Asian swing: players flying from Shanghai or Tokyo go straight to Europe, and sometimes they stop in Almaty. For them, it’s also a somewhat exotic experience to come to Kazakhstan,” Dias Doskarayev, vice-president of the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation, told CLAY.
The tournament’s story began in Astana in 2020, and it earned its place on the tour thanks to three factors: the calendar changes caused by the Covid-19 crisis, the subsequent sporting sanctions imposed on the Russian federation following the invasion of Ukraine, and the growth of one of the most distinctive federations in the world.
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The Astana Open was born in the middle of one of the most complicated seasons in ATP history. The suspension of the tour between March and August 2020 because of the Covid-19 emergency allowed the Kazakh capital to become one of the venues added to the emergency calendar.
In 2021, the federation bought the licence to become an official part of the tour, and in 2022, for one year only, it was upgraded to 500 status after the Chinese tournaments were cancelled. That year, Novak Djokovic won the title in Astana.
Following the sanctions imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, Kazakhstan became a key geographical point in the calendar. With players finishing their Asian commitments at the Shanghai Masters, the country became the last frontier before the European indoor swing.
Its geographical and cultural proximity to Russia also meant that the country’s leading players became regulars at the tournament. This year, the main draw features Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov and Roman Safiullin.
Rublev spoke about this before his second-round exit: “It’s a special tournament and I feel at home. It’s a place where I really feel comfortable. I love being in Kazakhstan; the language makes it easy. Speaking Russian, you feel like you’re in your own country. It’s great.”
Khachanov, the 2024 champion, has also highlighted how close the tournament feels to his culture: “The fans and the organisation make me feel at home. Russian players don’t have tour events at home, but this one definitely feels like one of them,” he once said.
It was precisely in 2024 that the Kazakhstan Tennis Federation moved the tournament to Almaty to expand the development of tennis across the country. The Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup ties remained in the capital.
Two years later, the ATP’s decision to move the Next Gen Finals from Saudi Arabia to Italy left Kazakhstan as the only country outside Europe hosting a tournament for the rest of the season.
Lyon and Brussels are being played at the same time as Almaty, followed by Vienna, Basel, the Paris Masters and the ATP 250 in Stockholm. The year concludes with the ATP Finals and the Next Gen Finals, in Turin and Reggio Calabria respectively.
