Tennis talent gathered for Nordic Naturals Challenger

First-round action at the $100,000 Nordic Naturals Challenger — the longest ongoing ATP tournament in the U.S. — begins Monday at Seascape Sports Club, but tennis fans can whet their appetite for seeing high-level tennis as soon as this weekend, when qualifying begins.

Qualifying starts Saturday at 9 a.m. and continues Sunday at 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

Main draw action runs Monday through Aug. 11, beginning at 11 a.m. The finals begin Aug. 12 at noon.

Russian Alexander Bublik beat Great Britain’s Liam Broady 6-2, 6-3 in last year’s singles final. Broady will return for another shot at the title.

This year’s main draw features some of the world’s top talent, including Americans Kevin King and Evan King, Italy’s Thomas Fabbiano, Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller, and Australia’s Bernard Tomic. On top of that, this year is loaded with “Next Gen” players eager to join the ranks, including Americans Noah Rubin, Ernesto Escobedo and Chris Eubanks, all of whom are 22, and Tommy Paul (21). Also in the mix are Australians Thanasi Kokkinakis (22), Marc Polmans (21) and Max Purcell (20), Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (18), France’s Quentin Halys (21), and South African Lloyd Harris (21). That group of players has registered wins over some of the game’s all-time greats — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick — in addition to many top contenders.

The Nordic Naturals Challenger has a history of featuring top talent in the early stages of their careers, including Andy Murray, Marcos Baghdatis, John Isner, and brothers Bob and Mike Bryan. Among this year’s crop of promising Next Gen’s are Kokkinakis and Kecmanovic. Kokkinakis knocked off Federer in Miami earlier this year, and Keckmanovic, though still a teen, is already in the top 200.

Tomic had a career-high ranking of No. 17. He started competing at the professional level at the age of 15, and has excelled ever since. In 2013, he won his first ATP tournament at the Hopman Cup by defeating Tommy Haas, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, and Andreas Seppi. He later went on to play in the 2014 Claro Open Colombia after undergoing hip surgery, and left with his second ATP title. The year after, he defended his title and remained victorious for his third ATP title.

Rubin, one of our highest ranked Americans (No. 166) and a “New Gen” player, Rubin has impressed time and time again. Though only 22, Rubin won his first ATP Challenger in Charlottesville by defeating Paul, a fellow American.

Rubin cracked the top 200 for the first time by qualifying for the 2016 Indian Wells Masters Tournament, and has held steady ever since. He has made it to the second round of the Australian Open twice, and has faced some of the top names in the process.

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