Estoril Open. One level below, ATP returns in 2026

The Estoril Tennis Club opened doors again, from April 26 to May 4, to several of the great stars of the international tennis, although without the media of yore, as the ATP calendar squeezed and forced the Portuguese tournament to lower level.

The Masters 1,000 tournaments were played for two weeks, a factor that left Portugal without representation in the Main Circuit (ATP), because Madrid Masters has been widened and will be played practically on the same dates.

That said, the immediate solution found was to make the Estoril tournament ‘Challenger’ 175, the highest category of the second level. However, it will be a punctual depletion, and the return to ATP level in 2026 has already been confirmed.

The good fame of the organization of Estoril Open, by director João Zillion, among the tennis players who have come to Portugal in recent years, has allowed to find other dates in the international calendar to be disputed again in the format of ATP 250.

Contrary to what happened until this year, Estoril Open will take place in July-more precisely between the 20th and 26th-at a time when it will be more heat and the threat of rain will be almost nonexistent for the tournament.

Present at the ATP circuit since 1990, the Portuguese race took place until 2014 at the Jamor Sports Complex in Oeiras, having moved to the Estoril Tennis Club from 2015, with a different organization and a new name.

Dependents of Madrid

Until then, this year the 10th edition will therefore have some changes and eyes set on Madrid Masters, as there is a possibility to rescue big names eliminated early, and lose others that surpass several rounds.

Among the names that can be lost, is that of Nuno Borges, the best Portuguese tennis player today-as proves the ranking worldwide, figure in 41st position – and the second best rated among the tennis players in the tournament.

The 28 -year -old Maiato will play in Madrid and, if he remains in test beyond the first week, will be automatically prevented from playing the Portuguese race in Estoril, as are some of the main names that will also be in Madrid.

Also an example of this are American tennis players Alex Michelsen (38th ATP) and Marcos Giron (45th), Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic (47th), Spanish Pedro Martínez (48th), Japanese Kei Nishikori (64th) or even young Brazilian João Fonseca (65th).

The success of some of these names in the Spanish capital will open doors to the direct entry of other less quoted tennis players, and the organization’s attribution of invitations to players who can be eliminated early is still open.

One of these invitations (‘Wildcards’) It has already been attributed to young Portuguese Jaime Faria, the second best-quoted national tennis player and 105th in the hierarchy, after a year of 2024 in which he ascended more than 400 seats and debuted on the top-100.

Thus, Nuno Borges and Jaime Faria will be the Portuguese representatives in the competition, with the possibility that they join the qualification rounds, in which Henrique Rocha, Gastão Elias, Pedro Araújo and Tiago Pereira are registered.

In the last year, Nuno Borges reached the quarterfinals, where he was eliminated by Chilean Cristián Garín, while Jaime Faria was surprised to overtake the qualification phase with distinction, being locked in the first round of the main picture.

The Maia tennis player, whose best ranking of the career is the 30th place (September 2024), will compete for Estoril Open for the fifth consecutive year, with Jaime would make only the second participation, and the first without qualifying.

The two tennis players are the Portuguese hopes to repeat the unprecedented feat of João Sousa, who won the tournament in 2018, defeating in the final the American Frances Tiafoe, being one of the great moments of the sport at national level.

In 2022, a similar moment happened, but in the peer variant, when childhood friends Francisco Cabral and Nuno Borges were unprecedentedly won an ATP tournament by defeating in the decisive game González and André Goransson.

The following year, Cabral and Borges arrived again, but succumbed to the semi-finals, having been eliminated in the first round in 2024 by a pair who reached the final, still being left to know if they will return to pair in this edition.

Nine editions, nine winners

The ultimate edition marked the farewell of João Sousa dos courtafter a career that reached the best ranking Always of a Portuguese (28th place) and won four ATP titles in Kuala Lumpur, Valencia, Estoril and Pune.

In nine previous editions, there were nine distinct winners. In 2024, Polish Hubert Hurkacz won his first dirt title and, being not registered, will have a successor, unless he still receives an invitation from the organization.

THE ‘Prize Money ‘ From the Portuguese dirt tournament is 562,815 euros, counting the main picture with 28 players: 19 with direct entry according to his rankingtwo ‘Special Examples’four from the qualification and three ‘Wildcards’.