Tennis has always been special in Croatia, mostly due to the results of Croatian tennis players, both male and female. Goran Ivanisevic was etched in world history books by winning Wimbledon. The Davis Cup team which featured Mario Ancic, Ivan Ljubicic, Maric Cilic, Ivo Karlovic and Goran Ivanisevic became golden after conquering the Slovak Republic in Bratislava. This was the greatest success of Croatian tennis, which reaffirmed Croatia on the map, which already has two ATP tournaments: the PBZ Indoors and Croatia Open Umag.

The fourth edition of the PBZ Zagreb ATP tournament ended with Marin Cilic as the champion. Thus, he became the second Croat to have won the Zagreb tournament. The PBZ Indoors was established in 2006 with a reward fund of 302,000 euros, while it grew to 450,000 euros in four years, which is the reward level of all 250 series tournaments.

This series also includes Croatia`s second ATP tournament, held in Umag. Its history dates back to 1989 when the Stella Maris tennis centre was constructed with over 50 tennis courts. Afterwards Umag became the first member of the ATP organisation and started drawing world famous names over the years, including Carlos Moya, who won the Umag tournament five times even.

One tournament more than Italy

With two ATP tournaments, Croatia is up there with Russia, Australia, Austria, China, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland.

Countries with fewer tournaments include the United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Monaco, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Romania, Thailand, Qatar, Portugal, Poland, New Zealand, Morocco, Mexico, Chile, India, as well as Italy. However, the Italians have 1,000 series tournaments, nine of which are held a year. Their reward fund is 2,750,000 euros, which is three times more that Croatian tournaments combined.

Convincingly, the United States have the biggest number of tournaments – 12, followed by Germany with five tournaments. France hosts four tours, while Spain and Great Britain have one less.

Future of tennis in Croatia is not questionable

The future of tennis is not questionable in Croatia, at least not when it comes to the men`s competition, which was confirmed by the PBZ Indoors tournament. Four Croatian tennis players under 24 played in the quarter-finals.

There was Mario Ancic, who is 24, Ivan Dodig, who is 23 and 21-year-old Antonio Veic. The last two qualified for the tournament and threw a big surprise. Veic outplayed Guillermo Canas, while Dodig conquered holder Igor Andreyev. Home ATP tournaments will establish young tennis players in the future, who are often invited by the organisers. The rest is up to them.