TENNIS – BAHRAIN is gearing up to host the Bahrain Ministry of Interior Tennis Challenger from Tuesday next week to February 1.
The prestigious tournament is part of the 2026 calendar of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Challenger Tour, and it is a Challenger 125 category event, offering $225,000 in total prize money – up from last year’s purse of $200,000.
Matches will be played at the Public Security Officers Club in Gudaibiya.
The first set of participating world-class players were announced yesterday by organisers. They include world number 77 Jacob Fearnley from the UK, world number 108 Luca Nardi from Italy, world number 112 Shintaro Mochizuki from Japan, world number 132 Coleman Wong from Hong Kong, and world number 135 Nicolai Budkov Kjaer from Norway. The rankings were as of Monday on the ATP Tour website.
This year’s Bahrain Ministry of Interior Tennis Challenger will be its fifth edition. Last year’s event, won by Marton Fuscovics from Hungary, was named the 2025 ATP Challenger Tournament of the Year for the Challenger 125 category.
The kingdom’s tournament was one of five ATP Challenger tournaments that were honoured as Tournament of the Year in their respective categories for 2025.
The 125 category is the second-highest on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Meanwhile, the tournament’s organising committee reviewed the latest preparations during a coordination meeting chaired by supreme committee chairman Shaikh Khalid bin Rashid Al Khalifa.
During the gathering, feedback and proposals from the heads of the relevant committees were reviewed, along with an assessment of progress achieved under the approved work plan.
The meeting also followed up on preparations related to the administrative and technical aspects of the tournament, as well as the readiness of the tournament courts in line with International Tennis Federation requirements.
patrick@gdnmedia.bh
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