THE IRL ATP CHALLENGER TOUR – A STARTER 🧵

Coming here after the #Challengers movie starring Zendaya, Mike Faist & Josh O'Connor? Yes, welcome to the real-life Challenger Tour.

This is where veterans, journeypeople, and those #OnTheRise, collide.

This is the real Challengers. ⚠️ SOME DISCLAIMERS

Apologies for the possible long read or possible excessiveness (as this ends up as a likely megathread), but I hope you guys find it useful to navigate the whole Challenger Tour.

I tried to combine some real-life stories that I know (as a stan of this circuit) to make it even easier, hopefully, to understand.

I know this is a lengthy read and you may end up "wtf" receiving all these info that might be new for you (especially, if you just discovered this one whole new world). If you scroll down, you will find the blog version that might be essay-ish (imagine, an entire fan essay!), but is hopefully useful to guide you through the real-life circuit.

But trust me, it is also a fun circuit to follow~ so brace yourselves! And I suggest take all the time you need to process this one whole set of information as I understand you might be overwhelmed.

Another disclaimer: written from a fan experience. I'm NOT a journalist, I'm just a fan who writes (and likes writing), so this thread is purely fan-made 👍

's-Hertogenbosch Q2: Fought hard, fought well, but not too bad. Next time. Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard d. Edan Leshem 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-4.

Watch out, Gio can grass thx to his big serves & also has an exciting game at this surface! 🤩🔥

🎥 Rosmalen feed
Gio should've served for the 1st set, but Leshem kept fumbling his SPs (incl. w/ a volley).

This bh lob saved that chance again to equalize 4-4 (TB) before taking the 1st set 7-6(5). And yes, not by chance, that was really in 🙃

🎥 Rosmalen feed

RG WD F: TT might say this final is a mother-daughter off (lol), but it might look like so! 🤣 Highly recommended to tune in, this will deliver!

Su-Wei Hsieh/Xinyu Wang vs. Leylah Fernandez/Taylor Townsend.

Bring it on 🔥 Taylah somehow had some fumbled BPs (one thx to an unreturned serve), but somehow Xinyu/Hsieh held to 1-0 (1st set) thx to Hsieh's netting!

P.S. Wait could also be an auntie-niece-off here but this is just for the giggles 😂 we move

Entered because idk what to do while waiting for the resumption of a tennis match-

3-4 omg for now 🙃 still 16-ish more hrs to go 👍💪

https://twitter.com/MattP1Gallagher/status/1667652157649178624

THAT SLIP

RG MD F: Before I'm too late, gonna put this on my backup phone.

Krajig v Sandoran 🔥 thx TT for the ship lol. Krajig's other title in RG as a pair loading, while this has been a hell of a run from Sandoran.

Bring it on! One thing I did not expect (thx @singalsbe for pointing it out) is if Krajig wins, Austin will become dubs no. 1 🫠

RG JBS F: Btw, this could be interesting and historic at the same time.

Prizmic, who alr entered the Chs and even have some deep runs in his belt, will face JC Prado Angelo, who seeks to be the first 🇧🇴 w/ the title if I'm not mistaken.

Should be a close encounter too! Ah, well. What a start from Prizmic, going after Prado’s fh until the latter erred for the BP, and converted 2 pts later after another misfire.

The gate-opener? Prizmic’s fh winner at the start of that game. Using the open court really well 👍

RG WWD SF: Before the most anticipated MS SFs, so true of them for putting Kamiji/Montjane v. Deroulede/Morch in Philippe Chatrier.

Even if there's a FR pair, a stepping stone to us watching more wheelchairs? 🔥 Point Kamiji to 2-1* 0-30 (1st set) omg an around the post fh in wheelchairs I stan

I said the matches from QF onwards are just a bonus. I guess they’re more than a bonus, will take anything 🙃

Might end up freestyling my understanding again, but UY is tough. Midfielders duel incoming and I’m here for it. Or a battle, I would say. We’ll see. Actually, petition to the TV to put the previous 2 fancams somewhere online, because they were me-coded 😂