Las Vegas Tennis Open features future of sport

A year ago, Frances Tiafoe was competing in the Las Vegas Tennis Open at UNLV.

In August, the 19-year-old battled Roger Federer for five sets before losing in the first round of the U.S. Open.

The Las Vegas Tennis Open returns to the Fertitta Tennis Complex this weekend for its third year as part of the ATP Challenger Tour, at which the future of the sport will be on display.

Qualifying rounds begin Saturday, and the tournament, which includes singles and doubles, runs from Monday to Oct. 22. Players can earn ATP ranking points, and the prize purse is $50,000.

Tournament director Jean-Francois Blais said many of the competitors will be 18 to 23 years old.

“They’re not doing it for the money necessarily at that level,” Blais said. “They’re doing it to move to bigger and better things eventually, but it’s kind of a grind, the challenger tour. Those guys are the future stars. They’re the guys we’re going to see on TV eventually.”

Blais said players from all over the world will compete. The top player in the tournament, Tennys Sandgren, is ranked No. 98 in the ATP.

“We’re basically between (98) and about 250 in the world, so that’s kind of like our range for our main draw players,” Blais said. “As you can imagine, if you’re in the 90s in the world at whatever you do, you’re pretty damn good.”

Australian Sam Groth will be back to defend his singles title.

“We’re really happy to have him back, because not only is he a good player but he’s known to have the fastest serve on the ATP tour ever recorded at 163.4 miles per hour, which is pretty crazy,” Blais said. “Just to come out and check out Sam’s serve is kind of a treat.”

UNLV coach Owen Hambrook is the director of sponsorships for the event. Rebels players Ruben Alberts and Alexandr Cozbinov will compete as wild cards.

“The level of up-and-comers and young players we have is really good,” Blais said. “It’s kind of like a way to get a preview. Come to the challenger and get a preview of the guys that are going to be the future starts of the ATP Tour in a few years. It’s pretty interesting in that sense.”

Contact Betsy Helfand at bhelfand@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BetsyHelfand on Twitter.