In Croatia,
a small country with many excellent tennis players like the Wimbledon winner Goran Ivanisevic, or the US Open winner Marin Cilic,
the ATP Croatia Open in Umag is the oldest and most popular tennis tournament.
The
tournament started as Yugoslavia Open in 1990, 28 years ago, and
since then it is being held every year. The
matches are played on clay in the tennis complex
Stella Maris in Umag, right next to the sea. The main court, called ATP Goran Ivanisevic stadium, has the capacity to accommodate up to 3.500 people.
The
tournament takes place in July, during the tourist season, and due to the
matches and the accompanying wine, gourmet and party program, it attracts more and more guests every year. The 2017 edition was, for instance,
broadcasted in more than 100 countries around the world and it was visited by approximately 100.000 people. Some of the best
international tennis players have played on Umag’s clay courts:
Marin Cilic, Rafael Nadal and Novak Dokovic, as well as Juan Carlos Ferrero, Ivan Ljubicic, Nikolay Davydenko and Ivo Karlovic.
Another great tennis name that is connected to ATP Croatia Open in umag is
Carlos Moya.The Spanish
tennis player has won this tournament five times, more often than anybody else. This is why
the title “KIng of Umag” that he received is well deserved. Moya, the former number 1 tennis player in the world, was always happy to visit the tournament, saying that this was one of his favorite ones. After winning once a title at ATP Umag he said "This is Umag, I cannot lose here".
Along with the standard programme,
there is also an exibition match, featuring big tennis names like Goran Ivanisevic, Magnus Norman and Andre Agassi, who played there at some of the tournament’s past exibition matches.
All mentioned above is the best recommendation to visit ATP Umag 2018, which will take place from July 13th to 22nd.
A great opportunity to enjoy top tennis! Check out out list of villas around Umag to have the best accommodation for the next ATP Croatia Open.
Sanda Kesedzic
16.11.2017
MY ISTRIA GUIDE
