The only Croatian ATP tournament, Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag, will see its 34th edition this year and once again bring together some of the best tennis players of the world. The outstanding Russian tennis player Andrey Rublev (sixth in the current ATP ranking and the recent winner of the Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid) has already confirmed his participation, as well as three members of the Italian national team who won the Davis Cup last year, and it is expected that the list of big names will soon see further additions. As in previous seasons, the ATP tournament will be the central event of the sporting events during the summer in Umag, but the tennis programme will be richer than ever.
The main novelty is another tournament awarding points that will be added to the ATP ranking – Umag ITF M15, an ITF World Tennis Tour series competition, which is an ideal opportunity for young and talented tennis players to collect points to advance among the professional players. Since 1990, when the first ATP tournament was held at Stella Maris, many young tennis players have taken their first big step among professional players in Umag, and the same could happen now.
Many Croatian tennis players, who went on to have great careers, got their first chance precisely on the big stage of the ATP tournament in Umag. They were, among others, Ivan Ljubičić, Marin Čilić, Borna Ćorić... Also, when talking about players who are not from Croatia, but who achieved a top result precisely at Stella Maris at the early stages of their professional careers, especially worth mentioning are Rafael Nadal (semi-finalist in 2003) and Novak Đoković (who played in an ATP tournament for the first time in 2004 in Umag). Lately, Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner also achieved great results in Umag in the early stages of their professional careers. This year, thanks to the new ITF M15 tournament, there will be even more opportunities for young players!
The ITF M15 tournament will be held from 6 to 14 July as part of the Tennis Month. In addition to this competition, the Tennis Month includes the Road to Umag series, a junior tournament and a recreational tournament that start on 29 June and end on 27 July, i.e. with the Plava Laguna Croatia Open final.
"This year, July in Umag will be completely dedicated to tennis, and the competitions will include a wide variety of categories – from recreational players, through young players who want to break into the big league, to tennis players who play at the highest level and have the quality for top achievements. This way, Umag enhanced its global standing, and I believe that our young tennis players will also make good use of the opportunity presented by the new ITF M15 tournament", said the director of the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag tournament, Tomislav Poljak.
"The Tennis Month is more proof that Umag is recognised as a town of sports. This manifestation contributes to the image of the town as a destination that offers a variety of sporting activities. Plava Laguna, as a tourism company organising the ATP tournament, shows how it successfully integrates sports into its tourism offer. It is not only a sporting event, but also an important part of the tourism strategy", said the president of the Management Board at Plava Laguna, Dragan Pujas, emphasising the synergy between sports and tourism, and how proper planning and organisation of sporting events can significantly contribute to developing the tourist offer and promoting the destination.
"The promotion of sports as a reason for tourists to visit the destination is something that the Umag Tourist Board has been successfully working on for years. Umag, as a town of sports, especially tennis, deserves a month like this and we are extremely happy that we were able to support Plava Laguna in this new project", added Milovan Popović, director of the Umag Tourist Board.
