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Ever heard the term – ‘North American hard-court swing’. It’s a term that gets thrown around a lot in both the ATP and WTA Tours, but what does it really mean? If you are heavily involved in the sport of tennis, you may have a pretty good idea of what this term covers. But if you are simply a fan, you might not know exactly what the North American hard-court swing is and what the term symbolizes. Of course, my intention here is to explain this term so that when you next hear it, you know exactly what’s being referred to.
With that said, I will be giving more than just a breakdown of this term. I will be going specific by showing you what tournaments are involved in the US hard-court swing for 2023. This way, you can keep track of the main tournaments that form the very exciting hard-court season in North America.
So – with this in mind, let’s now take a deep dive into the hard-court swing by looking at the tournaments, their respective grades, and much more. It’s all outlined below, so let’s get started.
2023 North American Hard-Court Swing Explained – A Full Breakdown
Contents
You probably know that different parts of the ATP and WTA seasons tend to focus on events of various surfaces. For example, the European summer swing tends to involve mainly clay court tournaments. However, there are a few weeks where grass court events then take precedence, as seen with tournaments like Queen’s and Wimbledon. But when the tours come to North America, which actually happens twice during the season, it’s all about hard-court events. So in a nutshell, this gave birth to the term – the North American hard-court swing.
This time of the season shouldn’t be confused with the ‘sunshine swing’ that occurs in March each year, however. While yes, that point in the season hosts two 1000-level events including Indian Wells and Miami, it’s completely different from the hard-court swing of August/September. On that note, I feel that this brings us nicely to the main point of this article. And below, you can see what the hard-court swing truly means for the ATP and WTA Tours, respectively.
The ATP Hard-Court Swing in North America
To point one thing out right away, while the ATP and WTA Tours do overlap for certain tournaments, they are independent in their own rights. Therefore, there is no exact scheduling overlap, even with the North American hard-court swing. So with that cleared up, let me explain what takes place on the ATP Tour at this point in the season. Technically speaking, the US hard-court swing begins with the ATP 250 event known as the Atlanta Open.
This is the very first outdoor hard-court tournament of this particular part of the season, and Taylor Fritz won the Atlanta Open this year. From here, the ATP Tour then hosts a series of 250, 500, and 1000-level tournaments before things are concluded with the US Open. As for 2023, let me breakdown the full hard-court swing so that you have a handy reference point moving forward:
- Atlanta Open – ATP 250 – July 24th to July 20th
- Citi Open – ATP 500 – July 31st to August 6th
- National Bank Open – ATP 1000 – August 7th to August 13th
- Western & Southern Open – ATP 1000 – August 13th to August 20th
- Winston-Salem Open – ATP 250 – August 20th to August 26th
- US Open – Grand Slam – August 28th to September 10th
As you can see, the North American hard-court swing is very full-on, and it’s quite a tiring part of the season for the players involved. Then again, it’s also an extremely important part of the season.
The WTA North American Hard-Court Swing
For the US hard-court swing on the WTA Tour, things are a little different from the ATP Tour. For starters, the hard-court swing doesn’t start as early as it does for the men. In 2023, it started at the Citi Open, and Coco Gauff won the tournament, which was pretty epic to see. And from here, the WTA Tour, while certain events coincide with the ATP Tour, branches off into its own direction. Here is the full breakdown for reference:
- Citi Open – WTA 500 – July 31st to August 6th
- Montreal Open – WTA 1000 – August 7th to August 13th
- Western & Southern Open – WTA 1000 – August 14th to August 20th
- Golden Gate Open – WTA 125 – August 14th to August 19th
- Cleveland Open – WTA 250 – August 20th to August 26th
- Chicago Open – WTA 125 – August 21st to August 26th
- US Open – Grand Slam – August 28th to September 10th
The hard-court swing for the WTA Tour clearly involves more events, and there are a couple of weeks where two tournaments are held at the same time. This is unique compared to the ATP Tour, but it shows that the North American hard-court swing is truly a great part of the season for the women.
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