The Buenos Aires tournament dies as we know it: it will be on hard court starting in 2028

It was already an open secret, but that doesn't make it any less devastating. The seismic changes that will alter the foundations of the ATP at the calendar level starting in 2028 are beginning to take shape, pending formalities and official announcements. One of the events most affected by the restructuring that the governing body of the men's circuit desires is the Buenos Aires tournament: the end of the Argentine tournament as we know it is approaching, with 2027 marking its last edition on clay.

Starting in 2028, the Buenos Aires tournament will be played on hard courts, thus ending 27 consecutive editions (from 2001 to 2027) on clay. This has been confirmed by Seba Torok, who has shared all the information regarding the Buenos Aires tournament, in a timeline that reached a turning point a few months ago with the sale of the license to the ATP itself last September. 

That marked the beginning of a new phase that presented several challenges: the ATP acquired the license, which previously belonged to Tennium (the promoter that will also lose an ATP 250, in Brussels, next year), thanks to the support of SURJ, an investment fund from Saudi Arabia... which needs space in the calendar for its Masters 1000 in February. All the pieces of the puzzle, as you can see, fit perfectly.

Now yes. The official announcement is imminent (it could be at the ATP Finals in Turin or even earlier). The ATP 250 in #BuenosAires (@iebmasargopen) will leave clay and switch to hard courts starting in 2028. An upgrade to category 500 is not currently planned, at least for now.

— Sebastián Torok (@sebatorok) October 22, 2026

What will happen now with the Buenos Aires tournament?

Where does that acquisition leave the Argentine event? The possibility of maintaining the clay-court tour on South American soil seemed unfeasible: competing in February against a Masters 1000 across the ocean seemed like too heavy a burden to carry. Several options were considered, including moving this string of tournaments to a new slot in the calendar, but ultimately, the ATP brass (and the tournament organizers themselves) ended up taking the step that the ATP has essentially "condemned" them to: transitioning to hard courts in a month, February, which will then be entirely composed of tournaments on this surface.

Rio will soon follow the footsteps of the Argentine tournament, adapting as other pieces, like Acapulco and Los Cabos, fall out of this new and complex puzzle aiming to accommodate that tour in the Middle East. There is a clear uncertainty surrounding the Santiago tournament, which was not sold to the ATP and remains in some sort of limbo: they have shown no desire to undergo a surface change, but the possibility of remaining the only clay tournament while its "tour mates" switch to hard courts wouldn’t be very attractive to most players.

After 27 editions on clay (from 2001 to 2027), the ATP in #BuenosAires will leave the classic clay. It is undoubtedly a change of era. It won't be the only tournament in the region undergoing such modifications, logically. https://t.co/Gh6K7tZZ1M

— Sebastián Torok (@sebatorok) October 22, 2026

The Argentina Open will have a tough time accommodating this transition: they will have to change the structure of up to five courts: three competition stadiums and two training courts. That said, to conclude, one thing that has caused some controversy on social media is that the tournament, according to reports from Argentina, will remain an ATP 250 event: it seemed that the change of surfaces could be accompanied by a rise in status, something that the Argentine public has been seeking for a long time... but which will not happen, at least until after 2028.

It is the penultimate nail in the coffin of a phase of the year, that of February, characterized by variety: a haven for purists and lovers of traditional tennis on the clay of the BALTC, with a crowd cheering for their own; the vibrancy of Rio de Janeiro, with the postcards of a dream city in the lively Carioca nights... and, of course, the grandeur of events like Doha or Dubai, besides classics like Delray Beach or new additions to hard courts like Dallas. All of this will be submerged under the train of homogeny, of 'premium events', of the motto that hard courts are king. Buenos Aires changes its identity... and loses tennis. Or does it? Time will tell.

This is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Muere el torneo de Buenos Aires tal y como lo conocemos: será en pista dura desde 2028