Patrick Mouratoglou: “We no longer need to convince players to come to UTS”

UTS Nîmes will take place on 4 and 5 April 2025 in the Arènes de Nîmes. It will be the second stage of the UTS Tour after Guadalajara

Jérémy Baudu

October 9, 2024

The UTS Tour will be setting down its luggage in Nîmes for the UTS Nîmes, which will take place on 4 and 5 April 2025. This is the first time since 2021 that the competition, founded by Patrick Mouratoglou, will be staged in France in front of the public. Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Gael Monfils and Ugo Humbert are already confirmed for the eight-man event.

On Tuesday 8 October 2024, Mouratoglou – now the coach of Naomi Osaka – gave a press conference in Nîmes in the company of the town’s mayor and Vincent Bastide, CEO of Bastide Médical, title partner of the event.

Before a question-and-answer session, Patrick Mouratoglou focused his opening remarks on the prize money: “It’s $1 million, including $300,000 for the winner,” revealed Mouratoglou. “And why is that? Because we want the best players, and we want them to be motivated. UTS is a tournament, not an exhibition. In exhibitions, the organisers pay the players to come and play. We pay them according to their result.

“To earn money, they have to win their matches. UTS is a real competition in which the best players in the world fight to win, and it’s a format that’s fun and very engaging for the audience.”

Why organise such an event in the Nîmes Arena?

It’s a magical, historic venue and it’s extraordinary to be able to play tennis here. The Nîmes Arena adds a whole new dimension to our tournament. The mix of modernity that UTS brings with the historical aspect that the Arena brings is a perfect marriage. Tennis came here in 1991 for the Davis Cup, and we can’t wait to come back next year. When you see this site, it’s unique.

What surface will Bastide Médical UTS Nîmes be playing on?

Patrick Mouratoglou: The answer is going to be very short, on clay! As it has been historically in the Nîmes Arena.

Why clay?

Patrick Mouratoglou: The beginning of April is the start of the clay-court season. The players will be playing in the Monte Carlo Masters 1000 the following week. And it’s important for them to play on the same surface. In terms of geography and surface, we adapt a lot so that the players are in the best possible conditions.

A city hosting an ATP 250 tournament will never have a line-up like this
Patrick Mouratoglou

How do you convince players to come to UTS?

Patrick Mouratoglou: The players know UTS very well because it’s an event that’s been around since 2020, so there’s already a history, and we don’t need to convince them. There are more requests than places we can allocate, especially in Nîmes. A lot of players want to take part in this tournament. We have to make choices, and that’s a good problem! They really like the format, the players are young and it’s a format that speaks to them. The prize money is very attractive too. It’s normal, it’s what they do.

We’re in an exceptional venue, the Nîmes Arena. When we show the photos to the players, they can’t believe (it), they want to play here. The location is also ideal – we’re just 3.5 hours from Monte Carlo, which is perfect.

Patrick Mouratoglou in les Arènes de Nîmes – © Julien Nouet

When will the names of the other four quarter-finalists be announced?

Patrick Mouratoglou: Soon. We’ll be doing what we always do: we’ll be doing a sort of teaser by gradually unveiling the cast of our tournaments. You’ll know the eight players before the end of the year.

Will tickets be reasonably priced to make it a popular event?

Patrick Mouratoglou: “Yes, absolutely. (tickets start at 12 euros on Friday and 15 euros on Saturday). “We don’t want to organise an elitist event, we want a popular event with a crazy atmosphere, like a football match. That’s what we manage to do every time, and even in Norway, even though that’s not the kind of people there. Casper Ruud, the local, was even surprised when we played in Oslo last February.

Can we hope to have an ATP 250 in Nîmes in the future?

Patrick Mouratoglou: “That’s more a question for the mayor or Vincent Bastide. But I can tell you one thing: a city that organises an ATP 250 will never have a line-up like this, with the best players in the world. That’s also the point of working with us, because we bring in top players. Or else you’d need a Masters 1000, but we’re not talking about the same amounts of money.”