Tennis tournament
The Tel Aviv Open (also known as the Tel Aviv Watergen Open due to sponsorship reasons) is an ATP Tour -affiliated tennis tournament. It was first played from 1978 through 1999 (skipping 1982 due to the 1982 Lebanon War and 1997 as it transitioned back to the Challenger Series) and was to be resumed in 2014 as a replacement for the St. Petersburg Open ,[ 1] however its return was cancelled due to security concerns arising from the 2014 Gaza War and scrapped permanently in 2015. On June 21, 2022, it was announced that the tournament would return later that year, albeit in a different venue than previous editions. The tournament was planned to continue in 2023, but was cancelled due to the Israel–Hamas war .[ 2]
Israeli tennis player Amos Mansdorf appeared in the final five times, winning in 1987, making him the only Israeli to win the event. Jimmy Connors won his final career singles title at the event in 1989.
In 1990 and 1991 the tournament was known as the Riklis Classic and in 1996 it was known as the Eisenberg Israel Open .
The tournament still holds the ATP record for the youngest winner of an ATP event (Aaron Krickstein in 1983, at the age of 16 and 2 months).
Year Champions Runners-up Score ↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓ 1978 Tom Okker Peter Feigl 6-7, 6-4, 6-2 ↓ Grand Prix event ↓ 1979 Tom Okker Per Hjertquist 6–4, 6–3 1980 Harold Solomon Shlomo Glickstein 6–2, 6–3 1981 Mel Purcell Per Hjertquist 6–1, 6–1 1982 Not held due to the 1982 Lebanon War 1983 Aaron Krickstein Christoph Zipf 7–6, 6–3 1984 Aaron Krickstein Shahar Perkiss 6–4, 6–1 1985 Brad Gilbert Amos Mansdorf 6–3, 6–2 1986 Brad Gilbert Aaron Krickstein 7–5, 6–2 1987 Amos Mansdorf Brad Gilbert 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 1988 Brad Gilbert Aaron Krickstein 4–6, 7–6, 6–2 1989 Jimmy Connors Gilad Bloom 2–6, 6–2, 6–1 ↓ ATP World Series event ↓ 1990 Andrei Chesnokov Amos Mansdorf 6–4, 6–3 1991 Leonardo Lavalle Christo van Rensburg 6–2, 3–6, 6–3 1992 Jeff Tarango Stephane Simian 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 1993 Stefano Pescosolido Amos Mansdorf 7–6, 7–5 1994 Wayne Ferreira Amos Mansdorf 7–6, 6–3 1995 Ján Krošlák Javier Sánchez 6–3, 6–4 1996 Javier Sánchez Marcos Ondruska 6–4, 7–5 1997 Not held ↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓ 1998 Gianluca Pozzi Lior Mor 6–1, 6–7, 6–3 1999 Ctislav Doseděl Noam Okun 7–6, 6–3 2000–2021 Not held; return cancelled due to 2014 Gaza War ↓ ATP Tour 250 event ↓ 2022 Novak Djokovic Marin Čilić 6–3, 6–4 2023 Not held due to Israel–Hamas war
Year Champions Runners-up Score ↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓ 1978 Peter Feigl Eric Friedler Mike Fishbach Tom Okker 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 ↓ Grand Prix event ↓ 1979 Ilie Năstase Tom Okker Mike Cahill Colin Dibley 7–5, 6–4 1980 Per Hjertquist Steve Krulevitz Eric Fromm Cary Leeds 7–6, 6–3 1981 Steve Meister Van Winitsky John Feaver Steve Krulevitz 3–6, 6–3, 6–3 1982 Not held due to the 1982 Lebanon War 1983 Colin Dowdeswell Zoltán Kuhárszky Peter Elter Peter Feigl 6–3, 7–5 1984 Peter Doohan Brian Levine Colin Dowdeswell Jakob Hlasek 6–3, 6–4 1985 Brad Gilbert Ilie Năstase Michael Robertson Florin Segărceanu 6–3, 6–2 1986 John Letts Peter Lundgren Christo Steyn Danie Visser 6–3, 3–6, 6–3 1987 Gilad Bloom Shahar Perkiss Wolfgang Popp Huub van Boeckel 6–2, 6–4 1988 Roger Smith Paul Wekesa Patrick Baur Alexander Mronz 6–3, 6–3 1989 Jeremy Bates Patrick Baur Rikard Bergh Per Henricsson 6–1, 4–6, 6–1 ↓ ATP World Series event ↓ 1990 Nduka Odizor Christo van Rensburg Ronnie Båthman Rikard Bergh 6–3, 6–4 1991 David Rikl Michiel Schapers Javier Frana Leonardo Lavalle 6–2, 6–7, 6–3 1992 Mike Bauer João Cunha Silva Mark Koevermans Tobias Svantesson 6–3, 6–4 1993 Sergio Casal Emilio Sánchez Mike Bauer David Rikl 6–4, 6–4 1994 Lan Bale John-Laffnie de Jager Jan Apell Jonas Björkman 6–7, 6–2, 7–6 1995 Jim Grabb Jared Palmer Kent Kinnear David Wheaton 6–4, 7–5 1996 Marcos Ondruska Grant Stafford Noam Behr Eyal Erlich 6–3, 6–2 1997 Not held ↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓ 1998 Radek Štěpánek Michal Tabara Noam Okun Nir Welgreen 7–6, 6–3 1999 Noam Behr Eyal Ran Amir Hadad Andrew Ilie 6–3, 6–2 2000–2021 Not held; return cancelled due to 2014 Gaza War ↓ ATP Tour 250 event ↓ 2022 Rohan Bopanna Matwé Middelkoop Santiago González Andrés Molteni 6–2, 6–4 2023 Not held due to Israel–Hamas war
Present Buenos Aires Marseille Delray Beach New Haven / Winston-Salem 2009, 2011–present: Kitzbühel 2009–2010, 2012–present: Lyon / Montpellier 2009–2014, 2017–2019, 2021–present: Eastbourne 2009–2014, 2020–present: Viña del Mar / Santiago 2009–2019, 2024–present: Brisbane 2009–2016, 2024–present: Bucharest Stuttgart Båstad Gstaad Umag Stockholm Metz 2009–2019, 2022–present: Houston Casablanca / Marrakech 's-Hertogenbosch 2009–2020, 2023–present: Auckland 2015–2019, 2021–present: Geneva 2015–2019, 2023–present: Chengdu 2016–present: Antwerp 2016–2019, 2021–present: Los Cabos 2020, 2022–present: Adelaide 2020–2021, 2023–present: Astana/Almaty 2021–present: Mallorca 2021, 2024-present: Belgrade 2 2024-present: Hong Kong Hangzhou Past
Previous men's tournament categories