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] 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
Netherlands Tom Okker Austria Peter Feigl 6-7, 6-4, 6-2
↓ Grand Prix event ↓
1979 Netherlands Tom Okker Sweden Per Hjertquist 6–4, 6–3
1980 United States Harold Solomon Israel Shlomo Glickstein 6–2, 6–3
1981 United States Mel Purcell Sweden Per Hjertquist 6–1, 6–1
1982
Not held due to the 1982 Lebanon War
1983 United States Aaron Krickstein West Germany Christoph Zipf 7–6, 6–3
1984 United States Aaron Krickstein Israel Shahar Perkiss 6–4, 6–1
1985 United States Brad Gilbert Israel Amos Mansdorf 6–3, 6–2
1986 United States Brad Gilbert United States Aaron Krickstein 7–5, 6–2
1987 Israel Amos Mansdorf United States Brad Gilbert 3–6, 6–3, 6–4
1988 United States Brad Gilbert United States Aaron Krickstein 4–6, 7–6, 6–2
1989 United States Jimmy Connors Israel Gilad Bloom 2–6, 6–2, 6–1
↓ ATP World Series event ↓
1990 Soviet Union Andrei Chesnokov Israel Amos Mansdorf 6–4, 6–3
1991 Mexico Leonardo Lavalle South Africa Christo van Rensburg 6–2, 3–6, 6–3
1992 United States Jeff Tarango France Stephane Simian 4–6, 6–3, 6–4
1993 Italy Stefano Pescosolido Israel Amos Mansdorf 7–6, 7–5
1994 South Africa Wayne Ferreira Israel Amos Mansdorf 7–6, 6–3
1995 Slovakia Ján Krošlák Spain Javier Sánchez 6–3, 6–4
1996 Spain Javier Sánchez South Africa Marcos Ondruska 6–4, 7–5
1997
Not held
↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓
1998
Italy Gianluca Pozzi Israel Lior Mor 6–1, 6–7, 6–3
1999
Czech Republic Ctislav Doseděl Israel Noam Okun 7–6, 6–3
2000–2021
Not held; return cancelled due to 2014 Gaza War
↓ ATP Tour 250 event ↓
2022 Serbia Novak Djokovic Croatia Marin Čilić 6–3, 6–4
2023
Not held due to Israel–Hamas war
Year
Champions
Runners-up
Score
↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓
1978
Austria Peter Feigl United States Eric Friedler United States Mike Fishbach Netherlands Tom Okker 6-3, 6-7, 6-3
↓ Grand Prix event ↓
1979 Romania Ilie Năstase Netherlands Tom Okker United States Mike Cahill Australia Colin Dibley 7–5, 6–4
1980 Sweden Per Hjertquist Israel Steve Krulevitz United States Eric Fromm United States Cary Leeds 7–6, 6–3
1981 United States Steve Meister United States Van Winitsky United Kingdom John Feaver United States Steve Krulevitz 3–6, 6–3, 6–3
1982
Not held due to the 1982 Lebanon War
1983 United Kingdom Colin Dowdeswell Hungary Zoltán Kuhárszky West Germany Peter Elter Austria Peter Feigl 6–3, 7–5
1984 Australia Peter Doohan South Africa Brian Levine United Kingdom Colin Dowdeswell Switzerland Jakob Hlasek 6–3, 6–4
1985 United States Brad Gilbert Romania Ilie Năstase South Africa Michael Robertson Romania Florin Segărceanu 6–3, 6–2
1986 United States John Letts Sweden Peter Lundgren South Africa Christo Steyn South Africa Danie Visser 6–3, 3–6, 6–3
1987 Israel Gilad Bloom Israel Shahar Perkiss West Germany Wolfgang Popp Netherlands Huub van Boeckel 6–2, 6–4
1988 The Bahamas Roger Smith Kenya Paul Wekesa West Germany Patrick Baur West Germany Alexander Mronz 6–3, 6–3
1989 United Kingdom Jeremy Bates West Germany Patrick Baur Sweden Rikard Bergh Sweden Per Henricsson 6–1, 4–6, 6–1
↓ ATP World Series event ↓
1990 Nigeria Nduka Odizor South Africa Christo van Rensburg Sweden Ronnie Båthman Sweden Rikard Bergh 6–3, 6–4
1991 Czechoslovakia David Rikl Netherlands Michiel Schapers Argentina Javier Frana Mexico Leonardo Lavalle 6–2, 6–7, 6–3
1992 United States Mike Bauer Portugal João Cunha Silva Netherlands Mark Koevermans Sweden Tobias Svantesson 6–3, 6–4
1993 Spain Sergio Casal Spain Emilio Sánchez United States Mike Bauer Czech Republic David Rikl 6–4, 6–4
1994 South Africa Lan Bale South Africa John-Laffnie de Jager Sweden Jan Apell Sweden Jonas Björkman 6–7, 6–2, 7–6
1995 United States Jim Grabb United States Jared Palmer United States Kent Kinnear United States David Wheaton 6–4, 7–5
1996 South Africa Marcos Ondruska South Africa Grant Stafford Israel Noam Behr Israel Eyal Erlich 6–3, 6–2
1997
Not held
↓ ATP Challenger Series event ↓
1998
Czech Republic Radek Štěpánek Czech Republic Michal Tabara Israel Noam Okun Israel Nir Welgreen 7–6, 6–3
1999
Israel Noam Behr Israel Eyal Ran Israel Amir Hadad Australia Andrew Ilie 6–3, 6–2
2000–2021
Not held; return cancelled due to 2014 Gaza War
↓ ATP Tour 250 event ↓
2022 India Rohan Bopanna Netherlands Matwé Middelkoop Mexico Santiago González Argentina 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
2024-present: Hong Kong
Hangzhou Past
Previous men's tournament categories
