Argentina’s second-biggest tennis tournament, the Córdoba Open, won’t return to the ATP Tour for 2025. Octagon, the American company that owned the rights, confirmed the tournament has been canceled, less than a month after crowning its sixth champion, Italian Luciano Darderi.

“For the South American swing, next year Córdoba will leave the calendar and Buenos Aires, Rio and Santiago will remain,” Octagon vice president Jorge Salkeld told Chilean newspaper La Tercera. 

The ATP is looking to lend greater weight to several ATP Masters 1000 tournaments (the highest tier outside Grand Slams) and is therefore looking to reduce the number of ATP 250 tournaments by merging or dropping them, according to Salkeld. 

“We understand the decision falls within a global ATP plan, which includes the reorganization of several tournaments,” Torneos, the Argentine company that organizes the tournament, said in a statement. They added that they were proud of having earned the support of the provincial and municipal government, the sponsors, and the public to carry out “six successful tournaments.”

However, the writing was on the wall for the Córdoba Open. Its placement on the calendar, just one week from the Australian Open — one of tennis’ four most important tournaments — made it hard for the organization to attract top players.

Awarding just over US$560,000 dollars in prize money, it was also one of the ATP Tour’s less profitable events for players.

The decision to hold it at the Mario Kempes Sports City — which houses the football stadium of the same name, as well as sports schools, a park and the provincial sports museum — meant a temporary stadium had to be built and disassembled every time.

The Córdoba Open originally replaced the Ecuador Open, played from 2015 to 2018 in Quito, which suffered from similar issues.