A trip to Almaty for the ATP 250 that is aiming to move up a category. Twenty years ago the country had neither facilities nor organisation. Today, thanks to investment from billionaire Utemuratov, Kazakhstan is establishing itself as an emerging power in the sport.
From our correspondent Marco Iaria, 25 October, 07:44, Almaty (Kazakhstan)
Almaty greets you gently. It is no coincidence that this is the city of apples: alma means apple in Kazakh. These days the country is proudly celebrating Republic Day. The number 25 is everywhere, a reminder that on 25 October 1990 Kazakhstan adopted its Declaration of State Sovereignty, a crucial step towards independence from the Soviet Union, proclaimed a year later.
This is a land in between, a bridge between the Far East and the West. You sense it in the mix of faces, voices and cultures, on the streets or in the great bazaar, wrapped in the scent of spices. Almaty is also the economic and financial heart of Kazakhstan, the largest economy in Central Asia, with GDP of USD 306 billion in 2025, up 6.5%. This wealth is driven mainly by natural resources. Oil is the country’s engine, with production of almost 100 million tonnes a year. The hydrocarbon sector accounts for 15% of GDP and more than half of exports. While the major fields are concentrated mainly in the western regions, it is here, in the former capital, that the main financial and commercial hub is located, with its banks, large companies and real estate investment. It is a metropolis in constant expansion, growing, changing and spreading towards the steppe. To see this, you only need to take the road to the Almaty Arena on the western outskirts of the city.
Since 2007: the turning point with Bulat Utemuratov
You leave behind the buildings with their modernist geometry, a legacy of Soviet urban planning, the wide tree-lined avenues, the neat pavements and the immaculate parks. When the sky is clear, the snow-capped peaks of the Tian Shan stand out in the background. As you move away from the centre, the landscape changes. Buildings thin out, distances grow and new residential complexes alternate with empty plots. Then, almost suddenly, the Almaty Arena appears: an imposing glass-and-metal structure that has hosted the ATP 250 tournament since 2024, with capacity for 7,000 spectators. The ambition is to make it one of the leading sporting events for all of Central Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, also taking advantage of its strategic slot in the tennis calendar, after the swing through China and Japan and before the final stretch in Europe. Money is not a problem. Bulat Utemuratov, the head of Kazakh tennis and Vice-President of World Tennis (the international federation), is credited by Forbes with a personal fortune of USD 5.4 billion and has already invested USD 250 million in building the country’s tennis movement from scratch. Nor is there any shortage of passion, judging by the football-style support that greets every shot of local hero and showman Alexander Bublik. Kazakhstan currently has around 18,000 children under 10, 2,700 junior players and 9,500 amateur players (men and women) who compete and take part in tournaments, more than 43,000 regular players in total.
- USD 250 million: Bulat Utemuratov’s investment in the development of tennis in Kazakhstan
In recent years the Kazakhstan Federation, which has 580 qualified coaches, has run a programme to increase participation in the sport. As a result, more than 36,000 children now play tennis in kindergartens and schools as part of the regular curriculum. The Federation has also worked to make tennis affordable for families by subsidising lessons: children can train up to six days a week for between USD 40 and 120 a month. Kazakhstan has 39 tennis centres with a total of 391 clay and hard courts, 232 outdoor and 159 indoor. A programme has been approved to build another 15 tennis centres in the country’s main regions by 2035. This will add 160 courts for training and for hosting international tournaments, bringing the total to 551. But building courts is not enough. The Federation has also invested in organising youth and professional tournaments across the country, giving local talent the chance to compete against foreign opponents without constantly bearing the cost of travelling abroad. If these seem like dry figures, consider that before Utemuratov became Federation president in 2007, the whole of Kazakhstan had only 60 courts and no more than 1,000 registered players.
Stars from Russia and young talent
“Tennis in Kazakhstan is experiencing a real boom,” Yuriy Polskiy, Vice-President of the Kazakhstan Federation and head of the Asian Tennis Federation, tells us. “It is driven largely by the extraordinary results of our best athletes. Elena Rybakina has won three Grand Slam titles and become the first Kazakh player to reach world number one, Alexander Bublik has broken into the men’s top 10 and Anna Danilina reached the doubles final at the Australian Open. These results have made tennis one of the most followed sports in the country, and we are seeing a significant rise in interest among children. More and more families want to bring their children to the courts because they have concrete examples of how a Kazakh athlete can reach the very top of the sport. Elena and Alexander are inspiring an entire generation.”
Polskiy goes on to explain that “the movement has entered a period of mature, structured growth. Every region of the country has tennis centres that give children the chance to train at a professional level close to home. We have also built a complete development pathway that takes young players from their first lessons all the way to the professional level, supported by a coach education system and regular competition opportunities, including international tournaments funded by the Federation and local authorities.”
This development rests on investment by Utemuratov, either personally or through the companies of his group, which operates in banking, finance, real estate, hospitality and telecoms. The funds go to infrastructure, tournament organisation and the development of players and coaches, as well as financial support for imported talent who have chosen, precisely for this reason, to change nationality and play under the Kazakh flag, as Rybakina and Bublik, both born in Russia, have done. During the last US Open, Kazakhstan stayed up late into the night to follow Rybakina’s extraordinary run to victory in New York and the top of the WTA rankings. Her achievements dominated social media and fired up the whole country. After her win, Elena was received by the President of the Republic, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Another visit to Kazakhstan is now being organised for mid-November: a week of masterclasses, meetings and events that will give young players the chance to spend time with the world number one and learn from her. The challenge now is to produce champions developed entirely at home. The first results are starting to arrive. Zangar Nurlanuly has reached two junior Grand Slam semi-finals, while Amir Omarkhanov climbed as high as fourth in the world junior rankings. In 2022 the men’s Under-14 national team also finished fourth at the World Championships. This is the decisive test of whether the Kazakh model can stand on its own feet without relying on talent recruited from abroad.
A strategic stop on the ATP Tour
The ATP tournament is the other side of this Kazakh miracle. Launched in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, with a temporary licence, the event secured a permanent place in the calendar and in 2022, taking advantage of the cancellation of Beijing, even hosted a 500. The move from Astana to Almaty two years ago marked a step up in quality, not only because of the size of the venue and the commercial prospects, but also because of the city’s strategic position as an important transport and logistics hub. In 2025 attendance reached 72,000, compared with a peak of 45,000 in the old capital, and this year the organisers expect to reach 80,000, with the last three days of the tournament sold out. Children and teenagers make up 40% of the crowd, many of them travelling from different regions of the country to see the champions up close. Behind the scenes, the organisation employs up to 200 people, excluding volunteers and support staff. The event costs more than USD 10 million, including prize money of USD 1,075,160 (the second highest at 250 level, after Chengdu). This covers guaranteed player appearance fees, venue management, hospitality and all side activities. Ticketing and sponsorship cover 80% of costs, while the City of Almaty’s contribution averages 20% of total revenue. Commercial growth has been rapid: the move brought in an additional USD 2.5 million in sponsorship, and this year that figure grew by another million. “We could have done even better, but betting companies are going through a restructuring phase to adapt to regulatory changes, and they have invested heavily in the football World Cup,” Polskiy notes.
“The value of our tournament has tripled since we acquired the licence in 2021. We want to move up a category: in some areas we are already close to Masters level.” Yuriy Polskiy, Vice-President, Kazakhstan Tennis Federation
The balance remains positive, also thanks to increasingly broad partner involvement. “I like what is happening this year: wherever you go, you find an activity run by one of our sponsors. We don’t want people to come just to watch a match, but to spend the whole day here, with tennis, concerts, food and activities for families.” This is the philosophy that has turned the Almaty Open into a kind of festival, with an entertainment and sponsor activation area twice the size of 2025 and a hospitality offer that even includes a three-Michelin-star chef. Players are pampered too: a larger restaurant, family areas, and improved practice courts with sound-absorbing materials to reduce echo. These touches helped the tournament earn the ATP “Standards of Excellence” award, given to events with the highest levels of player satisfaction, measured through surveys covering every aspect of their experience. Around 80% of players return year after year, a sign of the organisers’ ability to build lasting relationships with the stars of the tour. But the real goal is even more ambitious: turning the Almaty Open into an ATP 500. “We have made our intentions clear to the ATP and to the players. We want to be ready when the opportunity arises. We already try to offer standards above those required for a 250, and in some areas we are even close to the Masters 1000s,” says Polskiy.
Plans for the upgrade
The most important match is being played on the licence market. Licences have become increasingly valuable as the ATP redesigns its calendar ahead of the arrival of the Saudi Masters 1000 in 2028 and the gradual reduction of 250 events. “The value of our tournament has tripled since we acquired the licence in 2021,” Polskiy reveals. And Kazakhstan is ready to invest even more to move up a category. According to Gazzetta, Kazakh officials have reportedly opened negotiations to acquire the licence of the ATP 500 in Vienna, with a very substantial financial offer. Contacts have also been made with Dallas, played in February, an attractive slot for Kazakhstan given its geographical proximity to the Middle East tournaments, which will be even more numerous in that period from 2028. Basel is another possible opportunity. The hunt for an ATP 500 is therefore on. “We are convinced that an opportunity will arise within a couple of years. Asia is a growing market and the ATP knows its potential,” Polskiy says. And the ambitions do not stop at the men’s tour. The Federation also plans to bring back a WTA tournament, after the only edition held in 2021. The difficulty is finding the right category. A 250 risks being of little interest to a world number one like Rybakina, who focuses her schedule on the biggest events, while a 500 could prove too demanding for the other Kazakh players, starting with young talents ranked between 100 and 300 in the world. “We are evaluating several options to find the format best suited to developing our women’s tennis, taking into account the players’ needs, the international calendar and the commercial sustainability of the project,” Polskiy explains. Meanwhile, Almaty is looking beyond its borders, aiming to attract spectators from China, Russia and other Central Asian countries, including through tourist packages that combine the tournament with discovering the city and the surrounding mountains. Because tennis here is no longer just a sport: it has also become a tool for economic and international promotion.
Source: La Gazzetta dello Sport
