Chardy reflects on his ATP Challenger in Pau, France

Jeremy Chardy has started an ATP Challenger in his birth city, Pau. The Frenchman, currently ranked No. 41, successfully held the first Terega Open in February.

Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik won the inaugural $80,000 event for his sixth career ATP Challenger title.

"My tennis career, the tennis is not at the best at the moment, so I decided to try to create a tournament and we did it,” Chardy told the ATP. “I think it’s really important for young people to come to the tournament to be able to watch great players.”

The 32-year-old reached the third round in Miami and the quarterfinals of Montpellier this year, but has piled together an 8-10 record. He has won six ATP Challengers in his career, most recently in Surbiton last year, and won an ATP title in Stuttgart in 2009.

“It’s really different, I have to say,” Chardy said. “When you’re a player you arrive to the tournament and everything is easy. When you are tournament director you have to create everything. It’s a lot of time, it’s a lot of effort but it’s the same as tennis, when you love what you do, it’s important for you, you put all your energy and you try to create a great event.”