21st Annual $25,000 Pro Circuit Tennis Tournament Draws Top Talent from 50+ Countries
(This article was written by Abigail Muniz-Garcia and was featured in the October 2024 issue of Explore Harlingen Magazine.)
Top tennis players from around the world will flock to Harlingen on October 12 for the Harlingen Country Club Men’s $25,000 Pro Circuit Tennis Tournament. This will be the 21st year that the tournament will be happening in Harlingen. It is one of the longest-running Pro Circuit tournaments in the United States that attracts tennis players from more than 50 countries.
The event, which is spearheaded by Andy Carter, Director of Tennis at the Harlingen Country Club, has seen its share of pros participate.
“We have a lot of good players that come through here,” he said.
A few big names that have participated in previous years include Kei Nishikori formally Association of Tennis (ATP) world ranked #3 in singles, and Olympian Austin Krajicek who is ranked #1 in the doubles event and was a silver medalist at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Carter shared that more than 21 years ago, he was approached by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to see if he would like to take part in organizing a tournament in South Texas. USTA is the national governing body for tennis as a sport and is responsible for developing and promoting tennis’ growth in the United States.
“They gave me a call… so after looking into it, I decided, ‘I think we could pull it off.’ And here we are 21 years later,” Carter said. It’s been a good thing for the community.”
Carter, who has been teaching tennis for 40 years, mentioned that the tournament itself continues to run because of the sponsors they have.
“Now it’s like a fine-oiled machine. I’ve got my set sponsors. Texas Regional Bank is a title sponsor,” he said.
Aside from paying for the cost of the event, which includes compensating the officials, providing free lunch for spectators Tuesday through Friday, and the prize money, some of the proceeds also benefit a nonprofit organization. For the past few years, the organization that the tournament has supported is the Sunny Glenn Children’s Home in San Benito.
“We have raised over $50,000 over the years for charity,” Carter said.
As for the future of the tournament, Carter doesn’t seem to have plans of slowing down any time soon as long as sponsors are willing to keep the event going.
“I plan to keep running the tournament as long as I’m able,” he said.
The tournament will run October 12 through October 20. Except for the last two days of the tournament, daily admission is free and includes a free lunch. Admission for the last two days of the tournament is $5. For more information, check out and follow Carter’s Instagram account dedicated to the tournament: @25kprocircuit.
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