"This is ridiculous" "Looks like a 250 event lineup" - Fans bewildered by strong entry list for Phoenix Challenger including 10 top-50 players

The 2024 Pheonix Challenger promises plenty of action with 10 of the world's top 50 players, including the likes of Christopher Eubanks, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, and Andy Murray, headlining the event.

Popularly referred to as the Arizona Tennis Classic, the ATP hard court challenger event is held annually in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Played in the lead-up to the first ATP 1000 event of the year in Indian Wells, the challenger regularly attracted a world-class field.

Matteo Berrettini, Diego Schwartzman, Richard Gasquet, and Alexander Bublik were among the few top players who headlined last year's event.

The 2024 edition is scheduled to be played from March 12 to 17. With the draw being announced earlier on Wednesday via X (formerly Twitter), fans were left bewildered at the large number of high-profile names taking part in this year's event.

A whopping 10 players in the ATP top 50, and a total of 21 players from the ATP top 69, are slated to take part in the challenger event.

One fan deemed it "ridiculous" that so many big stars could come together for a Challenger event, the second-highest tier of tennis competition, behind the ATP Tour.

"This is ridiculous," wrote one fan.

Another fan suggested that the line-up could even do an ATP 250 event justice with all the quality in there.

"Looks like a 250 event lineup with the quality of players in it," wrote another.

Plenty more fans simply couldn't fathom the star power in store for the upcoming challenger, expressing their shock on social media.

"What in the vulture is this?" exclaimed another fan.

"Thats a crazy list for a challenger... ATP 250 quality," wrote another.

Here are a few more of the best reactions:

Andy Murray captures first win of the season at the Qatar Open

Andy Murray at the 2024 Australian Open - Getty Images

After a series of disappointing first-round defeats, three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray opened his account in the new season with a 6-1, 7-6 (5) win over Alexandre Muller at the 2024 Qatar Open.

"I'm just proud I managed to get through the match and get another win under my belt and happy for my team who have been working extremely hard with me to get through these difficult moments and hopefully this is the start of a better run," Murray was quoted saying after his win.

The Brit endured a tough start to the season, going down in a tight three-set contest to eventual champion Grigor Dimitrov at the Brisbane International. He was then blown off court at the Australian Open in straight sets by Tomas Martin Etcheverry the following week.

Fortunes didn't change for him in Montpellier and Marseille as his poor run of form continued in the opening round with losses to Benoit Paire and Tomas Machac, respectively.