The Rwanda Challenger was introduced in 2024, 30 years since the beginning of the Rwanda genocide — an atrocity that claimed an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 lives. As the central African country continues to recover and rebuild, tennis is playing a small but important part of the healing process. Rather than trying to erase this dark chapter from history, the tournament has adopted an alternative approach: promoting education and honouring the fallen through visits to the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Rwanda became the seventh African country to host an ATP Challenger Tour event and among those in attendance for the inaugural final were Rwanda President Paul Kagame, first lady Jeannette Kagame and 1983 Roland Garros champion Yannick Noah.