[Tennis] Kyotec Open: ever bigger

The organizers of the event have lifted the veil on the 2024 edition, which will begin in around ten days near Pétange.

It is now one of the unmissable events for women’s tennis in Luxembourg. Just over a week before the start of hostilities, the organizers of the Kyotec Open have revealed more about the 2024 edition of the tournament. Yesterday evening, it was with a minute of silence in tribute to François Dahm, the tournament director who passed away last month, that the press conference to present the Kyotec Open which will be held from November 3 to 10 at the Hall began. QT of Pétange. And the least we can say is that the baby continues to grow. And pretty good. While it started out as just a “modest” $10,000 tournament, the Kyotec Open has continued to grow. After seeing his prize money increase to 25,000 dollars in 2022, then 40,000 last year, it is now a 60,000 dollar event which is taking place in Luxembourg.

An event that attracts people. Lots of people even since hundreds of players are interested in participating in this meeting which has gradually established itself in the international calendar. And it was the ITF, the International Tennis Federation, which directly approached the Pétange club to organize this tournament with this new dimension. However, there were requirements, first and foremost the review of the courts. Something which was done by the organizers, who wanted to highlight the help and support of the municipality thanks to which they can now offer a tournament to the prize money as high. This is why the three fields on which the players will play are brand new, since they were renovated last September, making them “more flashy”, according to the organization.

While the tournament is usually held in mid-November, this time it is brought forward to avoid competition from other international tournaments. There will be 32 of them in the final table, 20 direct qualifiers, eight from qualifying and four benefiting from a wild card. The matches will be played in the best of three sets with possibly a super tie break.

In terms of participants, Frenchwoman Océane Dodin (WTA 96), title holder and winner in 2021, will – normally – be there. Indeed, she was forced to retire last week in the semi-final of the W100 tournament in Shrewsbury during her match against the British Sonay Kartal (WTA 92), future winner and also announced in Pétange. And while she was supposed to line up in Poitiers this week, she was finally declared unfit by the medical staff. We hope that she will have time to fully recover and that she will be able to hold her place well in Pétange. The organizers also announced, with great pride, that the ten best ranked players, who are in the top 200 in the world, were included in the top 100.

On the Luxembourg side, Marie Weckerle (WTA 516) is, for the moment, expected in qualifications. But in all likelihood, the Grand Ducal No. 1 should benefit from one of the four invitations to the final table. And we already know that one of these invitations is planned for a very great player: Belinda Bencic. At 27, the Swiss, Olympic champion in Tokyo and former world No. 4, is back after a maternity break. After giving birth to a little girl last April, she will make her comeback this weekend at the W75 tournament in Hamburg and should therefore be present in Pétange before taking part in the Billy Jean Cup in Bienne with Switzerland against Serbia .

We will have understood, the spectacle is likely to be there in Pétange. Tennis fans, you know what you have to do!