Gints Narogs, “Latvijas Avīze”, JSC “Latvijas Mediji”

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The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is one of those that has not excluded athletes from the aggressor country Russia and its allied Belarus from the competition. Representatives of both countries actively participate in tournaments in a neutral status, there are white flags in the competition tables opposite the names of Russian and Belarusian tennis players. Some time ago, the organizers of the Wimbledon Championship announced that Russian and Belarusian tennis players would not be able to play with them in the third Grand Slam tournament of the season.

The decision was condemned by the professional tennis tours ATP and WTA, as well as stars Novak Djokovic and Raphael Nadal, but the British are uncompromising. Liepāja City Council has an equally rigid position. The ITF W60 series tournament for ladies “Liepāja Open” is planned for the wind city from May 21 to 29, in which, according to the current ITF policy, representatives from Russia and Belarus could theoretically take part.

“Taking into account the national position expressed by the Latvian government and the Ministry of Education and Science in organizing international tournaments and condemning the war in Russia in Ukraine, Liepāja tournament organizers have demanded that these competitions be held without” white flags “.” and the participation of Belarusian athletes. If this requirement is not met, the city of Liepaja does not see an opportunity to hold a tournament.

Ball on the ITF side

The Liepāja W60 tournament with a prize fund of 60,000 dollars is organized by the Latvian Tennis Union (LTS), Liepāja Municipality and ITF. LTS has informed the international federation about the decision of Liepaja, and a response is currently awaited. Until it was received, LTS did not wish to comment further on the situation, promising to do so after receiving the ITF’s decision.

“The position of the city of Liepāja has not changed and will not change, because it corresponds to the position of the Ministry of Sports (MES) in Latvia,” says Elans Strazdiņš, the head of the Liepāja Sports Department, who is also a member of the LTS board. The city of Liepaja covers the economic and organizational expenses of the competition in organizing the tournament. “Liepāja’s support is about 25,000 euros, the attraction of prize funds, specialists and judges is paid by LTS and ITF.

We really hope that the tournament will take place, because the work is huge. We are preparing for the tournament from the winter, we have renewed the card cover, we made a lot of improvements to make it more convenient for the players. This tournament is a joint effort of many people involved. We have, for example, trained the line judges who are needed in competitions of this level. Everyone would like to see the fruits of their labor, ”admits Strazdiņš, but everything will depend on the ITF.

Step by step forward

“Liepāja Open” will take place at the same time as the first week of the French Open Tennis Championship, so the best tennis players on the planet will be in Paris at that time. In the city of wind, you can definitely expect representatives from the rank of the second hundred, who will not have overcome the qualification sieve in the “Roland Garros” courts. In the last week of May, in addition to the French championship, there are two ITF W60 level tournaments in the international calendar – Liepaja and also Orlando (USA).

The first ITF level tournament in Liepaja took place two years ago in January in the hall of the Liepaja Olympic Center. Started from the lowest W15 category, last summer the highest W25 level competitions took place in the courts of Liepāja Tennis Sports School in Jūrmala Park, another step forward is planned this year. “When the new tennis hall and tennis center were once built and planned, the goal was to create a sports facility that would be suitable in terms of size and infrastructure to accommodate high-quality competitions, including national team matches. We are moving step by step, we have proven ourselves and we are trusted by offering ever higher quality tournaments.

The amount of support has increased every year, and now we are at the W60 level, but we can definitely climb higher. It will depend on the world situation, but the infrastructure would also allow for WTA level competitions. The most significant difference without the financial component is that spectator stands are needed in the two main courts, ”Strazdiņš points out.

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Yesterday at The registration for the tournament ended in 16, but LTS players who want to go to Liepaja will find out only at best today. “The application is on the platform of the international federation, so we will find out the participants when the ITF will publish them,” says Žanna Piebalga, LTS project manager and Liepāja tournament director.

32 tennis players can play in the qualification, 48 in the main tournament, 16 duets in doubles. The leading Latvian tennis players who play in ITF level tournaments are also going to start in Liepaja – Daniela Vismane, Diāna Marcinkēviča, Darja Semeņistaja. Alona Ostapenko will be in Paris at the time, but Anastasia Sevastova has taken a break from her career. Two years ago, the housewife Elza Tomase won in Liepāja, last year Vismane triumphed, who overcame the qualification in the W100 series tournament in Germany this week and fought for the second round.

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