ANTWERP, December 12, 2015

It is the end of a very long wait. With the tournament in Antwerp, taking place from 17 to 23 October, Belgium returns to the calendar of the ATP World Tour in 2016.

Antwerp’s last edition of the European Community Championships took place in 1998 with Greg Rusedski winning the final against Marc Rosset in four sets. This special indoors exhibition tournament was first held in 1982 on carpet. Players could not earn any ATP ranking points until 1992 when the event became part of the ATP Tour and switched surface to hard courts in 1997.

John McEnroe won the 1988 final in Antwerp against Andrei Chesnokov

According to Yves Simon of Sudpresse, Kristoff Puelinckx, rich businessman from Ghent, bought the rights of the ATP tournament in Valencia. Sébastian Grosjean will be involved in the new event.

In October this year, the organizers of the Valencia Open announced that the tournament’s licence will be sold to Belgium.