BRUSSELS/WASHINGTON, June 8, 2026 (by Michael Dickens

The BNP Paribas Fortis European Open aims to make tennis more accessible to young people who might otherwise never come into contact with the sport.

On Saturday June 6, the tournament once again organized the Street Tennis Project in Brussels, across two public squares. The Belgian capital city is home of the ATP Tour 250-series indoor hard court event, which takes place this year October 17-25 at Brussels Expo, and will feature World No. 14 Casper Ruud as well as Belgian stars Zizou Bergs and Raphael Collignon.

No fewer than 169 children discovered tennis through a variety of sports and game activities at the Street Tennis Project.

Through the tournament’s initiative, it is shown Belgian youth that tennis does not stop at the lines of a court. What started several years ago as a local event in Antwerp, the tournament’s former home for nine years, has since grown into a sustainable and social sports project. Through Street Tennis, the BNP Paribas European Open is quite literally bringing tennis to the neighborhoods and public squares where children gather. The end result is open spaces, smiling faces and children laughing.

Street Tennis Project, Brussels (photo: Sportpix/Stijn Audooren)

This year’s activities took place in two locations – Place Joseph Benoit Willems in Laeken and Place du Noveau Marché aux Grains in the center of Brussels. Children who participated were able to take part in a number of different fun and interactive challenges, including: the ACE Challenge, the Dick Norman Challenge (named after the former Belgian tennis pro and current European Open tournament director) and Tri Tennis. Throughout the day, participants collected points and the child with the highest score at the end won a tennis racquet.

With the Street Tennis Project, the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open, together with partners such as Ethias, the City of Brussels, Tennis Vlaanderen and Tennis Wallonie-Bruxelles, aims to make tennis accessible to everyone – regardless of background or experience. By bringing the sport into public spaces and Brussels neighborhoods, the project seeks to introduce children to tennis in a playful way, strengthen communities and discover and support hidden talent.

Street Tennis Project, Brussels (photo: Sportspix/Stijn Audooren)

The impact of the project continues to grow each year. Since its launch, more than 500 children have taken part in activities in Antwerp and Brussels. In 2025, 54 children started free tennis lessons in Brussels and another 20 in Antwerp. In addition, the project currently collaborates with 25 tennis clubs across Brussels and Flanders.

Tickets for this year’s BNP Paribas Fortis European Open are available via the tournament’s official website www.europeanopen.be.

What they’ve saying about the Street Tennis Project

• “The success of this edition confirms that we made the right decision by bringing tennis into the heart of our neighborhoods. It is wonderful to see so many children discovering this sport with such enthusiasm, sometimes for the very first time. Thanks to the commitment of Tennium, the teams of the City of Brussels and several Maisons d’Enfants, we have shown that major sporting event can also have a concrete and lasting impact at local level. And if the champions of tomorrow are among these young people, then we may already have given them their very first opportunity.”

– Florence Frelinx, First Deputy Mayor, responsible for Public Property, Sport, Green Spaces and Animal Welfare for the City of Brussels.

• “It was a real pleasure to see the Street Tennis Project take to our streets and connect directly with children. Whether it is about discovering tennis, having fun, or developing their skills, this initiative helps make the sport more accessible and brings it closer to a wider audience. It offers a valuable opportunity to identify and support young talent, with the hope that they will proudly represent our city in the future. Who knows? The champions of tomorrow may already be among them today!”

– Faouzia Hariche, Alderman for Public Education, Youth and Human Resources of the City of Brussels.