Generali Open 2024: Despite the Olympics, Kitzbühel would like to hold on to the Saturday final
Once again, the Summer Olympics are messing up the ATP calendar. In Kitzbühel, one is slightly irritated by the published calendar for 2024.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Mar 22, 2023, 07:56 pm
Every four years there are shifts in the schedule in summer due to the Olympic Games. 2024 will be played in Roland Garros, the calendar published on Wednesday has now caused the organizers in Kitzbühel and Umag to frown. Because these two traditional tournaments take place in the week right before the big party in Paris. And the question is: When should the finals take place?
"Of course we are very disappointed that the Generali Open Kitzbühel 2024 was canceled a week later than we had planned. This is happening contrary to a verbal promise of our desired date at the beginning of the year.
Despite the later date, the Olympic Games and the Generali Open will not take place at the same time, which also means that if a player wants to play in the Olympics, he will still be able to serve at the Generali Open."
In 1992 Sampras and Courier came to Kitzbühel before Olympia
"In 2012 we had to deal with a similar situation. We will now do everything we can to ensure that our finalists, as in 2012, can travel to Paris later, in order to be able to hold the final of the Generali Open on Saturday (July 28th, 2024). .
Together with the ATP and the ITF, we will now work to find a solution that is in the interests of the players and, above all, our fans," explains Generali Open tournament director Alexander Antonitsch.
But experience shows that an appointment like this can also have a good side: in 1992, two of the world's best players, Jim Courier and Pete Sampras, came to the chamois city to prepare for the Olympics in Barcelona. That didn't bear any fruit for either of them - but at least Sampras won the title in Kitzbühel.