Metro Vancouver will be without its marquee pro tennis tournament again in 2024.
The Odlum Brown VanOpen has been quietly cancelled for the second year in a row, following renovations at Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver.
The tournament is officially “on hiatus” as renovations continue at Hollyburn, but tournament organizers are hopeful they can revive the event in 2025.
There was an effort to move the VanOpen to the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex last year, but tournament organizers said a short timeline didn’t allow them to work out all the details. The City of Burnaby was not approached again this year.
The two-year hiatus comes despite the great success of this event in 2022. The 2022 tournament featured 161 players from 29 countries competing in the men’s ATP Challenger Tour and women’s WTA 125 event in front of sellout crowds.
Greece’s Valentini Grammatikopoulou won the women’s event, Constant Lestienne took the men’s title, and recognizable names like Vasek Pospisil, Rebecca Marino, and Genie Bouchard competed in the tournament.
Squad’s all here @vanopentennis pic.twitter.com/WBoHTytRGB
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) August 15, 2022
The 2022 tournament was the first one held since 2019 due to the pandemic. The VanOpen also went on hiatus in 2016 but successfully returned to prominence.
The first VanOpen took place in 2002, with Maria Sharapova winning the women’s title at the age of 15. Other notable names to play in the West Van tournament include Bianca Andreescu, Milos Raonic, Johanna Konta, Andy Murray, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Karolina Pliskova, Marcos Baghdatis, and Kevin Anderson.
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