One of the world’s leading junior competitions for U14 players, which was to be held at the Royal Tennis Club of Stockholm the first week in March 2021, is cancelled. The government’s announcement that “eight people may gather” is the new normal means that all hope of executing this event is over.
Tennis Europe, which organizes the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, including the Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris, one of only five Super Category events, announced on Monday that it would reopen the tour for the two highest levels as from 1st of March 2021.
From a Swedish perspective, unfortunately, it does not help since the spread of infection is high at the moment. A tournament of this magnitude needs months of preparation, and this week, the organization at KLTK and the Swedish Tennis Federation were required to make a decision.
– Today is a day of mourning; however, it would have been irresponsible to pretend as though we could execute the event and then feel the need to cancel in February. The players have extensive travel costs and other expenses such as coach wages, for example. A tournament that is open for registration must then be carried out without fail, and this is only fair toward the participants, comments Tournament Director Joe Beaton.
– After discussions with Tennis Europe, we, unfortunately, see no other option but to cancel. Any other decision would not be responsible for a National Tennis Federation. It is regrettable to take this step; this event means so much to Swedish junior tennis. We aim to return in 2022 with full force, says the Swedish Tennis Association’s Head of Tournaments Henrik Odervall.
Together with Les Petits As in Tarbes, France, the Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris is considered one of the top two tournaments on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour. The French competition, which was to be held for the 39th time in January, has been moved to September due to the pandemic. Kungens Kanna has been played since 1901 and Drottningens Pris since 1950.
– If the situation improves for the spring, the Swedish Tennis Association and KLTK plan to carry out a small U14 high-level invitational tournament for Swedish and international players, concludes Joe Beaton.