The Serbia Open () was a professional tennis tournament, part of the ATP 250 series and the

ATP Tour The ATP Tour (known as ATP World Tour between January 2009 and December 2018) is the sole worldwide top-tier tennis tour for men organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) founded in 1990 that replaced the earlier dual Grand Prix ...

. Held in

Belgrade, Serbia Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

and played on outdoor

clay court A clay court is one of the types of tennis court on which the sport of tennis is played. Clay courts are built on a foundation of crushed stone, brick, shale, and other construction aggregate, aggregate, with a thin layer of fine clay particles ...

s, the event was held for the first time in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. It was the first for

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

, as the country had never before hosted an

Association of Tennis Professionals The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) is the governing body of the men's professional tennis circuits – the ATP Tour and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was formed in September 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to p ...

tournament. The tournament was held as a combined men's and women's event in 2021. This marked the first time in history a WTA tournament was held in

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

. The last edition was played in 2022, after which the tournament moved for a one-year period to

Banja Luka Banja Luka ( sr-Cyrl, Бања Лука, ) or Banjaluka ( sr-Cyrl, Бањалука, ) is the List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in Republika Srpska. Banja Luka is the tr ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

and rebranded as Srpska Open.

History

The tournament was owned and run by the family of Serbian tennis player

Novak Djokovic Novak Djokovic ( sr-Cyrl-Latn, Новак Ђоковић, Novak Đoković, separator=" / ", ; born 22 May 1987) is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has been ranked as the List of ATP number 1 ranked singles tennis players#Weeks at N ...

, who through their company Family Sport purchased the ATP Tour date from the organizers of the Dutch Open in 2008, then arranged with the local city of Belgrade authorities for the plot of land where the venue was built, and convinced the

government of Serbia The government of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Србије, Vlada Srbije), formally the Government of the Republic of Serbia ( sr-cyrl, Влада Републике Србије, Vlada Republike Srbije), commonly abbreviated to Serbian Governme ...

under prime minister

Mirko Cvetković Mirko Cvetković ( sr-Cyr, Мирко Цветковић, ; born 16 August 1950) is a Serbian economist and former politician who served as the Prime Minister of Serbia, prime minister of Serbia from 2008 to 2012 and as finance minister from 200 ...

to support the event through state-owned enterprises, primarily

Telekom Srbija Telekom Srbija a.d. Beograd is a Serbian state-owned telecommunications operator. It was founded in May 1997 as a joint-stock company, by spinning off the telecommunications business from PTT Srbija (present-day Pošta Srbije). In April 201 ...

. At the time of their purchase in 2008, Djokovic was the World No. 3 player, having won his first Grand Slam title earlier that year. Djokovic's uncle Goran Djokovic was the tournament director from its inception, until he resigned the post in late May 2012, a month after the tournament's 2012 edition. Novak Djokovic won the tournament twice, in 2009 and 2011. In 2013, Serbia Open was replaced on the ATP schedule by the newly established

Power Horse Cup Power may refer to: Common meanings * Power (physics), meaning "rate of doing work" ** Engine power, the power put out by an engine ** Electric power, a type of energy * Power (social and political), the ability to influence people or events Math ...

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in the state after Cologne and the List of cities in Germany with more than 100,000 inhabitants, seventh-largest city ...

. The tournament returned to the calendar in April 2021, replacing the Hungarian Open with its now new director,

Djordje Djokovic Djordje Djokovic ( sr-cyr, Ђорђе Ђоковић, translit=Đorđe Đoković; born 17 July 1995) is a Serbian former tennis player and tournament director of the Serbia Open, held at his brother Novak's Novak Tennis Center. He is the youngest ...

. The 2023 edition was replaced by the 2023 Srpska Open for one year as Djokovic' family was preparing the Serbian venue in order to apply for an

ATP 500 The ATP 500 tournaments (previously known as the ''ATP World Tour 500'' tournaments, ''ATP International Series Gold'', and ''ATP Championship Series'') are the fourth highest tier of annual men's tennis tournament after the four Grand Slam/major ...

status. In March, 2023, Djokovic revealed that he wanted to buy the licence of owner

Ion Tiriac An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

but that Tiriac does not want to sell it, as to lease the licence is very profitable, and too expensive for the Serbia Open. The tournament is unlikely to be held in 2024 while Djokovic looks to lease or buy another licence.Novak Djokovic: Probably no Serbia Open in 2024, Ion Tiriac wants his licence back
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Past finals

Men's singles

Women's singles

Men's doubles

Women's doubles

Notes

References

External links

Official website(ATP) tournament profile
{{WTA 250 tournaments Tennis tournaments in Serbia Clay court tennis tournaments Sport in Belgrade ATP Tour 250 Former WTA Tour tournaments Recurring sporting events established in 2009 2009 establishments in Serbia