In the competition, former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu and Olympic winner Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. The first WTA Dubrovnik Open begins on March 23
Zagreb, March 4, 2025 – As many as ten players from the top one hundred in the world will compete in the first edition of the new WTA tournament Dubrovnik Open, which will be held from March 23 to 29. Among them are the top seed – Hungarian Anna Bondar, former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu, Grand Slam finalist and Olympic gold medal winner in doubles Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, as well as domestic players Petra Marčinko, Tena Lukas, Ana Konjuh and Lucija Ćirić Bagarić, announced tournament director Feliks Lukas at a press conference in Zagreb.
The WTA Dubrovnik Open will be held on the courts of the Dubrovnik Tennis Club in Lapad. It will be the first European WTA 125 series tournament to open the European spring season of professional tournaments on clay courts. In Croatia, the season will also close with the WTA Makarska Open, a tournament held in its traditional slot in the first week of June.
Foto: Rene Karaman
A great opportunity for Croatian female tennis players
“This tournament will be a great opportunity for our players to collect points and gain confidence, especially at a time when it is difficult to enter tournaments. This particularly applies to Ana Konjuh and Lucija Ćirić Bagarić, who are from Dubrovnik and will be able to prepare better for the surface on home ground,” said Feliks Lukas.
Ana Konjuh emphasized that it is an honor for her to play in front of the home crowd, as quite some time has passed since her last appearance in Dubrovnik.
“I am not nervous, but I feel positive pressure. It is nicer to play in front of my own people and I am grateful for that opportunity,” added Ćirić Bagarić.
The tournament has received strong support from the City of Dubrovnik, which is thus continuing the process of branding this tourist gem as a sports destination as well.
„“The City of Dubrovnik is happy and privileged to host such an event. As part of our continued sports investments, the courts in Lapad have been renovated and now look top-notch, and we also plan to build a new multifunctional sports hall,” emphasized Dživo Brčić, head of the Administrative Department for Education, Sport, Social Care, and Civil Society of the City of Dubrovnik.
An exceptional promotion of Croatian tourism
Such a tournament greatly helps Croatian tourism. Krešimir Šamija, Director of the Sports Administration at the Ministry of Tourism and Sport, expressed his satisfaction that an image worthy of tennis and Croatia will be shared with the world.
“With the National Sports Program, we support local sports, but also events like this. Since 2016, we have increased investments in sports from 28 to 193 million euros, of which 16 million euros are allocated to top-level events. Last year, we also renovated 113 courts, including as many as 11 tennis courts,” emphasized Šamija.
Next year, our tournaments will be among the top three WTA events in the world
With this, Croatia has gained its second WTA tournament, after the one in Makarska, organized by Feliks Lukas and his team. The WTA Makarska Open was named the second-best tennis tournament in the world from the WTA 125 series, according to the official choice of players, organized by the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).
Lukas emphasized that after the Dubrovnik tournament, he also expects high ratings from the players and the placement of the Dubrovnik Open among the top three in the world in the WTA 125 category. He is confident that this will be helped by the fact that nowhere else in the world is the official hotel closer to the tennis courts. The newly opened Hotel Sumratin is located right next to the main court, and the sea view is spectacular.
“We have organized more than 70 professional tennis tournaments since 2013. We are grateful that the WTA has recognized us once again, as we work under more challenging conditions compared to others. I would invite everyone to support our players to reach the final, because for almost 30 years we have not had a Croatian winner of a domestic WTA tournament, since Mirjana Lučić,” emphasized the director of the WTA Dubrovnik Open.