According to the Canadian Press on Saturday, the ATP Tour has cancelled the Tel Aviv Open tennis tournament in Israel. It was scheduled to take place from November 5-11, around the same time as the Moselle Open in Metz, France and the Sofia Open in Bulgaria. All three tournaments scheduled in that time period are at the 250 level.
The reason for the cancellation of the 2023 Tel Aviv Open is because of the hostility in the Israeli region. The conflict started on October 7 when there was an attack on Israel by the Hamas. There have been approximately 1400 deaths due to the war to date.
The Tel Aviv Open was initially held from 1978 to 1981, and again from and again from 1983 to 1996. In that period of time, the tournament was an ATP 250 event. In 1998 and 1999, the Tel Aviv Open was part of the Challenger Series, before coming back to the ATP calendar in 2022.
Last year, Novak Djokovic of Serbia was victorious as he won his 89th tournament of his career. In the final, he defeated Marin Cilic of Croatia in a battle of United States Open champions. Djokovic won the US Open in 2011, 2015, 2018, and 2023, while Cilic was victorious in 2014.
A reason why Djokovic competed in Israel at a 250 level event is because he was trying to get into tennis events. He was not allowed access into the United States for a period of time because of his decision not to get vaccinated for coronavirus. The United States lifted their rules in May of this year, allowing Djokovic to enter and win his 24th major.
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