Back in 1986, when Athens hosted a WTA event, among the players in the draw was Angeliki Kanellopoulos. Years later, in that very same city, she would place a tennis racket in her daughter’s hands and watch her grow into the greatest Greek women’s player of all time: Maria Sakkari.
Then, in 1990, Athens disappeared from the WTA calendar. For more than three decades, women’s professional tennis never returned to the Greek capital. Now, after 35 long years, the WTA is finally coming back to Athens.
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It’s a full-circle moment, one that feels especially meaningful for Greek tennis. From mother to daughter, from one generation to the next, the story has come right back to where it all began. For Maria Sakkari, the news was more special than any other she will get this season. Athens is her home. It is the place where she began playing tennis. It is the city whose colours she has worn to 10 WTA finals, her highest career ranking of world No. 3, and years of being the only Greek woman in the game that anyone knew.
“To be able to step on court at home and hear the Greek fans will be one of the highlights of my career. Athens is where I first picked up a tennis racket and dreamed of becoming a professional tennis player. For a WTA tournament to come here will be a truly special moment and a great opportunity to showcase Greek tennis and inspire young players,” Sakkari said.
The WTA 250 Athens Open will run from July 13, 2026, at the Stadion Sports Center inside the historic Olympic Tennis Centre (where the 2004 Olympics were held). The event replaces the Jiangxi Open, and will bring professional women’s tennis back to Athens for the first time since 1990. The hard-court event will feature a 32-player singles draw and 16-team doubles draw, and will be sponsored by Mercedes-Benz.
Greece has been making a steady move towards professional tennis. In late 2025, Athens hosted an ATP event that saw Novak Djokovic – who recently relocated to Athens – beat Lorenzo Musetti in the final. This event received strong publicity and seemed to have sped up discussions of a WTA event. Those discussions, which took place over the past few months, led to Wednesday’s announcement.
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The Athens Open also comes at a time when Sakkari is in a rebuilding phase. After hitting a career high of world No. 3 her performance has been mixed, dealing with injuries and inconsistency in 2024. The 2026 season has not been fruitful for the Greek player as she registers an 8-7 win-loss record. The July home event, to a Greek crowd that reveres her as a national hero, comes just in time.
A Family Affair and What Athens Has Already Given Greek Tennis
The history of the Athens Trophy is not just part of the story, but a story in itself. Sakkari left home at 18 to train in Barcelona – a move that solidified her style technically and tactically into the player she is today, but one that has seen the bulk of her career played away from home.
The handful of times she has appeared in Greece – in exhibition games, Davis Cup matches, national team competitions – have been greeted with an overwhelming reception that stresses the rise in tennis’ popularity in a country not frequently considered a top-level tennis nation.
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“Athens is the first place where I picked up a racket and dreamed of becoming a professional player. It’s fantastic to see the WTA organising a new tournament here,” she said in a statement to WTA media.
The WTA’s move to Greece is part of a strategy to expand its presence in countries where the sport is growing in popularity. Greece will now join 27 countries and territories on the WTA Tour’s 2026 calendar – a calendar that will look very different from the one it was just a few months ago, with the addition of events in Europe and the loss of several events in Asia.
For Sakkari, July 13 cannot come quickly enough. For the Greek tennis public, the wait has already been 35 years. Neither is inclined to waste the occasion.
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