Berlin - The women's German Open tournament appears to be leaving Berlin for another host city, possibly Warsaw, as tennis in the country faces another setback. News reports on Monday in Berlin said that the Qatar tennis federation, which runs the event, could have lost interest in the event which is being downgraded in the new 2009 calendar.
The reports said that the Qataris have not paid several bills and that ticket sales for the May 2009 edition is yet to start. The tournament website was also no longer available.
German tennis supremo Georg van Waldenfels was quoted as saying that the situation was "confusing" while the women's body WTA said it knew nothing about a possible relocation.
"At this time there has been no request from the Qatar Tennis Federation to the Tour to move or sell the Berlin tournament for 2009," the WTA said on Monday in a statement to Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.
But a spokesman said he was obviously not aware of what was happening behind the scenes where the Polish capital Warsaw has reportedly been mentioned as a new place for the event.
Losing the Berlin event would be the latest blow for the game in Germany which has been on a rapid decline over the past years. Stars such as Boris Becker and Steffi Graf are long retired, public interest low and many tournaments no longer in the country.
The Hamburg men's event, in which Qatar also has a 25 per cent stake, has lost its Masters status for 2009 and was moved to an unfavourable slot.
The women's Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart is the biggest event left, with smaller men's events in Stuttgart and Munich, and the ATP World Team Cup the other tournaments remaining from what was once more than a dozen annual events including the Grand Slam Cup and ATP worlds.
"The tournament was always special. Losing it would be very sad for German tennis. But what I have heard doesn't sound good," said German Fed Cup captain Barbara Rittner, looking at then Berlin event.
Von Waldenfels agreed, telling the Tagesspiegel daily: "The news situation is confusing. I hope the Qataris know that a lot is at stake for them as well."
The cash-strapped German tennis federation sold the tournament to the Qatar tennis federation in 2004 on a deal until 2009.
The tennis leadership in Qatar has undergone several changes this year.
Josef Minderjahn from the Rot-Weiss Berlin club, where the tournament is staged, spoke of "organization problems within the federation" but expects the tournament to take place on his ground in May.
"Qatar is one of the richest states on earth. They can't and won't afford to just quit here," Minderjahn said.
