The Odlum Brown VanOpen professional tennis tournament, a highlight on the North Shore sports calendar for years, will not be held in 2023 due to extensive upcoming renovations at West Vancouver’s Hollyburn Country Club.
Organizers of the tournament attempted to move the VanOpen to the Burnaby Lake Sports Complex for this summer, but they didn’t find a willing playing partner there, with city staff recommending that Burnaby council reject the proposal due to the tight time constraints for an event that would require a “significant city undertaking.”
The tournament was held at Hollyburn every year from 2005 to 2019 – with a one-year hiatus in 2016 – featuring a number of notable players such as Andy Murray, Milos Raonic, Eugenie Bouchard and Bianca Andreescu. The tournament was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns in 2020 and 2021, but made a strong return in 2022.
“This is not the news we hoped to share,” said tournament chairwoman Carlota Lee about the cancellation of the 2023 event. “We are incredibly grateful to our title partner, Odlum Brown, plus Tennis Canada, and all our other partners and fans for their wonderful support in bringing our tournament back after navigating through the COVID-19 years.”
The renovations at Hollyburn are expected to prevent the facility from hosting next year as well, and event organizers said they are “continuing to work on confirming a new home for the tournament in 2024."
The VanOpen is Western Canada’s largest pro tennis event, offering a total of US$274,360 in prize money as well as world ranking points for men on the ATP Tour and women on the WTA Tour.
