Slovenia Open Tennis Tournament Starts in Portorož

Blaž Rola, the best ranked Slovenian (99th), has cancelled as he is in the US preparing for the last grand slam tournament of the season, while Blaž Kavčič (107th) will not be defending his title due to a hamstring injury.

This leaves Grega Žemlja (323rd) as Slovenia's main hope at the tournament. He is however far from his form in 2013, when he won the inaugural Slovenia Open to propel himself to his highest ranking ever (43rd).

According to Slovenian Tennis Association president Gregor Krušič, the tournament is intended for the development of young Slovenian players, which will get the opportunity to compete in qualifiers. One of them is up-and-coming Jaka Kaplja.

The tournament will be accompanied by an entertainment programme, including a number of concerts, parties for players and VIPs, a humanitarian poker tournament and tennis tournaments for children.

This year's tournament is expected to be the strongest so far, as only players ranked higher than 200th are seeded. The first three seeds - Marcel Granollers of Spain, Paolo Lorenzi of Italy and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia are ranked higher than 100th.

Source: TheSloveniaTimes