History

Flanders Open first started in 1993, although it didn’t have that name yet back then. During the 5 stars tournament of the city of Antwerp, a competition was organised between the best Belgian disabled players. This tournament took place in the “Beerschot” accommodations.

The first "real" Antwerp Open

Because the organisers were very enthusiastic, they asked us to make Antwerp Open an international event in 1994, which could fit in their own tournament for able-bodied players.
The “International Wheelchair Tennis Federation” put us in their calendar as a Satellite tournament, so competitors could earn points. This had to make it interesting for good foreign players to enter. And it did: players from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany signed in, of which seven from the top 125 of the world. For the first time the real “Antwerp Open” happened…

In 1995...

... Antwerp Open was organised for the second time. Again, players from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany came to Antwerp, but this year we also welcomed an English delegation. There were ten players from the top 50 of the world ranking who competed.

Also in 1996...

... the successful tournament took place. We had more entries than the years before. The event was still situated in the “Beerschot” accommodations.

On Friday 15 August 1997 at 9 AM...

... people were officially "rolling" on the tennis courts of SOC Maria-ter-Heide. For the first time, an international wheelchair tennis tournament would take place in Brasschaat.
The fourth Antwerp Open was our first edition at SOC. We already had several top players from around the world: for example, Eric Stuurman and Brigitte Ameryckx, who was our number 9 in the world ranking at that time. The women made it that year even to the second place of the World Team Cup, comparable with the Fed Cup for the regular tennis. The Women B-division was won by local player Louisa van der Wallen. The tournament has been called after her deceased husband, Herman van der Wallen. Louisa was also Belgian Champion in Doubles in 1996.

The fifth Antwerp Open...

... from 14 to 16 August 1998 was characterized by something new at SOC: helicopter flights, with take off and landing on the SOC football field, were offered to all the players. Players that were finishing their match were leaving the courts instantly to take a look from above. On the sportive side, it became a triumph for the Netherlands. In the Men's division Ricky Molier won, and with the Women Brigitte Ameryckx was beaten by Angela Maas.

From 12 to 15 August 1999...

... the sixth Antwerp Open for the third time at SOC. The satellite tournament was upgraded last year to a Masters 4 tournament. In result, the international interest was increasing even more. A complete South Korean team will be here, but particularly with the Dutch- and Englishmen a few world top players will take part in the tournament.
Again, this edition will be a Dutch success. As the only Belgian player, Louisa van der Wallen could win the final of the Women Doubles with the Dutch Betty Klave.

In 2000...

... SOC opened up for the fourth time for the seventh Antwerp Open tournament.
From 10 to 13 August, beside Belgians and Dutchmen, also players from New Zealand, France, Russia, USA, Spain, Poland, Germany and Sweden signed in. This tournament, belonging to Masters 4, was comparable with a Super 9 tournament of the international tennis circuit. The Dutchman Robin Ammerlaan, who was placed fifth in the world, would win the Open division. Brigitte Ameryckx would dominate the Women's division, what was detrimental to Betty Klave - van Sante.

Eighth Antwerp Open

That year the tournament was an unbelievable success. With 74 entries, we put down a record. For our fifth edition at SOC, a complete American team entered. Besides the players from the Netherlands and Belgium, we could also welcome contestants from Brazil, Chile, Germany, Spain, USA, England, Canada and Austria.
The Canadian Paul Johnson, first seeded and highly favoured, defeat the American Steve Baldwin in the final. Brigitte Ameryckx won the final against Sonja Peters.

The Ninth Antwerp Open...

... started one week later than normal, from Wednesday 14 to Sunday 18 August. Because it was internationally known to be a very good and pleasant tournament, it was considered to be a concurrent of the prestigious CS 1 tournament "Swiss Open”, which was organised a week earlier.
Another important fact was that we moved to another location that year: Flanders' biggest wheelchair tennis base Witte Wilg in Schoten (Antwerp).

Tenth Antwerp Open

We were at an important point in the history of the Antwerp Open. During the summer of 2003, we celebrated our 10th anniversary and that could not happen unnoticed! That year, Antwerp Open was being upgraded to a Championship Series 3 tournament. That gave us the chance to make the tournament even bigger and we could give away more prize money! It became a tennis week full of festivities!

Antwerp Open becomes Flanders Open 2004

With the 11th edition of our world famous tournament we decided to start with a clean slate. As from 2004, you heard “Flanders Open” all around! The committee was re-established and the tournament got a new Flemish “look”. The location and the time however stayed the same as the two previous years.
Looking forward to the Paralympic Championships 2004 in Athens, we wanted to give our wheelchair athletes the chance to present themselves. The Flanders Open started as a Championship Series 3 tournament. The best players from around the world played to win the prize money of $ 7.500!

Flanders Open 2005

In 2005, worldwide tennis fanatics followed our Lion to the tennis center Witte Wilg! From 10 to 14 August, our Lion was fully present during the 12th ITF 3 Flanders Open tournament! Since Wednesday morning, fifty top players from 8 different countries were ready to play for a total prize money of $ 7.500!
It turned out to be a Dutch triumph, thanks to Eric Stuurman and Jiske Griffioen, who won the finals in the Single Main Draw! In the Men Single Second Draw we had the pleasure to congratulate Ante Stimac from Croatia with his victory.

Flanders Open on a roll!

Early 2006 we expanded the dynamic Flanders Open team. With specific tasks assigned to more people, we focused on every aspect of the tournament!
On the court, we saw victory for the Dutch players. Robin Ammerlaan won the final main draw men against our national pride Gert Vos and in the women division Jiske Griffioen won the match ball against Brigitte Ameryckx.
In the second draw men, the former number one of the Netherlands, Ricky Molier, made his comeback and won from our Belgian Roland De Meersman.

2007

Although there were less entries in 2007 than the years before, we did see a wide variety of nationalities on our courts. The Netherlands, France, Great-Britain, Greece, Israel, Russia, Japan, Sweden, the United Nations and of course also Belgium sent their teams to the Flanders Open.

The finals were contested by Belgian and Dutch athletes. In the end the Dutch players were victorious.
In the Women Main Draw, Jiske Griffioen won from Brigitte Ameryckx and in the Men Main Draw Robin Ammerlaan won from Gert Vos.