Tennis Europe and the Russian Tennis Federation regret to announce the cancellation of the 2021 European 16 & Under Championships in Moscow.
The organisations have reluctantly abandoned attempts to reschedule the event, which had originally been slated to take place in July and was tentatively planned for September. Logistical challenges related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions have made the event impossible under current circumstances.
Russia’s status as a ‘red list’ nation means that players from almost one-third of the entered member nations would face quarantine on their return from Moscow. Additionally, returning players would be unable to compete in many nations that currently prohibit entry to anyone who has visited a red list nation in the past 30 days.
Moscow has been the home of the European Junior Championships since 2007, and organisers reaffirmed their commitment to continue hosting the event in 2022 - celebrating its 15th anniversary in Russia - and 2023.
Tournament Director Vladimir Dmitriev commented, “We are very sad to have to cancel the Championships, which is one of the highlights of our year. We will be back in 2022, bigger and better than ever before.”
Tennis Europe CEO Thomas Hammerl said, “We would like to thank the Russian Tennis Federation for its ongoing commitment to our flagship tournament. While our staff and the tournament organisers have been exhaustive in their attempts to ensure that it could go ahead, ultimately restrictions across Europe mean that we would not be able to ensure that the best players from across the region can travel and return freely.”