This was the second edition of the Ljubljana GLTA tournament and the fifth edition of
the PlayOut Tennis series. It featured 75 players from 20+ countries including two
players all the way from Australia. Whilst smaller in size compared to two years ago,
having just one main venue – the impeccable Tennis Center Tivoli in the city’s main park
– made this tournament very cozy and smooth.
We kicked-off in style with a guided sightseeing city tour offered by Ljubljana Tourism
followed by a welcome reception hosted by the City of Ljubljana in their historic town
hall. On behalf of the Municipality of Ljubljana, Katarina Gorenc, Head of the youth
office, addressed the gathering; followed by Andrej Pišl as President of Out in
Slovenija, our local LGBTIQ+ sports club, and Peter Matjašič as tournament director.
Despite a bit of rain during the sightseeing and earlier in the day on Thursday during
the practice session, the move to mid-June dates to ensure better weather and align it
with the Pula edition as well as the Ljubljana Pride weekend, was the right choice.
On Friday and Saturday, the sun came out in all its splendor and we enjoyed some
wonderful tennis finalizing over 50% of all matches on day 1. This allowed us more
flexibility and a later start on day 2 and an early finish by 18h30 so we had plenty of
time to get ready for the Players’ Dinner in the historic Gostilna Šestica, dating back to
1776 in the heart of the city. After enjoying some classic Slovene cuisine and giving
away 12 free entries to other GLTA tournaments in our raffle, we continued our socializing at the Pride after-party in the famous Metelkova.
Sunday was reserved for finals and a number of closely fought matches took place.
We want to thank all the players who joined us, especially those who attend our
PlayOut editions annually. A big thank you also goes to our sponsors, donors, and
local partners (see below). Congratulations to all our champions, finalists and
consolation winners – we hope you enjoyed the dragon and rainbow inspired trophies.
The Ljubljana PlayOut Open 2024 was made possible thanks to the generous
donations from Citizens for Europe and GVG; and our ongoing cooperation with Out in
Slovenija and Šport Ljubljana.
