"It was a very turbulent and exciting tournament," said Sandra Reichel on Friday at the start of her summary of the 31st edition of the WTA tournament "Upper Austria Ladies Linz". After last year's ghost tournament to mark the 30th anniversary, COVID-19 was once again a big topic this year.

Tennis naturally took centre stage at Austria's most important women's sporting event. "From a sporting point of view, I'm very happy that Emma Raducanu, Simona Halep and Danielle Collins were here. We were really unlucky with our number one and number two. Nevertheless, we saw some great matches at a very high level," analysed Sandra Reichel. And she also revealed which player she would like to welcome to Linz: "Naomi Osaka."

The best moment? "Bright girl's eyes"

A wide range of activities have been organised during this tournament week with the premise of making the Linz women's tennis classic "a year-round topic." The promotion of girls and women is a particular concern of Sandra Reichel. The social and economic importance of sport was discussed at the Business Ladies Talk and the panel discussion with Women's Minister Susanne Raab and ÖTV President Magnus Brunner. "We want to continue to promote these elements in the future," promised the tournament director. In general, AUSTRIA was a topic of discussion; the province and the city of Linz are the top partners of the globally recognised women's tennis classic. The TV presence was extremely strong thanks to Emma Raducanu and the top US players Alison Riske and Danielle Collins.

What was the best moment Sandra Reichel experienced these days? The answer comes spontaneously: "The best thing for me was seeing the 140 young girls with their new tennis rackets. Those shining eyes and that joy, that was really nice. That was the start of our big junior initiative 1,000 tennis rackets for 1,000 girls. We don't want this campaign to be a one-off - we want to keep it going."

To the The future of "Upper Austria Ladies Linz", Sandra Reichel said: "As far as the future is concerned, we will discuss and consult internally. There are a few unanswered questions, such as the timing or the location due to the construction site in the stadium next door. We should know more in January."

Closing words Sandra Reichel: "A lot of passion and flexibility was required from everyone. We are very happy that we were able to organise the tournament under all these circumstances. For the WTA, the visitors, the players and also for our partners and sponsors."