Spectacular field of players at Linz clay court premiere

The anniversary tournament of the Upper Austria Ladies Linz will be a real highlight! The Tennis fans at the Linz Design Center can look forward to a top-class field of participants at the first edition of the Linz women's tennis classic on clay from 5 to 12 April. Four former Grand Slam tournament winners will be doing the honours on the Danube. Barbora Krejcikova, the Czech Wimbledon 2024 winner, has confirmed her participation, as has her compatriot and previous Wimbledon winner Marketa Vondrousova, who won at Church Road in the summer of 2023. Emma Raducanu, one of the most popular players on the WTA Tour, has also signed up. The 24-year-old Brit is an absolute crowd favourite returning to Linz. Raducanu sensationally won the US Open in the summer of 2021. Her first tournament after her greatest career success was the Upper Austria Ladies Linz 2021 a few weeks later, but Raducanu was eliminated in the first round back then - now she's making another attempt!

Her rivals on the way to her first ever title on the WTA Tour include four former Linz winners. Ekaterina Alexandrova (winner in 2025), Jelena Ostapenko (winner in 2024 and French Open winner in 2017), former world number one Karolina Pliskova (winner in 2014) and new Austrian Anastasia Potapova, who triumphed three years ago, are all returning to the Design Centre. However, the competition is so strong that Potapova would have to start in the qualifying round as things currently stand. Two genuine newcomers, Alexandra Eala from the Philippines and Emma Navarro from the USA, will also be making their debut in Linz. They will be joined by last year's finalist Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine), the 2025 semi-finalist Clara Tauson from Denmark, Jaqueline Cristian (Romania), who already reached the final in the Upper Austrian capital in 2021, and the former top 10 player Daria Kasatkina.

Focus on local heroes

Of course, the Austrian players are taking centre stage this year - and that's not just down to Anastasia Potapova, but above all to Lilli Tagger! The winner of last year's junior competition at the French Open is celebrating her debut in Linz and seems to be hard to stop on her rise to the top of the world rankings. Last week she won her first match in the main draw of a WTA 1000 tournament in Indian Wells.

As Julia Grabher and Sinja Kraus have also confirmed their participation, there is a chance that four Austrians could make it back into the main draw of Austria's biggest women's tennis tournament for the first time since 2008 thanks to the allocation of wildcards or a successful performance in qualifying. Back then it was Sybille Bammer, Yvonne Meusburger, Melanie Klaffner and Tamira Paszek.

Statement by Markus Achleitner, State Councillor for Economic Affairs and Sport:

„The Upper Austria Ladies Linz has been a sporting flagship of our province since 1991. Top international players, our red-white-red aces, a highly professional organisation team and thousands of enthusiastic fans make this event a sporting highlight every year! The Upper Austria Ladies Linz thus makes a valuable contribution to promoting women's sport and inspiring talent in our country. A big thank you in advance to all partners, sponsors, volunteers and the organisation team. I wish all the players exciting matches at the highest level and the fans unforgettable sporting moments in Upper Austria.“

„With the Upper Austria Ladies Linz, we bring world-class tennis to Upper Austria year after year. This is emphasised by this year's starting field. Women's tennis has enormous appeal and puts our province at the centre of the international tennis scene with broadcasts in more than 150 countries. This world stage once again enables us to present Upper Austria as a strong sport, tourism and business location worldwide. As the sporting province of Upper Austria, we support this special event with full conviction, because at the end of an exciting tournament weekend, it will once again be game, set and match for women's sport and for Upper Austria.“

Olympic champion Janine Flock („Advantage Ladies“ ambassador), Markus Achleitner, State Councillor for Economic Affairs and Sport, and tournament director Sandra Reichel

Olympic champion Janine Flock becomes „Advantage Ladies“ ambassador

A highlight of the tournament week is the FE&MALE Sports Conference „Advantage Ladies“ on Wednesday, 8 April, which is being held for the fourth time in cooperation between Upper Austria Ladies Linz and Sport Austria. Following the appointment of Scottish tennis coach and mother of Grand Slam champions Andy and Jamie Murray as keynote speaker, another star guest, Janine Flock, can now be presented. The recent gold medallist in skeleton at the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic Games will not only promote the event as an ambassador in the run-up to the event, but will also take over the opening session of the conference together with her coach Michael Grünberger.

Statement Janine Flock:

„I am delighted to be able to set an example for women's sport as an ambassador for the FE&MALE Sports Conference Advantage Ladies. Girls and women in sport need more resources, more attention and more support. Knowledge transfer and strong networks make women in sport more visible - but all institutions in sport have to take responsibility for this together. As one of the widest-reaching women's sporting events in Austria, the Upper Austria Ladies Linz is the perfect platform to convey these concerns.“

Hans Niessl, President of Sport Austria:

„The FE&MALE Sports Conference, organised by Sport Austria in close cooperation with the RBG Reichel Business Group, is a key format for demonstrating how much potential in sport remains untapped because leadership positions are often one-sided. At the same time, it raises awareness of how decision-makers can take responsibility as active allies. The conference provides targeted impetus, makes existing challenges visible and helps to develop concrete solutions. After all, it is not enough to simply demand more visibility for women in sport - concrete measures are also crucial. This is exactly where the FE&MALE Sports Conference comes in: It raises awareness and actively works on practicable solutions. I am particularly pleased that we have been able to win Janine Flock, a newly crowned Olympic champion with many years of experience in top-class sport, as an ambassador. Her role model effect is of great importance in this area.“

Since its first edition, the FE&MALE Sports Conference „Advantage Ladies“ has seen itself as a discourse space for change in sport and also as a source of inspiration for the media, organisations and institutions. This year, the focus will be on the visibility and perception of women's sport in the media. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is part of the conference with the Women's Sport Expert Group. The results of a market research study conducted in co-operation with IMAS will also be presented at the conference.

An overarching theme here is "Allyship“ - especially male allyship - and the question of how responsibility in sport can be shared to make structures more sustainable and safer. Tickets and the complete programme of „Advantage Ladies“ at www.ladieslinz.at/female-sports-conference/.

Virtual tennis at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz

This year, the public will not only be able to experience tennis on the centre court or on Match Court 1. In the public area, fans can try out „virtual tennis“ for the first time - with VR glasses and technology from Softwarepark Hagenberg, Upper Austria's number one in software development, which also demonstrates the innovative strength of Upper Austria as a business location.

New wine partner with culinary premiere

The new wine partner, Weingut Heribert Bayer from Mittelburgenland, will also be offering non-alcoholic wine for the first time at Upper Austria Ladies Linz. In addition to traditional wines, the winery has been internationally recognised for its high-quality non-alcoholic wines under the Zeronimo brand since summer 2023.  
Drinks magazine The Daily Pour ranked Zeronimo third among the world's twelve most important pioneers of the non-alcoholic scene.

TV broadcast
From Tuesday, all matches of the tournament week will be broadcast on ORF ON. ORF1 will broadcast daily highlights from Wednesday. On the semi-final day (15.45 - 17.35) and the final Sunday (13.45 -15.45) matches can be seen live on ORF1. In total, the tournament will be broadcast in more than 150 countries.