Linz – There are just four years between Häme and hope. Four years ago everything was a little different in Linz: the Upper Austria Ladies Open, at that time a WTA-2550 tournament, went over the gray stage in the less glamorous tips. Of course, very good tennis was played, but the ambience was more reminiscent of a club championship from Linz environment than the meeting of the tennis elite. That has changed. The design center, in which the tournament has been held again since 2023, is state of the art, so tennis must present itself in the present.