Late October in Brussels usually means one thing for tennis fans in Belgium: the business end of the country’s only ATP-level tournament. This year, though, getting to watch the European Open’s biggest matches will require following the tournament to a different building altogether partway through the week.

The ATP 250, played on indoor hard courts, will move the second half of this year’s tournament to an overnight session to accommodate a series of concerts scheduled to fill its main court. Play will continue until October 22 in the ING Arena before the quarterfinals, semifinals and final are moved from the ING Arena to Palais 5, which is another hall in the same Brussels Expo compound from October 23 onwards. 

The ING Arena is hosting rapper PLK on October 24, the French rap duo Djadja & Dinaz the next night, and Duran Duran on October 26, with the tournament final taking place in the middle of the two shows on October 25. All tournament operations will move the few hundred metres across the complex during a single night’s turnaround, organizers said, emphasizing that every effort is being made to ensure playing conditions remain as consistent as possible between the two venues. 

It is an unusual issue for a tour event to solve mid-tournament. However, the logistics are eased by the proximity of both venues in the same sprawling exhibition complex rather than different parts of the city. Brussels Expo has long served as a multi-purpose venue for concerts, trade shows, and sporting events. The ING arena alone boasts around 15,000 seats when optimized to its maximum potential, making it an easy pick for major touring acts long before this year’s tennis schedule was set.

The tournament is officially known as the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open and remains the only ATP-level event held in Belgium on the hard-court indoor courts of Brussels, running this year from October 18 to 25 as a 28-player draw. While the actual draw will take shape in the second week of October, the initial field looks like: Arthur Fils, the French world No. 11, alongside Belgian names Zizou Bergs, ranked No. 44, and Raphael Collignon, ranked No. 71, plus defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime, who returns after describing last year’s title as a reward for reworking both his mental approach and his game following a difficult stretch.

However, the most emotional entry is ‌David Goffin. The 35-year-old, who once reached as high as world No. 7 and remains the first Belgian man to crack the ATP’s top 10, announced back in March that this season would be his last on tour, and he has chosen this very event, on home soil, as the stage for his farewell. 

“Being able to bring my career to a close at the BNP Paribas Fortis European Open, in front of my home crowd, makes it even more special,” Goffin said. “I hope to enjoy the tournament in Brussels one last time and share a memorable farewell with the fans.”

A tournament still settling into its new home

The scheduling headache comes in only the second year since the European Open relocated to Brussels after nearly a decade based in Antwerp’s Lotto Arena. At the time, ATP officials claimed the transfer is a new chapter for the event and a way to improve the experience for the players and fans, likening it to the atmosphere the city of Brussels created when it hosted a memorable Davis Cup tie in 2017.

It might seem like a scheduling failure on ATP’s part, but sharing a commercial complex like Brussels Expo comes with these consequences, and hence the overlap was unavoidable. 

Still, asking players to adjust to a different court on the eve of the business end of a tournament, even one just a short walk away, is not something most ATP 250 events have had to navigate in recent memory. 

However, it will be a memorable fortnight for Belgium’s most decorated tennis player as the crowd will get behind him to give Goffin a fitting farewell in his home tournament.