Transylvania Open to be held with no fans as Covid-19 hits Romania hard

Emma Raducanu, Simona Halep and the rest of the field will have to play in front of an empty stadium due to Covid-19 restrictions

Simon Cambers

October 22, 2021

Next week’s Transylvania Open will be held without fans after a late announcement by the Romanian government.

The event, which will boast the likes of US Open champion Emma Raducanu, former world No 1 Simona Halep, Indian Wells winner Paula Badosa and Elise Mertens of Belgium, is scheduled from October 25 to October 31.

Fans will be allowed at the qualifying event this weekend before the new ruling comes in from Monday.

We did our absolute best to be prepared with the safest possible event in these special circumstances, following all the rules and the safety procedures, and we were confident in our ability to deliver it.

Now we are incredibly sad to not have you, our friends, in the stands.
— Transylvania Open (@TransylvaniaOpn) October 22, 2021

Tennis events have largely welcomed back fans in 2021, with the US Open operating at 100 percent capacity, though all fans had to be double-vaccinated or have proof of a negative test.

Romania reported record number of Covid-19 related deaths and cases earlier this week, hit by low levels of vaccination against the virus. The trend is about 15.000 cases per day, the highest peak since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, and more than 400 deaths every day.

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