State Takes Over Operation of New Haven Open

The state of Connecticut is planning to spend $618,000 to buy the rights to the New Haven Open tennis tournament.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said on Thursday that the Capital Region Development Authority will vote on purchasing the sanction for the WTA event from the United States Tennis Association at a meeting on Oct. 17. 

That would make the state the owner of the annual tournament, which is held at the Connecticut Tennis Center at Yale in August.

Malloy's office said that without the deal, professional tennis, which has had either a men's, women's or combined event in New Haven since 1990, likely would leave Connecticut.

The tournament also announced that it has received renewals from its top five sponsors, Aetna, American Express, First Niagara, Yale-New Haven Hospital and Yale University.