Relocation might tighten grip on Australian Open warm-up

The fact they've been able to pack up a tournament and move it 600 kilometres to another state highlights how well run it is.

With the exception of one little hitch - rain delayed the start of play on Monday morning.

Tennis ACT have hosted a pre-Australian Open challenger event since 2016 and this year added a women's event to the program.

But the hazardous smoke from the NSW bushfires blanketing Canberra forced the Challenger 125 men's and the women's ITF Futures tournaments to relocate to country Victoria.

The introduction of the ATP Cup to Australia's summer of tennis led to the strongest ever men's field for the Canberra International.

Tennis ACT boss Kim Kachel was confident having to shift the tournament wouldn't hurt their chances of hosting it again next year.

"The rain's precious and valuable and hopefully it's getting to some of these fires," he said.

"These are unprecedented conditions and first and foremost our thoughts are with the communities that are affected by these fires.

"At the end of the day this is just a tennis event and they're doing it a lot tougher so we really hope the fires can get put out soon.

"In terms of the event, it shouldn't impact things in the future.

"We're hosting the best event possible in Bendigo that we can.

"If anything it could be a positive. The capacity for our team to relocate an event and deliver is quite incredible.

"It hasn't been done too often in the history of tennis events of this level to relocate."

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Kachel said despite moving the tournament seven hours away they'd retained their field.

They'd even bolstered it with the addition of former world No.39 Matthew Ebden, who had an injury interrupted 2019.

Although Ebden bowed out in the first round, losing to Mitchell Krueger 6-2 6-4 in Bendigo on Monday.

"There's been a huge logistical effort and coordination, but it's important preparation for the players for the Australian Open and they've made the commitment to play in the event so there's been no significant withdrawals at all," Kachel said.

The Canberra International has joined the Aces for Bushfire Relief, which Canberra's Nick Kyrgios laid the foundations for, which will see $100 for every ace go towards the Australian Red Cross.

"There's some fantastic initiatives that tennis is providing in terms of the bushfire aces program with $100 from every ace served and our event is doing the same," Kachel said.

"So $100 for every ace that is served across the men's and women's events, doubles and singles, qualifying, the whole event will go to the fundraising efforts."