HAMBURG, Germany - The German Tennis Federation plans to appeal a ruling that cleared the way for the ATP Tour's planned tournament restructuring - a move that would downgrade a tournament in Hamburg.

The federation said on its website that its aim is to maintain the Hamburg tournament's status and assert unspecified damages claims.

A federal jury in Wilmington, Delaware in August cleared the way for the Tour restructuring to go ahead next year. It rejected antitrust claims in a lawsuit filed by the German federation.

The restructuring would move the Hamburg clay court event from May to July and eliminate it as a key tuneup for the French Open.

German federation president Georg von Waldenfels said in a statement posted Tuesday that "we want to maintain the value of the tournament and so are appealing along with the Qatar tennis federation."

It did not specify which court would hear the appeal, or when it would be filed.

The Qatar federation, which lost a tournament calendar bid to Dubai despite offering US$10 million more to the ATP, joined its German counterpart as a co-plaintiff in the lawsuit rejected at the U.S. District Court in Wilmington.