Tennis

A legal challenge that halted construction of a permanent tennis stadium could force the International Players Championships to leave Key Biscayne, Fla., after 1993, the tournament chairman said.

Construction began April 1 on the $16.5-million stadium, consisting of 7,500 permanent seats and 6,500 temporary ones. But on May 8, Dade Circuit Judge Jon I. Gordon ruled the stadium would constitute a misuse of a public park.

The park was donated to Dade County in 1940 by the Matheson family, which has led the legal challenge against the stadium, saying the county should not build a stadium for a tournament that is privately operated.