New European 14, 18 & Under Champions crowned European Junior Championships Candidates for Tennis Europe Elections 2021 C-Nations benefit from COVID-19 Emergency Fund 14&U European Summer Cups Tennis Europe Gold to Olympic Gold for Bencic & Zverev Race to Monte-Carlo Update European Beach Tennis Championships in Sofia European Senior Championships in Umag Service Line European Results & Rankings 01 02 08 10 13 14 17 18 20 21 Inside this issue Issue 149 I August I 2021 01 New champions have been crowned at the European Jun- ior Championships after a frenetic week of tennis saw breakthrough performances from several of the region’s most promising players 300 young athletes were in action in Most (CZE) for the 14 & Under event and in Klosters (SUI) for the 18 & Un- der Championships The 16 & Under event in Moscow has been postponed until later this year The 18 & Under singles titles were claimed by unseeded Antonia Ruzic and second seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi As the beautiful weather took a break on the final day, the championship deciders had to be played indoors The nu- merous spectators saw a fascinating first set between Ru- zic of Croatia and Alina Granwehr, with the Swiss player unable to convert any of her six set-points Shortly after, she took a medical timeout but there was no improvement as far as her shoulder was concerned She then took the difficult decision to retire at 5-7, 0-2 “It is never nice to finish a match this way,” Ruzic said in the on-court interview, “but I wish Alina a speedy recovery and that she soon can compete again” Despite the unlucky end, Ruzic is a worthy title winner In her four previous matches, she had consecutively beaten the number 7, 9, 3 and 1 seeds and proved her ITF junior ranking of 174 was no measure of her ability “I am focusing on my pro career, but I am extremely happy to take this title”, she smiled The future looks bright for the former Junior Masters cham-pion, who made her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Croatia back in February Both finalists then posed for pictures with Martina Hingis, who took part in the prize-giving ceremony The Swiss su- perstar was the very first winner of the Championships TENNIS EUROPE NEWS TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
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New champions have been crowned at the European Jun-ior Championships after a frenetic week of tennis saw breakthrough performances from several of the region’s most promising players .
300 young athletes were in action in Most (CZE) for the 14 & Under event and in Klosters (SUI) for the 18 & Un-der Championships . The 16 & Under event in Moscow has been postponed until later this year .
The 18 & Under singles titles were claimed by unseeded Antonia Ruzic and second seed Viacheslav Bielinskyi . As the beautiful weather took a break on the final day, the championship deciders had to be played indoors . The nu-merous spectators saw a fascinating first set between Ru-zic of Croatia and Alina Granwehr, with the Swiss player unable to convert any of her six set-points . Shortly after, she took a medical timeout but there was no improvement as far as her shoulder was concerned . She then took the difficult decision to retire at 5-7, 0-2 .
“It is never nice to finish a match this way,” Ruzic said in the on-court interview, “but I wish Alina a speedy recovery and that she soon can compete again .” Despite the unlucky
end, Ruzic is a worthy title winner . In her four previous matches, she had consecutively beaten the number 7, 9, 3 and 1 seeds and proved her ITF junior ranking of 174 was no measure of her ability . “I am focusing on my pro career, but I am extremely happy to take this title”, she smiled . The future looks bright for the former Junior Masters cham-pion, who made her Billie Jean King Cup debut for Croatia back in February .
Both finalists then posed for pictures with Martina Hingis, who took part in the prize-giving ceremony . The Swiss su-perstar was the very first winner of the Championships
in Klosters back in 1994, when she won the title at the tender age of 13 years and 10 months . “Junior events were very important for my development”, the superstar, winner of 25 Grand Slam titles and the world number one for 209 weeks, said in a short interview on court, “…and some of the memories last forever .”
It was an unfortunate ending for Granwehr, who had rid-den a wave of local support to record a series of upsets over the tournament’s biggest names, including wins over
second seed Diana Shnaider (RUS) and a mara-thon 7-5 6-7(6) 6-2 win over recent Roland Gar-ros champion Linda Noskova (CZE) in the semi-fi-nals . Ruzic, for her part, had ended the hopes of two more pre-tournament favourites for the title, 2020 Roland Garros champion Elsa Jacquemot (FRA), and WTA Charleston quar-terfinalist Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE) .
The boys’ final had the air of a ‘family affair’, albeit with players from different nations . “He is my best friend”, Bie-linskyi explained after taking the title 7-5, 6-3 . And the
The candidates for Tennis Europe’s forthcoming Presiden-tial and Board elections have been revealed .
The candidates for the President are: • Ivo KADERKA (CZE)* • François KNAFF (LUX) • Henrik THORSØE PEDERSEN (DEN)
A record 21 candidates are standing for the 8 available Board of Management positions: • Nikolina BABIC (CRO)* • Roger DAVIDS (NED) • Dirk DE MAESENEER (BEL) • Giorgio DI PALERMO (ITA) • Florence Alix GRAVELLIER (FRA) • Allar HINT (EST) • Razvan ITU (ROU)* • Christiane JOLISSAINT (SUI)* • Ivo KADERKA (CZE)* • Gevork KARAMANOUKIAN (ARM) • François KNAFF (LUX) • Epaminondas Cl . METAXAS (CYP)
• David RAWLINSON (GBR)* • Dariusz M . SALETRA (POL) • Jordi TAMAYO DE WINNE (ESP) • Cem TINAZ (TUR) • Henrik THORSØE PEDERSEN (DEN) • Dietloff VON ARNIM (GER) • Dmitry VIKHAREV (RUS) • Spyros ZANNIAS (GRE)* • Evgeniy ZUKIN (UKR)*
The elections, which correspond to the three-year peri-od 2021-2024, will be held at the 2021 Annual General Meeting, hosted by the Luxembourg Tennis Federation from 23-25 September .
The Meeting will focus on European unity and construc-tive collaboration, after the previous Board of Manage-ment were recalled by member nations at an Extraordi-nary Meeting on 3 July, 2021 .
*Names marked with an asterisk are standing for re-election .
Tennis Europe Elections 2021
Boys singles champion Viacheslav Bielinskyi (UKR).
Champion Antonia Ruzic with Martina Hingis.
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runner-up Petr Nesterov (BUL) added: “It is one of the toughest things to play against him for me .”
Bielinskyi was the number two seed and dropped only one set on route to the final, as did his opponent . The Ukraini-an, a quarter finalist at this year’s Roland Garros, has high hopes for the future: “My goals are to play Grand Slams, Davis Cup and possibly the ATP Tour finals,” he said .
With the victory, he stands out as the first Ukrainian boy ever to win the 18 & Under title . Yulia Beygelzimer’s 2000 girls’ victory remains the only previous Ukrainian singles title .
In doubles action, Czech pair Adam Jurajda & Daniel Sini-akov etched their names into the record books by achiev-ing the rare feat of winning back-to-back doubles gold medals . The unseeded Swiss team of Jérôme Kym & Jan Sebesta was in the driving seat and leading by a set and a break when play was halted because of a short spell of rain . On the return, the Czechs bounced back, forcing a decider .
Again, the Swiss gave their fans plenty of hope, leading for most of the match tiebreak and had a good chance at 8-7 to secure themselves two match points . The Czechs showed strong defensive skills however and eventual-ly prevailed 11-9 . Jurajda & Siniakov duly secured them-selves a second gold medal to add to their 16 & Under title from Moscow in 2019 .
Jurajda said, “We enjoyed the tournament a lot, it’s a beau-tiful place to play and the organisation was brilliant . I heard about this tournament through the years and now finally I had chance to play it and we are so happy we made a title for the second time .”
Germany claimed the girls’ doubles gold with an upset win for Mara Guth & Julia Middendorf . They overcame top-seeded international combination of Noskova (CZE) & Shnaider (RUS), who had conceded just fourteen games in four matches prior to the final .
Having split the first two sets 6-3 3-6, the German pair eventually claimed the match on a Champions’ tie break, 10-7 . Guth was more than satisfied with her week in Klosters, saying, “It was a great tournament, and the club had the most beautiful view of the mountains . I really en-joyed my time there .”
14 & Under Nikola Djosic of Switzerland and Czech Tereza Valentova are the new European 14 & Under Champions.
Unseeded Djosic capped an unforgettable week in which he beat seeds #9, 7, 4 and 1 with another upset, this time over fifth seeded home hope Jan Kumstat . The marathon match saw Djosic drop his sole set of the week . After be-ing broken in the twelfth game to lose the first set 7-5, it was Kumstat who held his nerve at the crunch end of the second, eventually claiming it 7-4 in the tie break to lev-el . Djosic reasserted his authority in the decider though, running away to a 6-3 win to become the first Swiss boy since Michael Kratochvil 28 years ago to win the 14 & Under title . Remarkably, the win is just his fourth Tennis Europe Junior Tour singles title, and first above Category 3 level .
New European 14, 18 & Under Champions crowned
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Alina Granwehr celebrates another win during her memorable run to the final.
Adam Jurajda and Daniel Siniakov celebrate their win.
Doubles winners Mara Guth & Julia Middendorf (GER).
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“The experience here was indescribable, I learned so much,” Djosic told us . “After the final I could not really be-lieve what a good tournament it was . All of them played so good that I had to fight for every point .”
Tereza Valentova gave the home fans something to cheer when she became the second unseeded singles cham-pion this year . She followed up an impressive run of wins over higher ranked opposition (accounting for #16 Shanice Roignot, #7 Julia Stusek, #5 Ksenia Smirnova, #2 Rositsa Dencheva) with a three-set win over European #1 Alina Ko-rneeva of Russia, 6-3 2-6 6-2 . Like Djosic, Valentova had just three previous Junior Tour titles, though notably won the Cat .2 16 & Under event in Budapest earlier this year .
The four singles finalists have extra reasons to celebrate, with confirmation that each will receive an invitation to compete at the season-ending Tennis Europe Junior Mas-ters in Monte-Carlo in October .
In the doubles events, home players completed a best-ev-er haul of three of the possible four gold medals in Most . Tereza Valentova returned to the court a short while after her singles victory to add the doubles title alongside part-ner Marie Slamenikova . They took the first set against top seeds Rositsa Dencheva & Yoana Konstantinova (BUL) by a comfortable margin 6-3, and then held on to claim the second in a tie break . The win marks a second doubles title of the year for both players .
TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
New European 14, 18 & Under Champions crowned
Nikola Djosic (SUI).
Tereza Valentova (CZE).
Boys doubles finalists in Most.
The Czech team celebrates its success in Most.
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Valentova joins an exclusive list of players to achieve the singles-doubles sweep in the same year: other players to manage the feat in this age category include the likes of Iga Swiatek, Justine Henin and Steffi Graf .
The boys’ top seeds Jan Kumstat & Maxim Mrva lived up to their billing by cruising to a 6-3 6-3 win over Justin Engel & Max Schoenhaus of Germany in their final . For Kumstat
the win marked a second medal of the day, having ended the singles competition as runner-up . Mrva was appearing in his seventh doubles final of the season, though he had just one title from the previous six finals, while for Kumstat the win is his first doubles title of 2021 .
For extensive photo galleries from both venues, visit the Tennis Europe website
TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
New European 14, 18 & Under Champions crowned
14 & Under I Tenisový Klub Baník, Most (CZE)
FINAL RESULTS
18 & Under I Sportzentrum Klosters, Klosters (SUI)
Boys Singles:
Boys Singles:
Boys Doubles:
Boys Doubles:
Girls Singles:
Girls Singles:
Girls Doubles:
Girls Doubles:
Nikola Djosic (SUI) d. (5) Jan Kumstat (CZE) 7-5 6-7(4) 6-3
(2) Viacheslav Bielinskyi (UKR) d. (8) Petr Nesterov (BUL) 7-5 6-3
(1) Jan Kumstat/Maxim Mrva (CZE) d. (6) Justin Engel/Max Schoenhaus (GER) 6-3 6-3
(6) Adam Jurajda/Daniel Siniakov (CZE) d. Jerome Kym/Jan Sebesta (SUI) 5-7 6-3 11-9
Among the team captains every year in Klosters are sev-eral former professional players . Marco Keller spoke to Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer and Alexia Dechaume-Balleret of France about their memories and their transi-tion from player to coach .
Andreas Haider-Maurer is in a hurry on Wednesday af-ternoon . His player Marko Andrejic has just lost in a tough three-setter in the third round to Vilius Gaubas, the 14th seed from Lithuania . Instead of preparing for the round of 16, the Austrian team has a different task - packing up the bags as quickly as possible in order to reach the next train . “It is a hard loss, especially because Marko had a match point”, says the captain of the Austrian boys .
Haider-Maurer knows situations like these from his play-ing days . A former successful pro, he was the number 47 in the world, holds a 6-5 record in Davis Cup play and was a finalist at the prestigious Vienna indoor event . And his career got a jump start like that of so many other young players at European Championships . In 2001, he played the Under 14 event, when the title went to a certain No-vak Djokovic . Haider-Maurer remembers his stints at the Championships: “They were a real highlight for me . All the
best European players took part and it’s a memory that stays forever . I think, to be able to participate is unique for every player .”
The transition from player to coach isn’t obvious . During the career, a player is always focused on himself where-as later he has to create the best possible environment to help his pupils . “It is a big change,”, Haider-Maurer says, “but it is also a lot of fun to pass on my experience to the next generation .”
Of course, this vast experience also includes how to han-dle tough situations, and to possibly handle them better than he used to . “I advise the players for example not to be hectic, to take more time between points .” On the train ride home, there was plenty of time to discuss the missed opportunity with Andrejic: “It’s important to analyse, and to make sure that the same mistakes aren’t made again next time . Fortunately, in tennis you get a new chance every week .”
Moments of sharing One of the most successful players in the history of the European Championships is Alexia Dechaume-Balleret . The French woman won three doubles gold medals in the different age groups and reached two singles finals . In 1986, she just fell short to Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, who later won multiple Grand Slam tournaments and reached the number one ranking .
Nowadays, she is the Captain of the French girls, and we spoke to her right after top-seed Elsa Jacquemot won a gruelling three-setter against Switzerland’s Sebastianna Scilipoti . “I don’t have that many memories of the times when I played the European Junior Championships . It’s been a while”, she says with a smile, “but now that you re-mind me of those moments, some of them come back .”
The results are one thing, more important to Dechaume-Balleret are other things, however . “I remember the mo-ments of sharing . With my teammates, male and female . These moments in a team in a normally purely individual sport are so precious .”
She had never played in Klosters and now is in the beauti-ful Swiss mountain resort for the first time . “It’s great here . The people are very nice and everything is so well organ-ised”, she says . Unfortunately, there are no French boys this time because of the quarantine rules following Wim-bledon . In 2019, they had captured all three titles - Valentin Royer in singles, Royer/Harold Mayot in doubles and the
Former players guide the next generation at European Championships
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Andreas Haider-Maurer competing at Wimbledon in 2018.
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Former players guide the next generation at European Championships
nations trophy - when they were captained by former pro Olivier Delaitre . “It’s a pity for our boys, for the tourna-ment and also for the girls”, Dechaume-Balleret says . “Our boys still have great memories from 2019, just before they went to the adults and turned pro . Those memories last for the entire career .”
To create this team environment isn’t always easy, es-pecially when there are strong personalities in the team, Dechaume-Balleret admits: “You have to give them a cer-tain freedom but they also need to understand that they are not playing for themselves only . They represent their country, and also play for their teammates . I always have given particular importance for the jersey of the French national team and I try to transfer those values to the young players .”
As the former world #46 recalls, the transition for her had come quite naturally: “At the end of my career, I just felt it . I wasn’t willing to do the efforts for my own ca-reer anymore, but I wanted to be a coach, help others and give back a little bit from what tennis has given me . I feel the values of sport are also very important for life in general .” For the last two decades she has followed this path: her coaching resumé includes two years with Amélie Mauresmo, being French Fed Cup captain and
working with Pauline Parmentier, another extra ordinary team player .
Alexia Dechaume-Balleret is still highly motivated . After Klosters, she will lead her girls to the European Summer Cups qualifiers in Romania . And she wants more: “Hope-fully, we will reach the finals, because they will be held in France . And it would be a great experience for our girls to play for our colours in front of the home crowd .”
Alexia Dechaume-Balleret stops for a selfie with the French players in Klosters.
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Tennis Europe recently announced a new project to assist member nations, and particularly those hardest hit by the financial effects of the COVID-19 pandemic .
The European Federation’s smallest nations (C-Nations) were invited to apply for relief from the Emergency Fund, which provides immediate one-off grants to national federations .
After just two months, all eligible nations (Albania, An-dorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cy-
prus, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mol-dova, Monaco, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Mari-no) have directly benefitted from the scheme .
Meanwhile, for a second consecutive year, membership fees have been reduced for all 50 nations, regardless of membership status .
COVID-19 Emergency Fund offers financial support to member nations
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AlAllow your child to fully live his passion with an ultimate immersion in the world of tennis. He’ll wake up and fall asleep steps away from the courts, and live next to other passionate players, including some of the world’s best tennis athletes. It is the ideal environment to stay focused on his goals and live his
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3. A SCHOOL CURRICULUM THAT RHYMES WITH EXCELLENCE
Joining a Tennis & School programme allows you to combine sports and studies in the best possible way.
AtAt the Mouratoglou Academy, everything is put together in order for every child to become the best version of themselves, in both fields. The school programme delivered by our outstanding faculty maximizes the chances of success and allows the realization of a unique project built around the
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The school schedules are adapted in order to offer a perfect balance between tennis and schooling. Classes sizes are smaller than the norm in order to better respond to the individual needs of the
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The Summer Cups have made a welcome return, being the first European junior team event to be held since the pre-pandemic Winter Cups by HEAD in February of last year . The first age category in action was 14 & Under, with 68 teams in contention at the qualifying rounds played in eight cities across Europe . The culmination of the com-petition saw the last eight surviving boys’ teams take to the courts at the final rounds played in Spain, where an excellent streaming service was offered daily by the Club de Tenis Valencia . Meanwhile, the girls played their final rounds 1000 km along the Mediterranean coast in San Remo, Italy .
DAY 1The hot favourites going into the tournaments were Rus-sia with a boys’ team made up of three of the top five play-ers on the 14 and Under ranking . However, the top seeds were knocked out in the first round by a strong Czech Re-public team as #6 ranked Jan Kumstat defeated #5 Egor Gorin and #2 Maxim Mrva kept #4 Egor Pleshivtsev at bay in their singles matches . Another upset came in the form of a 2-1 victory by Switzerland over number three seeds Germany . The other semi-final spots went to hosts Spain and Italy .
In the girls draw, the Czech Republic caused another up-set by taking out fourth seeds Spain 3-0, while Bulgaria achieved the same feat with a 2-1 victory over second seeded Ukraine . Slovakia ended Switzerand’s hopes of de-fending their title from 2019, while Russia advanced with a 3-0 win over Belarus .
DAY 2The Czech boys’ team showed no signs of slowing down, doing one better in their semi-final ousting Switzerland
without the loss of a rubber . In-form Federico Cina led the fightback as Italy came from behind to end home hopes with a deciding doubles victory over Spain . The win marked Italy’s seventh appearance in the final, while Czech Repub-lic appeared in the championship showdown for a third time .
There were no major shocks in the girls’ event as the match-up between two unseeded nations went the way of the
Italy & Russia claim 14 & Under Summer Cups titles
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Boys’ runners-up Czech Republic.
Italy with medals.
Girls’ champions Russia in San Remo.
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Bulgarians over the Czech Republic, who fell just short of emulating the feat of their male counterparts in reach-ing the final . The Russian girls advanced to their 15th final, but they were made to work hard for it by Slovakia . Number one ranked Alina Korneeva was upset in the second rubber by #22 Renata Jamrichova and it came down to the deciding doubles to send the Russians through with a 2-1 win .
DAY 3 - Finals Girls Final: Russia def Bulgaria 2-0Number 18 on the rankings, Mirra Andreeva defeated Ros-ita Dencheva 6-1 7-5 to give Russia an early lead . Follow-ing this, Alina Korneeva was even more convincing in her win over Yoana Konstantinova, securing the crown with a 6-2 6-2 win . With the title already secured, the teams opted not to play the doubles . For the Russian team, which also featured Daria Egorova, this marked a record-extend-ing ninth title in this age group and first since 2015 .
Boys: Italy def Czech Republic 2-0As in the girls’ final, only two matches were needed to se-cure just the third ever victory for the Italian team . Their first winner’s trophy was in the inaugural Summer Cups in 1979, and the next more than three decades later in 2016 . Andrea De Marchi started Italy off strong with a 6-2 6-2 win over Jan Kumstat . Ninth-ranked Federico Cinà was tested a little more, but still came out on top over sec-ond-ranked Maxim Mrva to extend his Junior Tour win streak to 8 matches . The third player who also helped the Italian team to victory was Jacopo Vasami .
The losing semi-finalists and remaining four teams played out their consolation ties . Full results from the final and qualifying rounds can be found here, with the final stand-ings above . This age category of the Summer Cups also serves as the European qualifying event for the ITF World Junior Tennis competition . The top 5 boys’ and girls’ teams, plus hosts Czech Republic, will qualify to compete at the world finals in Prostejov in August .
Future Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup champions in-cluding Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo all won their first international team events at the Summer Cups .
Italy & Russia claim 14 & Under Summer Cups titles
The Junior School’s latest module explores the topic of mental health for young players . Stars such as Naomi Osa-ka and Andy Murray have recently spoken out about the pressures faced by professional players .
In this clip – the first of two parts focusing on mental well-being - we examine:
• What is mental health?• Recognising warning signs• The importance of on-court/off-court balance
Host Naomi Cavaday, a former WTA player, and guests in-cluding former ATP star Robin Soderling share their experi-ences of life on Tour and offer tips on how to manage your emotions if you’re feeling overwhelmed .
The Junior School aims to prepare young athletes for a life in tennis . Devised for players aged 13-16 competing on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, all resources can be found online and are produced in alignment with the sport’s governing
body, the International Tennis Federation, and approved by the ATP and WTA Tours . Special on-site classes are held throughout the year for players attending selected Junior Tour events .
Videos are produced in four major European languages (English, French, Spanish and Russian) . A wide range of topics have been covered, including:
• Nutrition & Hydration• Media and Social Media• Anti-Doping• Tennis Integrity• Agents & Sponsorship
All copyrights by Tennis Europe . For more information, or to see the full series of educational videos (also available in French, Spanish and Russian), click here
Former world #5 Daniela Hantuchova was the star guest at a special Tennis Europe Junior School Media Workshop recently . The 4-time Grand Slam mixed doubles champion, now a leading tennis broadcaster, gave useful tips to invit-ed juniors aged 12-16 and shared her experiences on both sides of the microphone .
Remembering her time on the Junior Tour, Daniela said; “I have lots of fun memories . Looking back I realise it’s where you develop as a player but also as a person off court . It’s a very important time, and that’s why I’m so glad to be a part of this discussion .”
The Workshop looked at issues surrounding the Media and Social Media, with players advised on the ‘dos and don’ts’ of social media, linguistic challenges, cyber-bulling and creating an optimal online presence for young players .
Tennis Europe CEO Thomas Hammerl introduced the Eu-ropean Federation and its activities to the junior players, and commented: “An important part of our strategy is to upgrade our digital services for our young players . We’re very thankful to Daniela for taking the time to share her knowledge with us” .
Tennis Europe Junior School – You & Your Mental Health
Grand Slam champion joins Junior School Media Workshop
Belinda Bencic (SUI) and Alexander Zverev (GER) have claimed singles gold at this year‘s Olympics setting an ex-traordinary record for European tennis at the games . The gold medalists have claimed what might arguably be considered to be the biggest titles of their careers . Bencic overcame both French Open finalists Barbora Krejcikova (CZE) and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (ROC) en route to her win . Zverev beat Novak Djokovic in a come-from-behind semi-final win to earn his spot in the gold medal match, ending the world #1’s hopes of becoming the first male player ever to win the ‘Golden Slam’ .
European players and teams dominated the podium in the tennis events, sweeping 12 out of the 15 medals on offer . Five different European nations shared the 5 gold medals on offer and also won all silver medals .
Barbora Krejcikova & Katerina Siniakova (CZE) withstood the pressure as pre-tournament favourites and kept their form coming into the event going by winning gold in the Women’s doubles . Surprisingly, this was the first-ever
Olympic gold medal won by a nation which has produced a plethora of tennis stars over the decades .
In an all-Croatian mens’ doubles final, Nikola Mektic & Mate Pavic took the gold . The mixed doubles gold medal went to the ROC combination of Anastasia Pavlyuchenk-ova & Andrey Rublev .
The 24-year old singles champions have had remarkably parallel careers since appearing on the Tennis Europe Jun-ior Tour at the same time:
2011 – European Junior Championships (14&U), gold + silver medals (Bencic, singles and doubles), bronze medal (Zverev, singles) .2011 – Junior Masters – champions (Bencic, girls – Zverev, boys) .2013 – #1 Year-End 16 & Under Ranking (Bencic, girls – Zverev, boys) .
Incredibly, almost all European Olympic medallists are own-ers of a European Junior Championship gold medal, with Barbora Krejcikova, Katerina Siniakova, Marin Cilic, Marke-ta Vondrousova, Andrey Rublev, Nikola Mektic and Karen Khachanov among the former champions .
The Tennis Europe Junior Masters will stage its first edition at its new home in Monaco, the Monte-Carlo Country Club, from 13-15 October .
The season ending event for elite players features the Top 6 boys and girls of the Junior Tour’s 14 and 16 & Under rankings, plus the winner and runner-up of the European Junior Championships . Qualifying points are earned exclu-
sively at Junior Tour events throughout the year, and the Race to Monte-Carlo ranking is published on the Tennis Europe website each Tuesday . The final week to earn qual-ifying points will be that of September 20th, 2021 . Rank-ings below are as of Tuesday 27th July .
Former Junior Masters champions include world #1s Rafa Nadal and Kim Clijsters .
Race to Monte-Carlo update
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Nikola Djosic (SUI). Jan Kumstat (CZE). Alina Korneeva (RUS). Tereza Valentova (CZE).
TENNIS EUROPEJUNIOR MASTERS
13-15 October 2021Monte-Carlo Country Club
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Notes from Tennis Europe
17TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
European Beach Tennis Championships
The 2021 European Beach Tennis Championships will take place in Sofia from 8-11 September .
The event will be hosted by the Bulgarian Tennis Federa-tion for a fifth time and makes its debut at the brand-new Sofia Beach resort, a custom-built Beach Tennis facility boasting 8 world-class courts .
The European Championships is a closed regional champi-onship event on the ITF Beach Tennis Tour, at which players representing Tennis Europe’s member nations compete for men’s, women’s and mixed doubles titles .
The professional event will once again be preceded by jun-ior competitions for the 14 and 18 & Under age groups (5-7 September) .
15 nations have entered teams for the event . Player nom-inations will be revealed in mid-August .
The most recent European Championships took place in 2019 and saw then world #1 Nikita Burmakin team with Sergey Kuptsov to give Russia its first ever European men’s doubles title . The women’s title holders are Sofia Cimatti and Gulia Gasparri of Italy, both of whom have earned mul-tiple European titles in recent years .
The latest issue of the European Racquet Stringer Association’s (ESRSA) Pro Stringer magazine has been published and is available here
Mr . Miguel Díaz Román has been re-elected as President of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation .
Mr . Jeton Hadërgjonaj has been elected as President of the Kosovo Tennis Federation .
Both the Armenian Tennis Federation and Azerbaijan Tennis Federation have recently unveiled new websites . The sites were created with the support of Tennis Europe under the ’50 Member Nations, 50 websites’ scheme .
The Croatian Tennis Association hosted the annual high-light of the European senior tennis calendar recently, when
almost 300 players from 36 nations descended on the pic-turesque resort of Umag to compete in the 2021 European Senior Championships .
Age categories from 30 to 85 were in action at the first S1000 series event of the season, held from 7-12 June . Five world #1s and a total of 36 Top Ten players were among the entries for the tournament, which would be dominated by players from Germany and Italy, who ac-counted for 13 of the 18 singles titles on offer .
The doubles field included a notable competitor: Men’s 45 entrant Dimitri Poliakov of Ukraine is perhaps best known in tennis for winning the ATP Tour title in Umag back in 1991 . On this occasion he was not so successful, falling in the quarter finals with partner Sergey Korolev (RUS) .
European Senior Championships: ATP venue, sunshine and high class tennis in Umag
Men’s 30 Jens Janssen (GER) d . Sascha Moeller (GER) 16 64 2-0 ret .
Men’s 35 (2) Sebastian Metzger (GER) d . (3) Christopher Tschamler (GER) 26 63 63
Men’s 40 (1) Carsten Groeger (GER) d . (4) Adrian Ludwikiewicz (POL) 64 62
Men’s 45 Davide Gregianin (ITA) d . (1) Clemens Weinhandl (AUT) 64 62
Men’s 50 (1) Petr Kovacka (CZE) d . (4) David Taillefer (FRA) 62 61
Men’s 55 (1) Christian Greuter (GER) d . (2) Pablo Semprun (ESP) w/o
Men’s 60 (1) Pierre Godfroid (BEL) d . (2) Jamal Skalli (MAR) w/o
Men’s 65 (1) Josef Baumgartner (GER) d . (3) Martin Cornish (GBR) 2-0 ret .
Men’s 70 (2) Alfred Boeckl (GER) d . (3) Frank van Ierven (NED) 62 61
Men’s 75 (1) Michael Beautyman (USA) d . (4) Alex Templer (GBR) 62 60
Men’s 80 Roberto Franco Fumagalli (ITA) d . Wolfgang Bade (GER) 63 61
Men’s 85 1 . Herbert Althaus (GER), 2 . Gerhard Specht (GER) (RR)
Amongst the winners were world #1 Christian Greuter (GER), who became the only player this year to defend a Eu-ropean Championship title when he was awarded a walko-ver victory over Spain’s Pablo Semprun in the Men’s 55 final .
Playing on the ITF Senior Tour for the first time in eight years, Davide Gregianin (ITA) swept through the draw to end Clemens Weinhandl’s (AUT) hopes of defending the men’s 45 title that he won at home in Pörtschach in 2019 . The win marks a first European title for Gregianin .
On the women’s side, Kristine Quadflieg (GER) secured a silver medal in the 40s division for a second succes-sive time, this time finishing as runner-up to Italy’s Katia Raffagnini Ceracchi .
Arguably the toughest event was the Women’s 55s . France’s Sophie Orsini emerged from a draw that featured six of the world’s Top 10 players to beat unseeded Swede Magdalena Sekkenes for the title .
In addition to hosting the ATP World Tour event, the venue in Umag is a popular and well-established stop on the ITF Seniors Circuit . A S700 event was also be held in the week following the Championships, allowing players the chance to participate in back-to-back events . Later this year the venue will also host the ITF Seniors World Championships .During the week, players were treated to social events and
many of the benefits of the world-class venue, including live streaming of matches from three show courts, service speed guns and daily on-site COVID testing .
CEO Thomas Hammerl commented, “On behalf of Tennis Europe, I’d like to thank the Croatian Tennis Association and its President Mrs . Nikolina Babic, as well as Tourna-ment Director Mr . Petr Miric, President of the Croatian Seniors Tennis Association for giving our senior players the opportunity to compete in such a professional and safe environment . Seniors Tennis is a vibrant factor of our par-ticipation strategy, and it is inspiring to see so many play-ers eager to come here from all over the world to compete for our European Championship titles .”
Eileen Aranas-Roth (GER) in action.
European Senior Championships: ATP venue, sunshine and high class tennis in Umag
There were 4.6m tennis players in the UK in 2020. During lockdown the number of people playing full-court tennis in the UK was 49% higher than before the pandemic.
– 53% of new tennis players were women
– 60% were aged 18-34
– The proportion of people playing padel in the UK also nearly doubled.
Tennis was the fifth fastest growing sport in the USA in 2020.
Racquet sales in the USA this April were 33% up against 2020, but also 27% up against April 2019 and 38% up against April 2018.
FAST FACTS
20
Service Line... stories you may have missed
EVENTS
This year’s Davis Cup finals will be played across three European venues . Innsbruck and Turin have been chosen to join Madrid as co-hosts and will stage two groups and a quarter-final each .
Matches will be played between November 25 and December 5 on hard courts at the Madrid Arena, Inns-bruck’s Olympia-Halle and the Pala Alpitour Arena in Turin .
All three venues will host two groups, with two quar-ter-finals, both semi-finals and final taking place in the Spanish capital .
Novak Djokovic’s Wimbledon victory ensured his posi-tion as the first singles player to qualify for the 2021 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at the Pala Alpitour in Tu-rin from 14-21 November . Stefanos Tsitsipas, the first player to hit 40 match wins on the ATP Tour in 2021, is in second position . The world #1’s Wimbledon title also saw the Serb become the first player to break the threshold of $150 million in prize money .
Organisers have confirmed the cancellation of this year’s Swiss Indoors in Basel . The ATP 500 series event will return from 22 - 30 October 2022 .
This year’s US Open will be the first Grand Slam tour-nament since the beginning of the pandemic with full spectator capacity .
The Stockholm Open, originally scheduled to run in Week 42 alongside the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow and the European Open in Antwerp, will instead take place from 7-13 November, the same week as the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan .
NATIONAL ASSOCIATIONS & ORGANISATIONS
Paul-Henri Mathieu has been appointed High Level Director of the French Tennis Federation . His mission will be to facilitate as many young players as possible to reach the top levels of the world rankings . The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) has appointed Nicole Sapstead as Senior Director for An-
ti-Doping . Nicole will join the organization in Septem-ber 2021 and will have responsibility for leading the sport’s worldwide anti-doping program, which is due to come under the auspices of the ITIA from 1 January 2022 .
Great Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association has confirmed the appointment of Sanjay Bhandari and Anil Jhingan to serve as new Non-Executive Directors on the LTA Board . The pair will take up their positions from 1 Au-gust 2021 .
Goran Ivaniševic, Conchita Martínez, the ‘Original 9’, and Dennis Van der Meer have been officially inducted to the International Tennis Hall of Fame .
RETIREMENTS
Former Top Ten player Timea Bacsinszky has ended her professional career .
Dutch player Kiki Bertens, who peaked at #4 in the rank-ings, has also announced her retirement from the WTA Tour .
CHARITY
An online auction featuring personal items and mem-orabilia from Roger Federer’s career raised almost $1 .5 million for the Roger Federer Foundation . The funds will be used to support the Foundation’s work in Southern Africa and Switzerland . Items that were snapped up by fans included the outfit and racquet from his 2007 and 2009 Wimbledon and 2009 Roland Garros final wins, and the famous cardigan he wore while walking onto Centre Court to play the final at The Championships in 2012 .
TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
Overall Boys’ Ranking Overall Girls’ Ranking
Rank RankName NameNat. Nat.Points Points
Tennis Europe Junior Tour Rankings - OverallTennis Europe’s junior ranking system is devised to give a unified overall list that shows the relative strengths of all players, regardless of where they achieved their results or picked up points .
A player’s overall total includes points from Tennis Europe Junior Tour 16 and 14 & Under events, plus points earned by players in these age categories who participate in ITF Junior Circuit and professional tournaments, all of which are weighted according to their relative strengths . The 14 &
Under ranking is still available separately (see next page), as well as being integrated to these overall rankings .
For more information on the rankings system, check out the Tennis Europe Junior Tour Rules and Regulations at www.TennisEurope.org . The ‘Race to the Masters’ rankings are also available separately, and include points earned exclusively at Tennis Europe Junior Tour events .
Rankings below are as of Tuesday 27th July, 2021.
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
CHN
CZE
CZE
CRO
ESP
SUI
RUS
SRB
FRA
BEL
AND
PHI
CZE
CZE
CRO
BEL
GRE
RUS
USA
CZE
4718
1894
1827
1192
1118
1107
1096
1092
1072
1059
6086
5683
4030
2574
2553
2544
2481
2326
2047
1977
Juncheng Shang
Vojtech Petr
Jakub Mensik
Dino Prizmic
Martin Landaluce
Kilian Feldbausch
Antoine Ghibaudo
Aleksa Pisaric
Tomasz Berkieta
Alexander Blockx
Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva
Alexandra Eala
Linda Fruhvirtova
Nikola Bartunkova
Petra Marcinko
Sofia Costoulas
Michaela Laki
Elena Pridankina
Clervie Ngounoue
Sara Bejlek
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
Martin Landaluce (ESP). Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE).
21TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
22
14 & Under Boys 14 & Under Girls
Rank RankName NameNat. Nat.Points Points
Tennis Europe Junior Tour Rankings - 14 & UnderTennis Europe’s junior ranking system is devised to give a unified overall list that shows the relative strengths of all players, regardless of where they achieved their results or picked up points .
A player’s overall total includes points from Tennis Europe Junior Tour 16 and 14 & Under events, plus points earned by players in these age categories who participate in ITF Junior Circuit and professional tournaments, all of which are weighted according to their relative strengths . The 14 &
Under ranking is still available separately, as well as being integrated to the overall rankings .
For more information on the rankings system, check out the Tennis Europe Junior Tour Rules and Regulations at www.TennisEurope.org . The ‘Race to the Masters’ rankings are also available separately, and include points earned exclusively at Tennis Europe Junior Tour events .
Rankings below are as of Tuesday 27th July, 2021.
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
CZE
RUS
RUS
ITA
SRB
RUS
RUS
SUI
ROU
BUL
RUS
CZE
BUL
BUL
RUS
CZE
UKR
GER
SVK
SVK
868
808
752
714
660
657
630
614
575
566
990
779
760
754
750
744
719
700
696
692
Maxim Mrva
Jan Kumstat
Timofei Derepasko
Federico Cina
Ognjen Milic
Egor Pleshivtsev
Egor Gorin
Nikola Djosic
Gabriel Ghetu
Alexander Vasilev
Alina Korneeva
Tereza Valentova
Rositsa Dencheva
Yoana Konstantinova
Ksenia Smirnova
Marie Slamenikova
Yeva Galiievska
Julia Stusek
Renata Jamrichova
Lucia Hradecka
NEW
NEW
NEW NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW
NEW NEW
NEW
Maxim Mrva (CZE). Alina Korneeva (RUS).
TENNIS EUROPE NEWS
23
European Tennis Rankings - Men & WomenEuropean WomenEuropean Men
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