Players are ready. Draws have been made. Play begins on Thursday at the Tennis Europe 21 & Under Invitational, which is being held in Hamburg, Germany, alongside the ATP 500 Hamburg European Open.
The unique tournament – a product of the cooperation between the European Tennis Federation and the Hamburg European Open organisers – is devised to give promising players big match experience at a leading professional event, plus the chance to win financial grants to assist with their expenses.
Several announcements were made on the eve of the tournament. The final wild card recipient was revealed as reigning Roland Garros Junior champion and former Tennis Europe Junior Tour #1 Holger Rune of Denmark.
Tennis Europe also announced that as a further incentive to the total €50,000 prize money - intended to assist the players with travel and other expenses at this stage of their nascent professional careers - the men’s champion will receive a wild card entry to the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in Ricany (CZE), while the women’s champion will receive an invitation to compete at the $60,000 event in Meitar (ISR) in September.
Hosted by the ATP Hamburg European Open organisers in collaboration with Tennis Europe and the German Tennis Federation, the Invitational event will feature ‘Best of Five’ set matches played with a reduced format; sets will be played as ‘First to Four’ games with a tie-break at 3-All. There will be ‘No-Ad’ scoring (receiver decides), the ‘No Let’ rule applies, and players will be able to communicate with their coaches during the match.
The selection process saw players aged from 19-21 invited to participate in the event based on performances at Junior Grand Slams and their ITF World Tennis Tour ranking.
Following their arrivals today, the sixteen players were able to practise alongside the pros at the Hamburg European Open before joining tournament organisers at the draw ceremony and attending a media training session with leading members of the German press.
Draws
Men's Singles | Women's Singles | Order of Play
Players - Men
1 - Zsombor Piros (HUN)
2 - Javier Barranco Cosano (ESP)
3 - Daniel Michalski (POL)
4 - Carlos Lopez Montagud (ESP)
5 - Alexander Donski (BUL)
6 - Leopold Zima (GER)
7 - Niklas Guttau (GER)
8 - Holger Rune (DEN, WC)
Players - Women
1 - Ylena In-Albon (SUI)
2 - Leonie Kung (SUI)
3 - Lara Salden (BEL)
4 - Ilona Ghioroaie (ROU)
5 - Nika Radisic (SLO)
6 - Georgia Craciun (ROU)
7 - Rebeka Masarova (ESP)
8 - Kathleen Kanev (GER)