Germany, the Czech Republic and France are locked in a three-way battle to win the overall performance prize of the European Tennis Trophy presented by David Lloyd Leisure as the season reaches its halfway point. Less than 100 points separate the top three nations in contention for the title, which is given to recognise the performances of players and teams representing national tennis federations across four disciplines of the sport throughout the season.
Current leaders Czech Republic won the award for Overall Performance for the first – and so far only – time in 2012, and has claimed the Professional Tennis Trophy each year since. The nation has started the year strongly, leaping into pole position in both the Professional and Junior Tennis categories after the first six months.
Germany last won the Overall Performance title in 2014 - its first such prize in 18 years – and has already secured the Senior Tennis title. Such is the German dominance in this category that no other nation has ever won the award, and the country already has more than four times as many points as second-placed Austria.
France won the most recent of its four Overall Performance titles in 2010 and is in a strong position to reclaim the top spot, sharing the Professional Tennis leadership with Fed Cup by BNP Paribas final rivals Czech Republic, and holding a strong second-place in the Wheelchair Tennis category.
2015 winner Russia is currently adrift of the leading pack, with just over half the points of the Czechs. However, strong performances at the summer junior team events could see the winners of the Junior Tennis Trophy for the last five years make up considerable ground.
Indeed, all is not yet lost for any of Tennis Europe’s 50 member nations. A bumper crop of points is available in this Olympic and Paralympic year, meaning that big changes can be expected during the coming weeks and months.
The first Trophy Race update of 2016 includes all points earned by nations from January to June. Rankings that use a rollover 52-week system are not counted in the point totals at this stage. The final point standings will be announced during the first week of the 2016 season, and the awards presented to national federations at the 2017 Tennis Europe Annual General Meeting.
Full results from last year can be found here, while the leading 5 nations n each category so far in 2016 are shown in the table below:
