The first edition of the Tennis Europe Leadership Meeting was held at the Starling Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, from 5-7 December.
Over 80 delegates from 33 countries attended the event, formerly known as the Top Executives’ Meeting, which is intended to provide a platform for debate and the sharing of best practices amongst key figures from the European federation’s 50 member nations.
The event was held in collaboration with the International Sports Convention, which saw 18 sports conferences and seminars brought together under one roof at the neighbouring Palexpo Exhibition Centre. Delegates from the Leadership Meeting were granted free access to the Convention and could take advantage of the opportunity to meet, network with and learn from experts from all areas of the sports industry.
Tennis Europe President Jacques Dupré opened the conference alongside Swiss Tennis President René Stammbach before ceding the floor to International Tennis Federation President David Haggerty and Senior Executive Director, Professional Tennis, Kris Dent. The pair led the assembly through a morning of presentations and interactive workshops focusing on current plans and projects including ‘ITF 2024’, the player pathway, and proposed changes to the sport’s flagship team competitions, the Davis and Fed Cup by BNP Paribas.
The afternoon program saw a series of more commercially focused presentations and break-out groups on topics ranging from regional cooperation between neighbouring federations, the future of sponsorship, legacies of Davis Cup success, participation and the health of tennis.
Tennis Europe Chief Executive Officer Olli Mäenpää commented, “Our annual meeting for executives is a high point of our conference calendar and we believe that this year we have been able to put together an exceptionally attractive program for our delegates, which was reflected in the high attendance. I’d like to thank all our speakers and delegates for their enthusiastic contributions, and would especially like to express our gratitude to Nigel Fletcher of the International Sports Convention for giving us the unique opportunity to benefit from the wealth of knowledge and networking potential on offer at the ISC. I am sure that many great opportunities will arise for our member nations as a result.”