Italy has dominated the podium for a third straight year at Tennis Europe’s annual awards ceremony, held today at the European Federation’s Annual General Meeting in Antalya, Türkiye.
The Italian Tennis and Padel Federation (FITP) successfully ‘defended’ three of the six awards for tennis excellence in 2024:
- Beach Tennis - Italy’s run continues with a 4th straight win in a category it has dominated since its inception in 2021.
- Professional Tennis - Italy earned almost double the points of second-placed Czechia thanks to titles in both the men’s and women’s world championships, the Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup, Jannik Sinner’s year-end #1 spot, and Jasmine Paolini’s #4 ranking, among many other triumphs.
- Overall Performance - Italy’s crowning glory, the nation leads Europe for a third consecutive year and sixth in total, with previous wins coming in 2023, 2022, 1998, 1995 and 1994.
FITP President Angelo Binaghi proudly stated, “Almost 30 years after winning our first, we were awarded the Tennis Europe Trophy for Overall Performance in 2022. In 2023 we repeated, and we know how difficult it is to defend your ranking in tennis. To have maintained our position as European leaders once again in 2024 is a source of great pride for the entire Federation, for the players, their coaches, our sports clubs and all their managers who work hard every day. They say that three is the perfect number: not for us, we’re aiming for four in a row!”
Portugal leapt from 28th spot in 2023 to 19th in 2024 to pick up the award for ‘Most Improved Nation’. Meanwhile, landing at an impressive 8th place on the overall ranking, Romania ended the year as the ‘Best Performing 'B' Nation’, while Bosnia & Herzegovina secured ‘Best Performing 'C' Nation’ at 22nd position overall.
Elsewhere, perennial powerhouse Czechia came in second in Overall Performance, while maintaining a firm grip on the Junior Tennis award for a fourth win in a row and eighth in total. Spain pipped Great Britain to the post to come in third, rounding out the podium finishers for Overall Performance.
Germany maintains its grip on the Senior Tennis award with a 33rd win and remains the only nation to have ever won in this category. Similarly dominant in the Wheelchair Tennis category, the Netherlands has now won for a fourth straight year and collects a 21st title in 23 years.
Other awards distributed to member nations included the previously announced Junior and Senior Players of the Year, while Romania was announced as the winner of the Nations Ranking, which recognizes the best performing nation over the three age categories of the European Junior Championships.
Honorary Awards
Individual Tennis Europe Awards for Outstanding Contributions to the Sport in their member nations were presented to:
- Martina Lutkova (Czechia, Officiating, Tennis Europe Staff)
- Lusine Gasparyan (Armenia, Long and Outstanding Contribution)
- Sabira Abdullayeva (Azerbaijan, Long and Outstanding Contribution)
- Henrik Charles Maris (Denmark, Long and Outstanding Contribution)
- Edita Liachoviciute (Lithuania, Lifetime Contribution to the development of women’s tennis and coaches’ education)
- Tamara Semichina (Moldova, Outstanding Contribution to Coaching)
- Marcella Mesker (Netherlands, Lifetime Contribution to Tennis: Media)
- Catalina Cristea (Romania, Outstanding Services to Tennis: Player and Administrator)
- Valentyna Pozhylova (Ukraine, Lifetime Contribution to Tennis: Media)
The Tennis Europe Awards have been presented annually since 1991 and measure the performances of individuals and teams representing the organisation’s 48 active member nations in the aforementioned categories during the calendar year.
Tennis Europe Awards for Performance - 2024 Rankings
Consult the full lists of nations by Ranking 1-48 | by Country A-Z | by Category.