Tennis Europe Junior Tour 'Players of the Year' powered by Polar Announced
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jonathan Jobson
Zur Gempenfluh 36
Basel,
+41 61 335 9040
jonathanj@tenniseurope.org
10/13/08 - The Tennis Europe Junior Tour’s year-end 14 and 16 & Under rankings and Players of the Year have been published by Tennis Europe following the recent Junior Masters in Italy, which officially brought the 300+ event pan-European circuit to a close.
The elite Masters event had a significant impact on the final rankings, nowhere more so than in the 14 & Under girls category, which saw the closest finish in the Tour’s history, with Petra Uberalova of the Slovak Republic and Russia’s Yulia Putintseva both ending the season with 740 points. Though Putintseva gained revenge for her semi-final defeat by Uberalova at the European Championships in July with a straight sets win in the final of the Masters final, the Slovak finishes the year on top by virtue of having won the more significant title. The rivalry between the two looks set to continue on the Tour next season, with both players eligible to compete in 14 & Under events for another year. It is the second consecutive year that a Slovak player has finished the year as European #1, with Uberalova following in the footsteps of last year’s runaway success, Vivien Juhaszova.
Moos Sporken of the Netherlands finished the year as the boys #1. Sporken – the only Dutch player to finish in the top 200 - has held the top spot since July, when he won two Category 1 singles titles before stringing together a succession of upsets to secure a first European Championship title for his country in this age category.
Cristina Dinu became the third Romanian player in the last eight years to end the year as the girls 16 & under #1. Restricting her play to the Tour’s biggest events, Dinu’s record in 2008 was highly impressive, her only loss in seven events coming in the third round of the European Championships. On the way she racked up titles in Paris, Montecatini, Milan, Biel, Pribram and most recently Orbetello where she ended the season by beating compatriot Ingrid Radu to add the Junior Masters title for good measure. Radu ends the season at #2, just ahead of Chile’s Daniela Seguel, the second year running that a Chilean finishes in the top three.
Pavel Filin becomes the first Belarussian player to end the year as the boy’s 16 #1, just edging rival Mate Zsiga to pole position despite suffering a defeat to the Hungarian in the Junior Masters final. Both players featured in the top ten for a second consecutive year, having finished eighth and ninth in 2007. Argentina’s Andrea Collarini and Agustin Velloti follow close behind, having had an extremely successful spell on the circuit as part of the ITF Touring Team in the summer.
The top three European players are rewarded with ‘Tennis Europe Junior Tour Player of the Year powered by Polar’ titles. Of those, the #1 in each category will be presented with a state of the art Polar computerised training wristwatch worth €400.
Toni Roponen, Sports Marketing Manager for Polar, commented “We’re proud to be associated with the Tennis Europe Junior Tour and we’re happy to know that the best of these talented players will have Polar products to assist them as they work to maximise their potential and make the difficult transition to older age categories. ”
Former recipients of the Player of the Year award include Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters.
Tennis Europe Chief Executive Officer Olli Mäenpaä remarked, “This has been an exceptional year for the Tennis Europe Junior Tour, with record participation figures and events in 42 different nations offering unprecedented playing opportunities for European youngsters. We’d like to thank our main partner HEAD for their continued involvement with some of our team events and generous ball offer, and also Polar for their enthusiastic endorsement of the Players of the Year. Most importantly, I’d like to congratulate the many thousands of players who have entered our competitions, and wish them continued success next year!”
Links:
http://www.tenniseurope.org
http://www.tenniseurope.org/JuniorTennis/2008Players.aspx
http://www.polar.fi
