Tennis Europe has announced the winners of the European Tennis Trophy, the annual awards devised to recognise the performances of players and teams representing the regional association’s 50 member nations throughout the year.
The recipients of the 2018 Trophies are as follows:
- Overall Performance - FRANCE
- Professional Tennis - FRANCE
- Junior Tennis - CZECH REPUBLIC
- Seniors Tennis - GERMANY
- Wheelchair Tennis - NETHERLANDS
France has secured a hat trick of main titles, winning the award for Overall Performance for a third consecutive year. The win can be attributed to Top 5 finishes in all four contributing sub-categories, and sees France strengthen its position as Europe’s leader in terms of tennis performance.
The win draws France level with Russia as the nation to have won the overall prize on most occasions, with 7 each since 1991, when the Trophy was created. France also won the Professional Tennis Trophy for a third straight year with a comfortable lead over second-placed Czech Republic.
The Czechs scored a notable win by picking up the Junior Tennis Trophy for the first time since 2001, thereby ending Russia’s 7-year reign in this category. The Trophy rewards a season in which Czech juniors won 4 European team events and dominated the rankings.
Two awards are back in the hands of perennial winners: Germany has won the Seniors Tennis Trophy every year and 2018 was no exception, while the Netherlands recaptured the Wheelchair Tennis Trophy, which it relinquished to second-placed Great Britain in 2017 for the first time.
Other exceptional performances came from Croatia, the nation to make the biggest leap (from 15th to 6th overall) and Latvia (rising from 24th to 16th). Meanwhile Andorra can celebrate earning its first ever European Tennis Trophy points.
European Tennis Trophy 2018 - Final Standings
Results by Nation 1-50 | Results by Nation A-Z | Results by Category
Tennis Europe President Vladimir Dmitriev announced the results, commenting, “The European Tennis Trophy recognises the efforts of players and teams representing their countries, and in doing so acknowledges the behind the scenes work of all the staff at national federations who make these successes a possibility. 2018 was another excellent year for European tennis and we are proud of the continued progress being made, particularly by many of the smaller and developing nations. I’d like to congratulate all nations, but especially our champions, for this renewed vindication of their work.”
French Tennis Federation President Bernard Giudicelli commented, “I am particularly pleased that Tennis Europe is rewarding France once more, for Overall Performance and Professional Tennis. The implementation of the ‘Act and Win’ programme, which sums up my commitments to make the French Tennis Federation an ambitious, hardworking and future-oriented federation, bears fruit. It is encouraging to see that the result of our work in the field of training and the accompaniment of athletes is grounded in continuity and is not the mere chance of an exception. We were so impressed this year by the excellent results of our juniors during the summer and by our first participation in the Youth Olympics, which proved to be very fruitful and rich in teaching for our young players. Europe is a fertile breeding ground that allows many players, rich in their social differences, varied personalities and playing styles to flourish and succeed. It is our mission, our responsibility, as National Association leaders, to put in place the conditions that will allow each talent to express themselves and to flourish.”
The awards will be presented at a special ceremony during the Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe in Malta in March. For further information about the European Tennis Trophy, including details of how the points are awarded, click here.
