Tennis Europe has revealed the first player confirmations for the 21 & Under Invitational, which is due to be played alongside the ATP 500 Hamburg European Open next month.
Fittingly for a tournament devised to showcase Europe’s most promising players, the field is set to be comprised of prolific winners from the ITF World Tennis Tour and ITF Junior Circuit over the past twelve months. The men’s list is led by 20-year old Austrian Davis Cup player Jurij Rodionov. The current world #272 has been focusing on the ATP Challenger Circuit this season, having won his first title in Almaty late last year and reached the second round of qualifying at the Australian Open in January before breaking into the Top 200 for the first time.
The women’s field is led by WTA #184 Ylena In-Albon of Switzerland. Having won four ITF World Tennis Tour titles in 2018 to shoot more than 400 places in the rankings, the 20-year old began 2019 by winning the $60,000 Kyoto event in February before making a successful Fed Cup debut.
Hosted by the ATP Hamburg European Open organisers in collaboration with Tennis Europe and the German Tennis Federation, this unique event is devised to give promising players big match experience at a leading ATP 500 event, and the chance to win financial grants to assist with their expenses as young travelling pros. Only the best players aged 19-21 are invited to take part, with Europe's top 18 & Under players in action at the European Junior Championships in Klosters (SUI) the same week.
The event will be held from Thursday 25th – Sunday 28th July, with a total pool of €50,000 available for the sixteen players – eight men and eight women – that will take part in the round robin competition. The Best of Five set matches will feature a shorter format; sets will be played as First to Four games with a tie-break at 3-All. There will be ‘No-Ad’ scoring (receiver decides), the ‘No Let’ rule applies, and players will be able to communicate with their coaches during the match.
Further names will be announced in the coming days.