Tennis Europe has announced that the Czech Republic is the recipient of the 2012 European Tennis Trophy for Overall Tennis Performance, becoming just the seventh nation to win the Trophy since it was launched in 1990.
The recognition caps a year of outstanding achievements for the Czech Republic, whose Davis & Fed Cup by BNP Paribas titles contributed greatly to the nation securing the Professional Tennis Trophy for the first time. Progress was not limited to professional tennis however; the Czechs also rose to third in the Junior Tennis category, and climbed to seventh in Seniors Tennis.
Czech Tennis Association President Ivo Kaderka said; "In 2012, the Czech Republic became the first nation ever to win the Hopman Cup, Fed Cup and Davis Cup in the same year. I am convinced that this was not just a coincidence, and is part of a long-term trajectory, with our teams also having reached the Davis Cup final in 2009 and winning the Fed Cup in 2011. These successes are based on good work with tennis talents that has been in place for many years. That is also the reason why Czech tennis is amongst the best in the world in the junior category.”
The Junior Tennis Trophy went to Russia for the eighth time in nine years after the nation won five of the continent’s team competitions in 2012. Spain was beaten into second place, but still recorded its highest finish in this category since winning in 2002, having won three of the four Junior Masters titles and the Copa del Sol team event.
Germany once again dominated the Senior Tennis category, earning almost three times as many points as second placed Austria to retain the title for the 22nd time. Russia showed the greatest improvements, leaping from 11th to 4th thanks to some impressive performances at the European Championships.
The Netherlands’ domination of the Wheelchair Tennis Trophy was as evident as ever, with the nation picking up the title for a 12th consecutive year. Runners-up France and Great Britain also made significant advances, as did Israel, whose fourth position is the best ever achieved by the nation in any of the contributing categories.
2012 proved to be so competitive that last year’s Overall Trophy winners Spain slipped to second place despite significantly increasing their winning 2011 points total. Germany rose to third place, beating Russia into fourth by just seven points. Elsewhere, Italy and Great Britain consolidated their positions at sixth and seventh overall, with massive 48% and 59% increases on last year’s point’s totals respectively.
Just five nations managed to improve on their 2011 performance by five positions or more, led by biggest improvers Hungary (up 10 spots to #16), followed by Turkey (up 8 to #25), Slovakia (up 6 to #10), Moldova (up 6 to #36) and Georgia (up 5 to #34).
Tennis Europe President Jacques Dupré commented, “By winning both the Davis and Fed Cup in the same year, the Czech Republic has achieved a feat to which all tennis nations aspire. It is a testament both to the excellent work of the federation and to a special team spirit that this nation of 10 million citizens truly led not just Europe in 2012, but also the world in terms of tennis performance. I’d also like to congratulate the federations of Russia, Germany and the Netherlands for their incredible consistency in their respective winning categories.”
Established in 1990 to recognise and reward the annual achievements of Tennis Europe’s 49 member nations, the European Tennis Trophy takes into account the performances of players and teams representing national tennis federations across four disciplines of the sport throughout the season. The awards will be presented at a special ceremony during the Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe in Tallinn on March 23rd, 2013.
As 2012 was an Olympic and Paralympic year, extra points were available in the Professional and Wheelchair Tennis categories. For full results, and a detailed explanation of how the points are calculated, please click here.
2012 Final Standings
Results By Position | By Country A-Z | By Category
Top Ten by Category
