Around 60 players took part in the latest class of the Tennis Europe Junior School yesterday at the ITF/Tennis Europe Development Championships in Antalya, Turkey. A video-based player education programme designed to prepare top juniors for life as professional players, the School has been devised in consultation with the ITF, ATP and WTA, and features advice from players, coaches, officials and the governing bodies.
Players were able to learn about topics as diverse as anti-doping, tennis integrity, agents and sponsorship and the tennis ecosystem. As in Stockholm recently, filming for future videos was also taking place on-site, and many players were eager to take the opportunity to participate in the School and to help educate their peers.
The session was led by Eleanor Preston, Director of the Emilia Group, who commented, “Educating athletes is such a big priority for Tennis Europe. These players are taking in a lot of new experiences here at the Development Championships and it’s not just about learning on the court but it’s about learning as much as possible off the court as well.”
“It was a really great session and the players, coaches and parents in the room were very engaged and interested in the videos. We got a lot of right answers in the quizzes as well, which means they were listening to the information in the videos.”
Week 2 of the Development Championships continues with players from 9 member nations in action at the special event which is devised to provide high-level international playing opportunities to talented 14 & Under players from emerging tennis nations. Several past participants have gone on to become Top 10 players, including Victoria Azarenka, Grigor Dimitrov, Simona Halep and Marcos Baghdatis.
Keep up with the latest results from the Development Championships here, or check out the Tennis Europe Junior School videos to have been published so far here.