Around 50 top Tennis Europe Junior Tour players attended a special webinar today, where they had the chance to interact with WTA world #5 Elina Svitolina.
The players learned about the current situation in tennis, including a look at some of the new on-court restrictions and safety guidelines introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The online meeting was led by Stephanie Kamberi, Head of Juniors at Tennis Europe and saw contributions from Gold Badge Referee Anders Wennberg, who talked about the differences between a Tournament Director and a Tournament Referee, and from Junior Committee member Dima Leifman, who discussed the Code of Conduct and rules about medical timeouts.
Special guest Svitolina is a former 16 & Under #1 on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour (2010) and was happy to share some of her experiences of life on the junior circuits.
Joining from her base in Geneva, Switzerland, she answered questions on a variety of topics from the players, who were interested to know how she coped with her early success, having won the Roland Garros junior tournament at 15 years of age. “When you are young it’s not easy,” she said. “You have pressure from parents and from coaches and it can be tough. The keys to success are to give 100% every time you step on court, and to be patient. This is how you convert pressure into motivation.”
More webinars will be held for Tennis Europe Junior Tour players in the coming weeks, while additional online meetings are being prepared for the Tour’s:
- Coaches
- Tournament Directors
- Officials
Tennis Europe CEO Thomas Hammerl said, “We felt it particularly important to keep in touch with our players and tournaments during this period. These webinars give us a unique chance to talk face-to-face and answer their questions. We want the players to know that although there are no events at the moment, we are working behind the scenes to ensure that their eventual return to action will be as smooth as possible.”