Tennis Europe’s 51st Annual General Meeting took place last weekend in Gdańsk, Poland, where the event was hosted by the Polish Tennis Association. | Photos
In all 160 people, including representatives from 44 member nations gathered for a multi-pronged conference designed to educate, inform and provoke discussion and deeper connections between the delegates.
The opening day’s Conference session featured four keynote sessions:
- Digital Transformations in Tennis Federations saw delegates from the ITF, Ireland, Sweden and Moldova give an overview of their evolving digital landscapes.
- Gender Equality in Tennis was led by Florence Alix-Gravellier and Mariette Verbruggen, who highlighted Tennis Europe’s recent gender equity survey and discussed the implications of the findings and possible next steps during an interactive discussion.
- ‘AI in Sport is Not the Strategy’ saw Joe Canlon-Shaw and Jaime Dos Anjos of Two Circles explore the topic through the perspectives of internal productivity, participation and fan experiences.
- Building Value in Tennis explored a range of inter-related topics, including Sustainability, Partnerships and Modern Sponsorship methods and featured contributions from Ingrid Beutler (Think Beyond), Dr. Jon Andrea Schocher (Graubünden University of Applied Sciences), the Polish Tennis Association, and Tennis Europe’s premier partner, Dunlop.
The event was attended by International Tennis Federation President David Haggerty, who gave his traditional address and was accompanied by several leading executives including CEO Ross Hutchins and Executive Director, Digital, Lousie Booth, who presented the ITF’s plans for building a thriving digital tennis community.
Day Two saw Tennis Europe President Henrik Thorsøe Pedersen chair the meeting, kicking off with a review of the organisation’s 50th anniversary and continuing with a round-table discussion on Tennis Europe’s strategy proposals alongside the three Vice-Presidents.
During the afternoon’s Plenary Session, Mr. Pedersen guided the assembly through the organisation’s 2025 performance reports, culminating with the approval of the financial statements and 2026 budget. Vice-Presidents Cem Tinaz, Florence Alix-Gravellier and Sandi Procter provided updates from the Development, Gender Equality and Junior Tennis Committees respectively.
The four members of Tennis Europe’s Disciplinary Commission were re-elected to serve until the 2032 AGM: Julien Deux (FRA), Sarah Emerson (IRL), Beat Krähenmann (SUI) and Polina Tsernjak (EST).
Italy was proclaimed champion of the European Tennis Trophy for a fourth consecutive year [full report], and the following Tennis Europe Awards for Outstanding Contribution were awarded:
- Vahram Saringulyan (Armenia)
- Konstantin Zasjadko (Latvia)
- Rolf Thung (Netherlands)
- Asa Hedin (Sweden)
- Jackie Nesbitt (ITF-Great Britain)
- Luca Santilli (ITF-Italy)
The meeting concluded with the news that the 2027 Annual General Meeting will return to the Bulgarian capital Sofia, where the event was last held in 2014.
The Tennis Europe President commented, “It has been a fantastic week here in Gdansk. I’d like to thank everyone who attended for their contributions and for the productive and collaborative spirit in which the meeting was held. Special thanks to Dariusz Lukaszewski and his incredible team at the Polish Tennis Association for the flawless organisation of the event and for the warm hospitality here in Gdansk, especially the unforgettable closing dinner at the Artus Court Museum. We return home with some lovely memories, but also with clarity in our mission and a strong will to continue to improve our services to member nations and all key stakeholders in the year ahead.”
Other important meetings held during the week included a Development Workshop, attended by representatives of the Tier 1 nations, a Meeting of the Small States, and a meeting of the Tennis Europe Board of Management.
Several of Tennis Europe’s partners attended the event for the first time: new Official Trophy Providers Sartor, Apparel Partner Fourteen, Mental Training Partner The Mental Point, AirDome manufacturer Duol and live scoring/data platform IONSport all joined long-time partners Dunlop, K-Swiss and Slinger to meet with Tennis Europe and to network with delegates from across the region.