The 39th Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe was hosted in Tallinn last weekend as part of the centenary celebrations of the Estonian Tennis Association.
Chaired by Tennis Europe President Jacques Dupré, and opened by the President of the Estonian Tennis Association Urmas Soorumaa, the Meeting took place at Swissôtel Tallinn and saw a total of 98 delegates from 36 of Tennis Europe’s 49 member nations in attendance. The main event was preceded by meetings of Tennis Europe’s Junior and Development Committees, as well as a meeting of the Board of Management.
The opening day saw the launch of Tennis Europe’s Coaches Education Initiative by Chief Executive Officer Olli Mäenpää and the ITF/Tennis Europe Development Officer, Hrvoje Zmajic, who announced plans for the creation of a digital communication platform to share information about the diverse coaches’ education systems in Europe, with the ultimate goal of establishing European standards.
The remainder of the first session focused on International Tennis Federation (ITF) matters, with President Francesco Ricci Bitti providing his annual update on the organisation’s activities and Executive Vice-President Juan Margets giving the delegates a detailed look at the current situation of the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas competition. An opportunity was then given for the European candidates at the forthcoming ITF Board of Directors elections to make short presentations and participate in a question and answer session with the delegates.
The plenary session saw annual reports from Tennis Europe’s President and CEO, as well as updates from Chairpersons of the various committees; Günther Lang (Development), Karin van Bijsterveld (Juniors), Philios Christodoulou (Seniors), and also from the Honorary Treasurer, Peter Bretherton.
Constitutional matters included the approval of Serbia’s application to change its membership status from ‘C’ to ‘B’-nation and the adoption of a proposal for the automatic adjustment of membership fees linked to the European index, which will take place with effect from January 1st 2014. An application for affiliated membership status from the Tennis Federation of Kosovo failed to receive the necessary two-thirds majority required from the assembly.
Mr. Dupré remarked; “The meeting was very well-attended and I am grateful to all of the delegates, guests and observers for their contributions on both days, in particular Mr. Ricci Bitti, whose presence and commitment is greatly appreciated. The reports given here have shown that Tennis Europe has continued to perform well in our key activities over the past year, and we are looking forward to embarking on the new projects announced for the coming months. It is a source of great pride for us to see the continued progress of tennis in Serbia, and their ascension in membership status is entirely merited. I would also especially like to thank Mr. Soorumaa and all his staff for their hard work and warm hospitality. We are honoured to have been invited to Tallinn during the centenary year of the Estonian Tennis Association and to be able to see first-hand the excellent job that they are doing.”
In accordance with tradition, Saturday’s official dinner at Tallinn’s Modern Art Museum was the scene of the presentation of the Tennis Europe Awards, which are nominated by member nations in recognition of outstanding contributions to the sport and its administration. There were nine recipients in total; Ernst Wolner (AUT), Max Mirnyi (BLR), Toomas Leius (EST), Tom Kinloch (GBR), Janis Pliens (LAT), Evert-Jan Hulshof (NED), Wojciech Radomski (POL), Igor Vadimovich Vsevolodov (RUS) and Domenico Vicini (SMR).
Guest of honour at the dinner was Ene Ergma, President of the Riigikogu, who was on hand to see the European Tennis Trophy awards presented to 2012 winners Netherlands (Wheelchair Tennis), Germany (Seniors Tennis), Russia (Junior Tennis) and Czech Republic (Professional Tennis and Overall Performance). Special recognitions were also made to Serbia (Best-Performing ‘C’-Nation), Slovak Republic (Best-Performing ‘B’-Nation) and Hungary (Greatest Improvement).
Tennis Europe confirmed during the meeting that next year’s AGM will be hosted by the Bulgarian Tennis Federation in Sofia from 27-30 March. Click here for a photo gallery from Tallinn.
To discover more about the host nation, go to www.visitestonia.com.