This year’s ITF/Tennis Europe Grand Slam team for boys and girls aged 14 & under completed a successful summer tour of Germany and Belgium during the months of July and August. The team consisted of nine players; four boys and five girls. The boys included Kaya Gore (TUR), Eleftherios Neos (CYP), Andrej Jokic (BIH) and Zura Tkemaladze (GEO), while the girls were Eliza Omirou (CYP), Oleksandra Andrieieva (UKR), Inci Ogut (TUR), Zinovia Vaneva (BUL) and Nika Shytkouskaya (BLR). The players were accompanied by two coaches, Goran Shevchenko (MKD) and Ana Movsisyan (ARM).
The players and the coaches met for the first time in Duren, Germany on July 27th, where they had a short time to train and get to know each other before continuing to the first tournament on their schedule, which was held in the same location. The results of the first tournament indicated some promise for the coming weeks. Oleksandra Andrieieva started the tour in style by reaching the girls’ singles final, where she faced Canadian player Katherine Sebov and lost 6-0 6-7(4) 6-1. There was some consolation in the doubles though; together with her teammate Eliza Omirou, Andrieieva won the title against Sebov and her fellow Canadian Vanessa Wong 4-6 6-2 [10-1]. Zinovia Vaneva also played well to reach the singles quarter finals while Kaya Gore & Eletherios Neos and Inci Ogut & Vaneva reached the semi-finals of the boys’ and girls’ doubles respectively.
The tour then continued to Hasselt, Belgium where the Team built on the success of the first week. Inci Ogut showed her potential by reaching the singles semi-finals, where she lost to Johana Markova (CZE) 6-1 6-2. Andrej Jokic and Eleftherios Neos reached their first quarter finals in the singles event, losing respectively to Andres Donayre (PER), a member of the ITF-COSAT team 6-2 6-4 and Lucas Vuradin (AUS) 7-6(5) 6-4. The ITF/Tennis Europe Team members once again showed that can play excellent doubles; the ITF/Europe/COSAT pairing of Neos/Donayre won the boys’ title against Parikshit Somani (IND) & Wu Yi Bing (CHN), members of ITF/Asia team with a score of 6-4 0-6 [10-5]. The girls’ doubles final was another duel between ITF Teams, with Inci Ogut & Nika Shytkouskaya emerging triumphant over Thaisa Pedretti (BRA) & Stagni Lailla (PAR) 7-6(2), 6-4.
On the third week of the tour the team returned to Germany were they participated at the München Junior Open. Kaya Gore showed why he is currently one of the best 14 & Under players in Europe by wining the singles title against Jakub Patyk (CZE) with a crushing 6-1 6-0 defeat. Together with Neos he also reached the final of the doubles, where the pair lost to home favourites Rudolph Molleker & Nicola Kuhn 6-4 6-2. Neos, Omirou and Andrieieva all reached the singles quarterfinals, while Omirou & Andrieieva went all the way in the doubles event, beating teammates Ogut/Shytkouskaya 6-2 6-1 in the semifinals before going on to win their second doubles title on this tour against Francesca Jones (GBR) & Tatiana Makarova (RUS) 6-2 6-2.
The tour finished at the prestigious Jugend Cup in Rutesheim/Renningen where the ITF/Tennis Europe players once again recorded impressive results. The girls’ team excelled by having four players in the singles quarterfinals, two of whom ended up contesting the final. Omirou ended teammate Vaneva’s run 6-3 6-3 in one quarterfinal, while Andrieieva outlasted Ogut in a punishing 3-hour match, winning 4-6 6-2 7-5. In the final Omirou brought her best form, beating Andrieieva 6-3 6-3 to claim the biggest title of her junior career so far. Kaya Gore also had a good week by reaching the semifinals, where he lost to Tarbes champion and European Junior Championships runner-up Samuele Ramazzotti (ITA) 6-1 6-0. The doubles event saw yet more success for the team, with Andrieieva & Omirou and Ogut & Vaneva contesting the girls’ final, where Andrieieva & Omirou won their third title of the tour by a margin of 7-5 6-2. Eleftherios Neos also ended the tour with success by partnering Cypriot compatriot Constantinos Christoforou to reach the final of the 16 & Under doubles event where they lost to the Greek team Christos Antonopoulos & Vasileios Iliopoulos 6-1 6-3.
After four very competitive tournaments, coaches Goran Shevchenko and Anna Movsisyan concluded that it had been a very successful summer for the 2013 team. The players competed at some of the best European events in this age division and showed great attitude, competitive spirit and work ethic. The players’ desire to improve paid dividends, as they were improved their results and became more competitive as the tour went on, in both singles and doubles events. It was a great experience for all of the players; as they ended the tour and returned home many expressed how much they had learnt during the tour, and how they will be able to use this experience for their future development.