Russia can stake a claim as Europe’s leading tennis nation following Tennis Europe’s announcement that the country will be awarded the European Tennis Trophy for Overall Tennis Performance. It is the first time in four years that Russia has been given the accolade, which acknowledges the achievements of players and teams representing Europe’s national tennis federations during 2013.
Russia enjoyed a record-breaking year in junior tennis. The 3,734 points earned in this category smashed the previous record for any nation and ensured that Russia also claimed the Junior Tennis Trophy for a ninth time in ten years, earning more than twice as many points as second-placed Czech Republic. Throughout the year Russian players dominated the Tennis Europe junior rankings and ruled the team events, winning seven of the 14 available Winter and Summer Cups titles. Four Russian players – Evgeniya Levashova, Andrey Rublev, Darya Kasatkina and Karen Khachanov - were additionally crowned as European individual champions, with Levashova also going on to claim a Tennis Europe Junior Masters title.
Russian Tennis Federation President Shamil Tarpishev said, “We are most grateful to Tennis Europe for this recognition and we are very happy that Russia has returned to the top of the European rankings. It is an honour to receive the European Tennis Trophy award, which also acknowledges our leading position on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour. These achievements could not have been reached without the young generation of tennis players, and this gives us great confidence for continued success. Of course, these results are also due to the hard and systematic work of our coaches, who have once again shown that the Russian tennis school is one of the best in the world. We are also boosted by our progress in wheelchair tennis, and are looking optimistically to the future.”
In the professional tennis category, Davis Cup champions and last year’s overall winner, the Czech Republic retained the Professional Tennis Trophy, beating the previous winners Spain into second place by a slim margin. Fed Cup champions Italy rose to third in this category, its best performance since 2006.
Perennial champion Germany once again retained the Senior Tennis Trophy, and has still yet to lose grip on the title since it was first introduced in 1991. Overall it was a good year for Germany, who maintained its position in Professional and Senior tennis and made progress in the Junior and Wheelchair Tennis categories.
The Wheelchair Tennis Trophy will be awarded to the Netherlands for a thirteenth consecutive year. The nearest challengers can take heart from the knowledge that the latest Dutch win came with their smallest ever margin of victory; just 220 points separate them from second-placed France, who stands just 67 points ahead of Great Britain.
Just four of the 49 nations managed to improve on their 2012 performance by five positions or more, led by biggest improvers Romania (up 7 spots to #10), followed by Poland (up 6 to #14), Greece (up 6 to #25), and Bosnia & Herzegovina (up 5 to #34).
Tennis Europe President Jacques Dupré commented, “I would like to congratulate all of the winning nations. Each case provides a clear example of the achievements that can be made by national federations that implement clear strategies to develop key areas of the sport. As the diversity of nations in contention for these Trophies increases, Tennis Europe is not only proud of the competition between our member nations, but also the cooperation between them and we look forward to another successful year for European tennis in 2014.”
Established in 1991 to recognise and reward the annual achievements of Tennis Europe’s member nations, the European Tennis Trophy takes into account the performances of players and teams representing national tennis federations across four disciplines of the sport throughout the season. The awards will be presented at a special ceremony during the Annual General Meeting of Tennis Europe in Sofia on March 29th, 2014.
For full results, and a detailed explanation of how the points are calculated, please click here.
2013 Final Standings
Results by Position 1-49 | By Country A-Z | By Category
Top Ten by Category
