Highlights of the Tournament Years of the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors at TC Bruchköbel

In 1983, the TC Bruchköbel organized the first “Open Youth Tournament”, which was initiated by Klaus Piotrowski. In 1992, the TCB organized its 10th youth tournament, which has been in the official tournament calendar of the DTB for some time as the Dunlop/Hertie Cup and is counted for the German ranking. In that year, players from Sweden, the USA and the CSFR (official name of Czechoslovakia 1990-1992) also took part in the tournament. In 1995, the city of Bruchköbel honored Klaus Piotrowski for his services to the youth work of the TCB, including the now International Youth Tournament.

2001 Premiere at the TCB with later three-time Grand Slam winner

For the first time, the 19th Dunlop Youth Tournament for the Hertie Cup was held as one of seven German ITF Juniors tournaments, in the entry category 5. Under the patronage of Bruchköbel’s mayor Klaus Ermold, the implementation was in the hands of tournament director Klaus Piotrowski and his tournament organizer Sven Kurandt. The qualification began on Monday, July 2, with 32 players, 8 of whom made it into the main draw of the same size.
The tournament lived from the surprises in the singles among the juniors. In the end, two German qualifiers played their way into the final through non-stop victories, Niels-Henning Lampe from Ankum in Schleswig-Holstein and the only 16-year-old Gero Kretschmer from Cologne, in which Kretschmer could not compete due to injury. He won his semi-final despite injury (torn ligaments) against the 2nd seeded Mischa Zverev from Unterföhring 6-2 6-1.
The victory in the doubles was hard-fought. Here, the Russians Valentin Kasatkin and Nikolai Soloviev won against the “too inharmonious team” Dustin Brown (Jamaica) and Henrik Lilja (Sweden) in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
In the junior women’s event, the 17-year-old Latvian Katarina Gintere, seeded 3rd, won in a one-sided final against the Czech top-seeded Andrea Hlavackova, who is two years younger, 6-2, 6-3.
The all-German doubles final was just as one-sided. Celine Beermann and Imke Reimers from Lower Saxony prevailed 6-2 6-1 against Anne Dickhardt and Valerie Meise.

Participants include Andrea Hlavackova (highest ranking #58 singles 10.9.2012, #3 doubles 22.10.2012, Olympic silver medal 2012, winner French Open 2011, US Open 2013; Mixed US Open 2013), Mischa Zverev (#25 Singles 24.7.2017, #44 Doubles 8.6.2009), Dustin Brown (#64 Singles 10.10.2016, #43 Doubles 14.5.2012).

2002 Qualifier won singles title – local hero Nora Weber from HTHC successful in doubles

The press described the “20th Bruchköbel Dunlop Youth Tournament for the Karstadt Cup” as “there was usually a chronic lack of seating on the clubhouse terrace” and “the tournament became a family celebration”.
Petr Vojtisek from the Czech Republic won with “whipping forehand winners and sensitive stops” against his German opponent Aleksey Malaiko from the Baden Performance Center in Leimen 6-7 6-1 6-2.
The victory in the junior doubles also went to the Czech Republic. Petr Vojtisek and his partner Vaclav Vana took home the title here as well. However, the Croatian doubles Martin Bradaric / Petar Jelenic went home the evening before without deregistering.
The biggest surprise in the juniors was the only 15-year-old Swiss Michelle Blättler in her first ITF tournament. Starting as a qualifier, she won the final against the unseeded Belgian Cecile Baijot 6-0, 6-3.
In the doubles, the German Nora Weber from neighboring THC Hanau and her Magdeburg partner Kristin Schüler sensationally won 6-3 7-5 against the favored opponents from South Africa, Susan Delport and Mandy Septoe.

2003 German Juniors dominate

A tournament week with unpleasant weather conditions was dominated by German juniors. The juniors had to settle for second and third places, according to the conclusion of the press.
Philipp Piyamongkol from Nuremberg won a technically demanding final 6-2 6-3 against Julian Bley, playing for TC Karlstadt. Both lost in the doubles against the Romanians Ionet-Mihai Beleleu / Alexandru-Daniel Carpen 2-6 3-6 in the semifinals. Despite match points in the third set, they lost to the German pairing Nicolas Holzen / David Klier 2-6 6-0 5-7.
The singles final of the juniors was won by the Romanian Anamaria-Alexandra Sere against the unseeded Danica Krstajic from Yugoslavia 6-3 7-5. Sere reached the final with her German doubles partner Sarina Müller, where they were rarely able to put the Chinese Si Si Qui and Wan-Ting Liu in trouble. The two 14-year-olds from Beijing won 6-3 6-3.

Participants included Julia Görges (#9 Singles 20.8.2018, #12 Doubles 22.8.2016), Marin Cilic (#3 Singles 29.1.2018, Winner US Open 2014, #49 Doubles 15.4.2013).

2004 Germans dominate the ITF Youth Tournament – upgrade to Category 4

This year’s tournament was upgraded one category from the entry level by the ITF. This gave the tournament a significant increase in the level of performance and an expansion to 48 participants each.
The most successful player was Frank Wintermantel, who arrived as the newly crowned German Youth Champion of the AK up to 16 years. As the number 2 seed, he won the singles final against the Hungarian Denes Lukacs by a narrow margin of 6-2, 3-6, 7-6.
In the junior doubles, Wintermantel, who plays in Freiburg, won with his partner Tobias Wernet against the random pairing Gerald Kamitz (AUT) / Leo Rosenberg (USA) 6-4, 6-4.
Anne Schäfer won the junior women’s final as an unseeded 3-6 6-3 6-2 against the Czech Katerina Vankova. In the doubles, Allison Rauh from Trier and Judith König from Bous in Saarland caused a surprise against the higher-seeded and well-rehearsed Slovenians Diana Nakic and Alja Zec-Perskiric with a 6-1 5-7 6-4 victory.

2005 Junior seeding confirmed

Due to the large number of matches, THC Hanau, TSG Erlensee and TC Roßdorf had provided additional courts at the beginning of the tournament.
In the junior singles, the seeding list was confirmed. In the final, Andres Arango from Ecuador, seeded 1st, met Marc Meigel, number 2 of the tournament, who played for Rosenheim. The latter shot down his opponents in the first set 6-0. Arango became more patient and won the following two sets 6-4 6-3 and thus confirmed the seeding.
In the junior doubles, the Moldovans Radu Albot and Achim Coban dominated over the German pairing Marc Meigel and Tobias Wernet after a hard-fought first set 7-6 6-2.
In the junior women’s competition, 15-year-old Slovakian Martina Balagova won 6-4, 6-4 against her opponent Barbara Sobaskiewicz from Poland, who is one year younger.
The doubles final was won by the Polish duo Barbara Sobaskiewicz / Sylwia Zagorska against the Russians Martina Melnikova / Anna Vavrik 6-3 6-4.

Participants include Radu Albot (#39 Singles 5.8.2019, #56 Doubles 29.4.2019).

2006 Dane wins third tournament in three weeks

Sören Wedege from Denmark secured his third tournament victory in three weeks. As the number two seed, he defeated Italy’s Davide Della Tommasina, who knocked out top-seeded Radu Albot, Moldova, 7-5 1-6-6-4 in the semifinals, 6-1 6-7 6-1.
Radu Albot, as in the previous year in the final of the doubles, this time with Yannick Maden from Stuttgart, defended his title against the Israelis Gilad Ben Zvi and Tomer Hodorov 6-7 6-0 6-2.
In the junior women’s final, as in the previous year, Barbara Sobaskiewicz, who had to admit defeat again due to too many “unforced errors”, this time against the Russian Eugenia Vertesheva with 5-7 2-6.
Last year’s winners Barbara Sobaskiewicz / Sylwia Zagorska from Poland reached the final again. This time their opponents, the Czechs Sinika Jezkova / Alena Nogolova, secured the title with a 7-5 6-2 victory.

Participants include Yannick Maden (#96 Singles 24.6.2019, #375 Doubles 15.4.2019).

2007 25th Bruchköbel Youth Tournament with new main sponsor HEAD

Even before the start of the tournament, the course had been set to ensure that the tournament remained at TC Bruchköbel in the long term. Klaus Piotrowski quit after 25 years as tournament director. Martin Fetzer as his successor had already taken over the organization of this year’s tournament and gained a new main sponsor and namesake in HEAD. The Sparkasse Hanau is also taking part as a sponsor for the first time.
The starting field was expanded to 64.
The junior final was won by No. 1 seed Ralph Regus, who plays for Nuremberg in the Bundesliga, against 16-year-old Richard Becker from Bielefeld 6-2 6-7 6-4.
Ralph Regus also won the doubles title with his partner Robert Schulze, also from Bavaria. They were opposed by the two Maximilian Neuchrist and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn from Vienna, who had to admit defeat with 3-6 4-6.
In the junior women’s competition, the 17-year-old Belgian Anouk Delefortrie, seeded No. 3, secured the title against the surprise finalist, the only 15-year-old Sina Haas from Mannheim, who started with a wildcard, in an exciting match with 4-6 7-5 6-3.
Two Bavarians, Lena-Marie Hofmann and Theresa Jobst, also dominated in the junior women’s doubles. Both remained in the final with 6-1 6-2 without losing a set against the German random pairing Sabrina Meier from Bad Oeynhausen and Dejana Raickovic from Berlin.

Participants include Yannick Hanfmann (#45 Singles 3.7.2023, #81 Doubles 15.7.2024), Cedrik-Marcel Stebe (#71 Singles 13.2.2012, #376 Doubles 9.7.2012), Dinah Pfizenmaier (#79 Singles 17.3.2014, #245 Doubles 2.2.2015).

2008 Kevin Krawietz, 2024 ATP doubles world champion, in singles final

In the junior final, last year’s top-seeded finalist Richard Becker, Bielefeld TC, No. 144 in the world, lived up to his role as favorite. Final opponent Kevin Krawietz, German Champion of the U16 from Coburg, who could do little to counter the powerful baseline game, lost 3-6 4-6.
In the all-German doubles final, Jakob Sude, Friedrichshafen, and Sebastian Sachs, Ditzingen, won 2-6 6-0 6-1 against Ralf Steinbach, Magdeburg, and Matthias Wunner, Nuremberg.
In the junior women’s singles, the top seeds Dejana Raickovic and Valentina Stephan came from Germany. Anna-Lena Friedsam, Andernacher TC, came to Bruchköbel as the newly crowned German Champion U14 for her premiere on the ITF World Tennis Tour. As a qualifier, she sensationally played her way into the singles final and semi-finals doubles. In the tournament week she played 11 matches, in singles 8 (3 in qualifying and 5 in the main draw, 3 in doubles). In singles, she defeated No. 1 Dejana Raickovic in the quarterfinals and in the semifinals the No. 3 of the tournament, Martina Pradova from the Czech Republic, in three sets each. In her eleventh match, her powerful game lacked strength. The 18-year-old Hungarian Vivien Laszloffy, seeded 4th, went into the final favored after her 6-4 4-6 6-0 semifinal victory against the No. 2 seeded Hessian Valentina Stephan and won the title 6-4 6-3.
The “marathon girls” Laura Schaeder, Heilbronn, and Julia Kimmelmann, Aachen, made short work of their Latvian opponents Julia Bukajeva and Lina Lileikite in just under an hour with 6-2 6-1. In the previous rounds, they had needed more than four, three and a half and two hours for their double victories.

Participants include Kevin Krawietz (#211 singles 17.12.2018, #5 doubles 10.2.2025 – best-placed German since the introduction of the doubles world rankings in 1976, victories ATP Finals 2024 with Tim Pütz as the first German doubles (world champion), French Open 2019 and 2020 with Andreas Mies), Anna-Lena Friedsam (#45 singles 15.8.2016, #34 doubles 21.9.2020), Carina Witthöft (#48 singles 8.1.2018, #168 doubles 16.7.2018),

Addendum: Vivien Laszloffy did not play another ITF tournament (neither youth nor women) after her tournament victory in Bruchköbel.

2009 Later Olympic and Grand Slam serial winner Barbora Krejcikova in Bruchköbel

As a new regulation, the third set was replaced by the match tiebreak in doubles.
The Fair Play Award would have been won by far Filip Strnad from the Czech Republic. Due to a road closure due to the Ironman in Frankfurt, his opponent Thorsten Bertsch was delayed by more than two hours on his journey from Mannheim. Filip, No. 1 of the tournament, waited for the delayed final, which he narrowly lost after almost three and a half hours with 5-7 6-2 5-7.
In the doubles, the more harmonious interplay of Kevin Kaczynski, TV Vreden, and Jannis Kahlke, TV Marburg, prevailed against the German/Swiss pairing Till Guttenberger/Luca Margaroli 6-4 6-4.
The junior women’s singles was won by Olga Ianchuk, Ukraine, against 14-year-old Stephani Wagner, TC Amberg am Schanzl, 6-3 6-4.
Barbora Krejcikova played only her third ITF Juniors in Bruchköbel. With three victories in the qualification, she reached the main draw of an ITF junior for the first time and followed it up with two more singles victories before losing in the third round to her compatriot Veronika Bacikova. In the doubles, where she took part in an ITF Juniors for the first time, she lost with her German partner in the second round.
In the junior women’s doubles final, the top-seeded Deborah Danz, TV Benrath, and her Viennese partner Pia König had the happier ending for themselves and won by a very narrow margin of 6-2 3-6 11-9 against the German pairing Vivian Heisen and Constanze Lotz.

Participants include Barbora Krejcikova (#2 Singles 28.2.2022, #1 Doubles 22.10.2018)

Addendum: Barbora Krejcikova has so far been the participant in Bruchköbel who achieved the highest world ranking (#2 in singles, #1 in doubles), an Olympic gold medal (Tokyo 2020 in doubles) and the most Grand Slam victories, successfully in all four Grand Slam tournaments, namely 12 (2 in singles: French Open 2021, Wimbledon 2024; 7 in doubles: Australian Open 2022 + 2023, French Open 2018 + 2021, Wimbledon 2018 +2022, US Open 2022; and 3 in mixed: Australian Open 2019-2021).

2010 Full 64 main field including 32 qualifying field for the boys

For the first time, players had to be rejected after the sign-in of the junior qualification due to too large a crowd.
The surprise in the juniors was Lynn Max Kempen, who played his way through the qualification to the semi-finals of the boys’ singles. There he narrowly lost to the top seed Patrick Elias 7-5 4-6 4-6. Patrick registered as No. 144 in the world rankings after a two-month injury break in Bruchköbel instead of Wimbledon. In the final, he had to pay tribute to his previous three matches, each of which lasted three sets. His final opponent from Italy, Andrea Ceccarello, reached the final without a fight and won the title with an effortless 6-3 6-1 victory.
The junior doubles was won by the unseeded German combination Daniel Baumann and Oliver Frank against the 5th ranked pairing of Dean Tjin-A-Ton, Netherlands, and Joshua Ward-Hibbert, Great Britain, 6-4 6-3.
In the all-German singles final of the junior women, Katharina Lehnert won 6-0 7-5 against Sonja Larsen, her roommate at the tennis boarding school of the German Tennis Association in Hanover, who was two years younger. Katharina took revenge for a defeat at the German Championships.
Majlena Pedersen and Ann-Kathrin Wind secured the doubles title against the two singles finalists Lehnert and Larsen with the result 7-5 0-1 task.

Participants include Ekaterina Alexandrova (#15 Singles 1.4.2024, #58 Doubles 26.9.2022)

2011 Twins join the girls

As in the previous year, there was again a surprise in the junior singles. Lorenz Heide from Frankfurt; equipped with a wildcard for the qualification, won one match after the other and only lost in the semifinals to the eventual winner Oscar Otte. Oscar, ranked 13th, played a sovereign tournament – he gave up only 22 games in 6 matches – and won the final against the number 4 seed, the Spaniard Albert Alcaraz Ivorra 6-2 7-5.
The junior doubles were won in the all-German final by Johannes Haerteis and Maximilian Marterer 4-6 6-3 10-6 against Daniel Baumann and Viktor Kostin.
Iva Primorac, Croatia, caused the same surprise in the junior women’s singles. She also played her way through the qualification to the semi-finals, where she found her champion against the No. 3 seeded eventual winner, Tayisiya Morderger. In the final, Tayisiya defeated Sandra Matekova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5.
In doubles, Iva Primorac and her Slovakian partner Rebecca Sramkova made the tournament surprise perfect with the title. With 6-2 6-2 against the German twins Tayisiya and Yana Morderger, seeded at position 2, she took revenge against the semi-final defeat in singles against Tayisiya.

Participants include Oscar Otte (#36 Singles 27.6.2022, #161 Doubles 15.5.2017), Maximilian Marterer (#45 Singles 13.8.2018, #249 Doubles 29.4.2019).

Addendum: The twin sisters Tayisiya (Taya) and Yana Morderger have taken part in various TV formats. Among other things, Taya took part in the show “Bauer sucht Frau” in 2018, and together with her sister Yana in 2020 in the reality show “Kampf der Realitystars – Schiffbruch am Traumstrand”.

2012 Weather capriciousness challenges the organization

This year’s tournament was mixed in terms of playing and weather. Numerous thunderstorms and heavy rainfall delayed the Games. At times, the pitches had to be freed from the masses of water with submersible pumps.
Both the singles and doubles of the juniors were purely German matches. In the singles, Christoph Negritu, seeded 14th, was the remaining seed and met Christopher Hobgarski. Negritu kept his nerve in the last match and won the tournament 6-3 6-4. With Torben Hornung he also won the doubles title with 7-5 7-6 against Michael Feucht and Louis Richter.
In the junior women’s competition, the Bulgarian Julia Terziyska made an impression with her confident appearance and powerful game. The Japanese Natsumi Chimura, who challenged some opponents to risk with her calm and relaxed manner, was completely different. In the final, Julia Terziyska’s tactics showed the more effective effect and she won the title 6-2 6-1.
The doubles title was won by the top-seeded duo of Natsumi Chimura and Madara Straume, Latvia, 7-6 1-6 10-8 against the Czech Republics Gabriela Andrea Knutson and Petra Melounova.

2013 Unseeded Hessian Kai Lemke wins double

Double premiere: In the seeding list in the junior singles, the name Hobgarski appeared at the top of each page. With Steinfeger Immobilien, a sponsor could be won as co-namesake for the first time.
The surprise winner in the juniors in singles and doubles is Kai Lemke. In the singles, he has put on the tournament crown brilliantly with clear two-set victories and only 16 games lost. Kai Lemke won the final 6-1 6-1 against the 15th seeded Slovakian Samuel Hodor.
Kai and his Hessian partner Philip Gehrmann won the doubles title against the German pairing Christopher Hobgarski and Simon David Schmitz, who also reached the final without a fight, 7-5 6-1.
In the junior women’s singles, the top-seeded Katharina Hobgarski from Saarland met the number 3 seed, Vivian Wolff from Frankfurt, in the final. Hobgarski won 6-2 7-6. Both prevailed in the semi-finals against unseeded players. Hobgarski won against New Zealand’s Jade Lewis 6-3 7-6, while Wolff had to go the full distance against Anastasiya Shoshyna, Ukraine, 6-3 5-7 6-3.
The German duo Katharina Gerlach and Marleen Tilgner were the measure of all things in doubles. With a 6-3 6-1 victory against the pairing of Mira Antonitsch, Austria, and Karolina Novotna, Czech Republic, they won the title.

Participants include Caspar Ruud (#2 Singles 12.9.2022, #133 Doubles 12.7.2021), Stefanos Tsitsipas (#3 Singles 9.8.2021, #64 Doubles 29.8.2022), Jule Niemeier (#61 Singles 7.11.2022, #418 Doubles 14.8.2023).

2014 International starters dominate

Spoiled by the German individual victories in previous years, the press commented this time: “In the individual competitions of the juniors, there was no chance of a title despite 50 percent German participation…”.
From a world ranking perspective, the boys’ final was between No. 1052 from France, Joseph Guillin, and Britain’s Charles Broom, No. 1411, both unseeded. Guillin secured this year’s title with a 6-2 7-6. The top-seeded No. 284 from the USA, Liam Caruana, failed in round 1. Tim Sandkaulen, seeded 2nd and No. 286 in the rankings, lost in the quarterfinals to the finalist and later winner, Joseph Guillin, 4-6 3-6.
In the doubles, the title went without a final match to Tim Büttner from Hesse and his partner Manuel Pena Lopez, Argentina. The unseeded pairing won in the semifinals against the Frenchmen Luc Fomba and Matteo Martineau 4-6 6-3 10-3. Their top-seeded German final opponents Jannik Giesse / Tim Sandkaulen had to pass after their narrow 6-7 6-4 12-10 victory against the Austrian-German duo Alexander Erler and Constantin Frantzen.
The junior women’s singles title was won by Alexandra Sabe from the USA, No. 3 seed, without a fight due to the injury of her opponent, the 5th seeded Lea Boskovic, Croatia. The latter reached the final in the penultimate round with 6-4 6-4 against Jade Lewis, New Zealand, No. 6 seed. Alexandra Sabe had a harder time in the 2-6 6-4 6-3 win against the Bulgarian Elizabeth Danailova, seeded 2nd.
The unseeded Bulgarians Nika Shytkouskaya and Anna Skabelka decided the tight doubles 5-7 6-2 11-9 against the top seeds Lea Boskovic, Croatia, and Elizabeth Danailova, Bulgaria. The former won their semi-final matches 7-5 6-3 against the Serbian German pairing Leonie Deffland and Nina Marjahnovic, while the latter reached the final 6-3 6-3 against Diana Dehterevich of Bulgaria and Alina Semashko of Russia.

Addendum: The player Thea Finke is now active as ITF Chair Umpire on the tennis tour and has regular appearances at the Grand Slam tournaments.

2015 Heat with temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius

For the first time, the first round of singles and doubles will be played on the first day of the main draw with a total of 96 matches. This increased the attractiveness of the doubles competitions, whose finals also take place one day earlier, now on Saturday.
In tropical temperatures, the ITF supervisor applied the ITF regulations for extreme weather conditions and prescribed longer breaks. Lots of ice and water were made available to the players.
The junior field is led by Jannik Giese, gold medallist in doubles at the 2013 Youth Olympic Games. He was eliminated in the second round. The tournament victory went to the Slovenian Sven Lah with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Luca Keist, Switzerland. Lah advanced to the final with a 6-4 4-6 6-2 win over Frenchman Dan Added, while Keist mastered the semi-finals with a smooth 6-0 6-2 win over the tired German Kai Lemstra.
The doubles was won by Niklas Schell from Hesse with his French partner Dan Added. In the final, they defeated the singles winner Sven Lah and his compatriot Bor Schweiger Muzar mimt 7-6 6-4.
In the junior women’s singles, the Austrian Livia Kraus, who lives in Mainz, won the title against her opponent in the final from Luxembourg, Eleonora Molinaro, who is two years older, 6-2 6-3. Both unseeded players have played their semi-final matches against seeded opponents; Molinaro 6-2 2-6 6-3 over Australian Baijing Lin (#4), Kraus 6-2 6-4 against Sweden’s Sandra Ortevall (#2).
The Belgian-British pairing of Axana Mareen and Francesca Jones won the doubles title with a close 3-6 6-3 10-3 victory over Germany’s Jule Niemeier and Linda Puppendahl.

Participants include Francesca Jones (#136 singles 17.2.2025, #541 doubles 22.2.2022) – she was born with the rare EEC syndrome , she has eight fingers and seven toes.

2016 Four singles finalists from four different countries

In contrast to the juniors, where not all sign-in participants could be accepted, the junior field was so thinly staffed that, in addition to the eight direct qualifiers after short-term cancellations or non-appearances of players in the main draw, all players who had previously been eliminated in the qualification moved into the main draw as lucky losers.
This year’s tournament was marked by Rrezart Cungu, Montenegro. He won in the singles after the successful semi-final against the top-seeded Bulgarian Adrian Andreev (6-4, 7-6) in the final against the unseeded Swiss Henry von der Schulenburg 6-4, 6-2. The Swiss U16 international reached the final against qualifier Jonas Forejtek from the Czech Republic with a 6-1 6-4 victory.
Niklas Schell from Hesse defended his previous year’s title in doubles with Rrezart Cungu 6-2 6-1 in the final against the German brothers Kai and Sven Lemstra, who surprisingly moved in there.
In the junior women’s competition, Yarden Akler, Israel, who was seeded fifth, was successful against France’s Juliette Colard 6-3 2-6 6-3. In the semifinals, Akler defeated Germany’s Angelina Wirges 6-4, 7-5. Colard reached the final with 6-3, 7-5 against Oana Smaranda Corneanu, Romania.
The top-seeded doubles pairing of Enola Chiesa, Italy, and Victoria Mikhaylova, Russia, defeated the unseeded Slovakian-Polish duo Katarina Kuzmova and Wiktoria Rutkowska 2-6 6-1 10-8 in the changeable final.

Participants include Eva Lys (#77 singles 24.2.2025, #738 doubles 22.2.2022 – she was the first lucky loser in women’s singles at the Australian Open in 2025 to reach the round of 16), Jonas Forejtek (#1 ITF juniors 2019 with doubles title at Australian Open and French Open as well as singles victory at US Open).

2017 Italy and Switzerland win the titles

The Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy took part in the tournament for the first time with 12 players. For the first time, the finals had to be played according to ITF rules with a chair umpire.
The Swiss team won the tournament in the juniors. Luca Staeheli won the singles title without losing a set. In the final, the top-seeded, tired Ewen Lumsden from Scotland, who appeared unannounced for the tournament and therefore had to play his way into the main draw via three additional qualifying matches, had to pay tribute to the brilliantly placed Staeheli with 1-6 3-6 of the tournament week. In the penultimate round, Lumsden defeated third-seeded German Justin Schlageter 6-3 6-2, while Staeheli won 6-3 6-1 over Enrique Luque Rico of Spain.
In the doubles final, Luca Staeheli and his compatriot Yannik Steinegger defeated the German pairing Fynn Künkler / Bastien Presuhn 6-4 7-5.
In the junior women’s competition, the Italian team left its mark on the tournament with the support of the national coaches. In the singles, the number four seed Costanza Traversi won the final against the surprise finalist Carlota Martinez Sirez from Spain 7-5 4-6 6-3. Traversi was able to take a break in the semi-finals due to the subsequent disqualification of her German opponent Chantal Sauvant, who was already playing her second ITF tournament of the week, contrary to the regulations. Martinez Sirez prevented an all-Italian final with her semi-final victory over the third-seeded Italian Isabella Tscherked Zade 3-6 6-4 6-2.
In the all-Italian doubles final, Isabella Tscherked Zade and Aurora Zantedeschi, seeded three, won 6-4 6-2 over top-seeded Benedetta Ivaldi / Costanza Traversi. Here, too, the latter reached the final without a semi-final match due to Sauvant’s disqualification.

Participants include Dominic Stricker (#88 Singles 2.10.2023, #161 Doubles 27.6.2022)

2018 Introduction of “no let”

“No let” is this year’s innovation of the ITF, which was introduced for singles and doubles. The Porsche Junior Team is taking part in the tournament for the first time.
In the juniors, the two top-seeded players Allan Deschamps and Osman Torski (TC GW Nikolassee) faced each other. Deschamps turned the match around 7-6 and 6-2 after 0-6. Neither had any problems in the penultimate round. Deschamps won 6-1 6-1 against Jakob Cadonau from Aschaffenburg. Torski defeated his compatriot Filip Krolo 6-3 6-1.
In doubles, Allan Deschamps and compatriot Loris Pourroy also won the title 6-3 6-1 over the German pairing of Fynn Kuenkler and Osman Torski.
For the first time since it was founded in 2012, the Porsche Junior Team with Julia Middendorf and Mara Guth, accompanied by national coach Jasmin Wöhr, will be playing in Bruchköbel. And both faced each other in the singles final, which Middendorf won 2-6 6-1 4-3 and Guth retired due to back problems. Guth defeated Slovenian Maja Makoric 6-3 6-3 in the semi-finals. Middendorf had more trouble with the unseeded Lucie Nguyen Tan from France at 7-6 6-4.
The doubles title was won by the random pairing of Estonia, Saara Orav, and Tayla Whitehouse, Australia. In the final, they gave the Swiss Nina Geissler and Lea Magun a lesson in the sweeping victory of 6-0 6-0.

2019 Increased to largest field of participants to date

This year’s ITF new regulation, the third set in the qualification will be replaced by the match tiebreak, allowed the tournament organization to increase the number of qualifying fields in singles to 64. This means that the tournament has reached its largest field of participants to date.
The ITF launched a new brand identity. “ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors” follows “ITF Junior Circuit”. Deutschlandreisen365.de became the new co-namesake.
This year, the top seeds won in the junior women’s singles and doubles. Janos Fekete from Slovakia reached the final after winning the penultimate round with 7-6 4-6 6-2 over Serbian Mili Poljicak. The Frenchman Sean Cuenin awaited him, who caused a surprise with a 6-3 6-4 semi-final victory against the number two seeded German Benito Sanchez Martinez. Fekete won the title with a 6-4 6-3.
Sean Cuenin secured the doubles title with his compatriot Younes Djouder against the German surprise finalists Philip Florig and Neo Niedner 6-2 6-4.
Saara Orav from Estonia dropped only one set during the entire tournament, in the second round. After a 6-2 6-2 victory in the semi-finals over Zdena Safarova, Czech Republic, followed by a 6-0 6-3 in the final against the German Nicole Rivkin. Rivkin was unable to build on the strong performances of the previous days of the tournament in the final, such as the 6-3 6-0 against the second seeded Belgian Hanne Vandewinkel in the semifinals.
In addition, Saara Orav defended the doubles title with her “new” Australian partner Charlotte Kempenaers-Pocz. They won the final 6-4, 6-3 against the number two seeded Belgians Amelie Van Impe and Hanne Vandewinkel.

2020 Covid-19 has the world in its grip – 20th ITF Youth Tournament upgraded to Category 3

On March 11, 2020, the WHO declared the disease caused by the previously unknown coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 a global pandemic. As a result, the ITF, among others, suspended all tennis tournaments. The youth tournament in Hamburg was then cancelled. It was not until the beginning of September that the ITF allowed the resumption of tournaments under strict conditions. The first ITF youth tournament in Germany was then organized by TC Bruchköbel.
The 2020 Australian Open finalist and the 2018 winner were there after the Main-Kinzig district also gave the green light to the hygiene concept presented, a. max including 32 tableaus, fever test when entering the facility including a health questionnaire.
Instead of the traditional last week of June, it was possible to play in the week of September 15 after several postponements. After many years in category 4, ITF-Juniors had upgraded the tournament to category 3, matching the 20th edition.
The Hanauer Anzeiger was involved as a media partner for the first time and has since provided more detailed and frequent press reports. Michel Hotels are the new co-namesake.
The travel restrictions that were still in place allowed only a few overseas players to participate. Since we hosted one of the first tournaments since the tournament ban was lifted, we had the historically strongest fields of participants as guests. The top seeds were Weronika Baszak, Poland, No. 9 in the junior women’s rankings and Raphael Collignon, Belgium, No. 25 in the junior rankings. The cut for the main draw was ranked 555th for the juniors and 618 for the juniors.
Last year’s finalist Sean Cuenin, France, secured the title this time with a smooth 6-1 6-4 victory against the Belgian Pierre Yves Bailly. Both needed only two sets in the semifinals; Cuenin against Martin Katz, Belgium, 6-3 6-0, and Bailly 6-3 6-2 against Germany’s Martin Rehberg.
In the doubles final of the unseeded, the Belgian-British pairing Martin Katz / William Nolan won 6-3 7-6 against the Taym Al Azmeh, Germany, and Geni Inoue, Japan.
In the junior women’s category, Noma Noha Akugue (Club an der Alster) won the title. She defeated the 2018 winner, Julia Middendorf (TV Visbeck) 6-4 6-3, both from the Porsche Junior Team, the German youth academy. Noha Akugue reached the final with a 6-3 6-2 victory over her compatriot Joelle Lilly Sophie Steur. Middendorf had to fight more in the 5-7 6-4 7-5 win against Celine Naef, Switzerland.
Tea Lukic and Joelle Lilly Sophie Steur secured the title extremely narrowly in the all-German final with a 6-2 3-6 10-8 victory over Mia Mack and Julia Middendorf.

2021 Lukic and Steur defend doubles title

The tournament will take place without a co-name sponsor. Due to the economic aftermath of the travel restrictions imposed worldwide since 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, Michel Hotels has reduced its commitment.
Even in the second Corona year, despite the easing of restrictions, they are still clearly noticeable. Nevertheless, the tournament could traditionally be held at the end of June.
In the final of the unseeded juniors, the Swede Isac Stroemberg prevailed 2-6 7-5 6-2 against the Swiss Mika Brunold after more than three and a half hours. Brunold had gone into the final as number 190 in the world rankings after his 6-1 6-0 semi-final victory over top-seeded Antoine Ghibaudo, France. Stroemberg, number 228 in the world, had more trouble in the 7-6 6-3 against the Bulgarian Yanaki Milev.
Victorious in the doubles was the combination of Patrick Schoen, Switzerland, and Ben Weintraub, Israel with a 7-6 6-2 success against the also unseeded German pairing Georg Eduard Israelan and Oliver Olsson.
In the all-German final of the junior women, Ella Seidel from Hamburg won 6-4 5-7 7-6 against Tea Lukic from Ludwigshafen. Seidel advanced to the final with a 6-0 6-2 win over Sonya Macavei, USA, Lukic 7-5 6-0 against Karolina Kozakova, Switzerland.
The doubles pairing of Tea Lukic and Joelle Lilly Sophie Steur defended their previous year’s title. They won the all-German final against Carolina Kuhl and Ella Seidel 6-4 6-1.

2022 Best International Youth Tournament 2022

Our tournament receives a one-time upgrade to Grade 2 by the ITF. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine on several fronts (including via Belarus) on February 24, the ITF, ATP and WTA suspended the memberships of both national tennis federations. Players from Russia and Belarus are still allowed to participate in international tennis tournaments on the tour and at the Grand Slams. However, they will not compete under the name or flag of Russia or Belarus until further notice.
As a result of the international sanctions, entry bans have also been imposed on citizens of Russia and Belarus by the British authorities, among others. In order to enable nationals of these countries to participate in high-level tennis tournaments in the period before Wimbledon (and thus to allow British tournaments to be ranked for the world rankings) on the mainland, we were asked to host a Grade 2 tournament a few weeks before the start of the tournament (due to our ITF classification as the best Grade 3 tournament in 2021). We accepted the requirement and held the second highest ranked ITF youth tournament worldwide during our tournament week.
For the first time, the DTB presented an award for the organization of international youth tournaments in Germany. The surprising award “Best International Youth Tournament 2022” was presented to tournament director Martin Fetzer during the DTB tournament organizers’ conference in autumn. With this, the DTB honored the entire organization and atmosphere at the “HEAD Cup Bruchköbel”.
Michel Hotels had resumed its co-name sponsorship. The field sizes could be increased to 48-player tableaus in singles, the maximum size to be able to hold the tournament on the eight courts of TC Bruchköbel.
The junior singles final was won by the unseeded Bulgarian Iliyan Radulov against Mihai Alexandru Coman, Romania, seeded second in the world rankings, 6-3 6-4. Radulov reached the final with a 6-1 3-6 7-6 victory against David Fix, TC Wolfsberg-Pforzheim. Coman won the semi-finals against the number three of the tournament, the Peruvian Gianluca Ballotta 6-1 7-5.
In doubles, the number one seed, Filip Apltauer, Czech Republic, and Yanaki Milev, Bulgaria, secured the title with a 6-0 7-6 victory over Taym Al Azmeh, Germany, and Romanian Mihai Alexandru Coman.
In the junior women’s final, the winning path of qualifier Darja Suvirdjonkova, Serbia, ended. The 18-year-old Ada Piestrzynska from Poland won the title clearly with 6-1 6-0. Suvirdjonkova needed three sets and three hours in the semi-finals of the qualifiers in a 7-6 4-7 6-4 victory against the Czech Marie Slamenikova, who was ranked only 13 places lower in the world rankings. Piestrzynska had less trouble in the 7-5 6-3 win over Barbora Michalkova of the Czech Republic.
The top-seeded pairing Panna Bartha of Hungary and Ellie Daniels of Canada won the title against the ? Malwina Rowinska, Poland, and Daria Yesypchuk, Ukraine, happily with 5-7 6-4 15-13.

Participants include Max Schönhaus (#15 ITF Juniors 6.1.2025 – Wimbledon Winner Junior Doubles 2024)

Addendum: Meeting and final training of the German W12 national team towards the end of the tournament week at TC Bruchköbel before the departure for the European Championship.

2023 Drama in the junior women’s final – junior winner plays for TC Bruchköbel

As part of the agreed referee cooperation between “Tennis Canada” and the DTSV (German Tennis Referees Association), the tournament was led by Ute Buffotot, who was born in Hanau and has been living in Canada for years, as ITF supervisor.
Rafael Jodar, Spain, who was also registered as a player for TC Bruchköbel this year, arrived with the tournament victory of J200 Gladbeck from the previous week. As the tournament’s number four, Jodar had confirmed his good form after a 6-3 5-7 6-4 victory in the semi-finals over Naoya Honda, Japan, by winning the title 6-3 7-5 against Antonio Voljavec, Croatia. Voljavec had played his way into the final with 6-4 6-2 against the Spaniard Pablo Martinez Gomez.
In the doubles, the unseeded German duo Aaron Funk, Nuremberg, and Lieven Mietusch, Heidelberg, surprised with the happier ending and won the title 5-7 6-2 10-7 in the final against Naoya Honda, Japan, and Andreas Timini, Cyprus.
The Belgian Jeline Vandromme already had the tournament victory in mind. She led 6-4 5-0, only to leave the title to top-seeded Moscow Victoria Milovanova after five match points with 6-4 5-7 1-6. Until the final, Milovanova gave up only 10 games and won her semifinal against Mia Pohankova, Slovakia, 6-0 6-1. Vandromme also convincingly entered the final with a 6-0 6-2 against the German Victoria Pohle (TEC Waldau Stuttgart).
The junior women’s doubles was won by the second seeded Canadians Emma Dong and Scarlett Nicholson 2-6 6-3 10-6 against the unseeded US pairing Maren Urata and Sophia Webster.

Participants include Rafael Jodar (#4 ITF Juniors 9.9.2024 – US Open Winner Junior Singles 2024), Jeline Vandromme (#5 ITF Juniors 20.1.2025)

2024 More junior women than juniors at the start for the first time

At the 24th ITF Junior Tournament of TC Bruchköbel, more junior women than juniors fought for titles and world ranking points for the first time. Due to the takeover of Michel Hotels by the Acht Hotel Group, we lost our co-name sponsor.
The two singles finals were interrupted early by rain during the warm-up. After 30 minutes, it was possible to start late and play without further interruption.
The second-seeded Chinese Fumin Jiang defeated the unseeded Frenchman Evan Simon 6-3 4-6 6-4 after three hours. Already in the semifinals, Jiang needed over three hours to win 7-5 5-7 6-3 over the German Jamie Mackenzie. Simon had less trouble in the 6-0 6-4 over Damir Zhalgasbay, Kazakhstan.
The Spanish-French combination Matteo Morazzi and Evan Simon won the doubles title clearly with 6-2 6-0 against the German duo Jamie Mackenzie and last year’s winner Lieven Mietsch.
In the junior women’s category, 16-year-old Philippa Faerber from Kiel celebrated her greatest success so far. She won the final against Nina Andronicou from Cyprus, who is one year younger, 6-3, 6-4. She finished the semi-finals against Sofia Mykhailets, Ukraine, 6-4 7-5, and Andronicou reached the final with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Koharu Nishikawa, Australia.
The doubles title was won by the top-seeded pairing Melinda Biro, Hungary, and Irem Kurt, Turkey, in a thrilling final against the unseeded Nina Andronicou, Cyprus, and Alja Senica, Slovakia.