Week 44 of 2019 was about gathering strength for TU players for the final month of the season. 

While most of our Juniors were working on the final fine-tuning for the upcoming tournaments, our Pros fought for important ATP points in Germany, China and Australia. 

But also two of our Junior players were battling in competition. 

Nastia Rakita and Izabelle Persson were playing the J4 in Ontario. After winning her first match, Nastia lost to Canadas Frias da Silva in the second round. Sixth seeded Izabelle managed to go deeper than her TU-colleague. In the quarter-finals she took out Corina Spasojevic, the tournaments number two. In the following match the Swede took on Martyna Ostrzygalo, loosing a tight first set tiebreak 10-12. In the following, the second set got lost 2-6.

Despite her second round loss, Nastia Rakita still got the chance to perform on center court during the weekend. In doubles the two TU girls reached the final without dropping a set. There the girls came off second best against the tournaments second seeded team. 

Overall a successful first week in Canadas South for accompanying TU coach Robert Senic: ‚Getting adjusted to the time here and the much faster conditions isn’t easy but the girls really stepped up and did a fantastic job. With juniors it always is about trying to execute the gameplan and strategies we train daily in Offenbach. The first week in Canada really showed that the results will come if the girls execute all these things.’

For Nastia and Izabelle there isn’t much time for rest. On monday the next J4 starts in Burlington.

Also on the challenger tour TU players fought for important ATP points.

In China top talent Jonas Forejtek was in the main draw of the 125 challenger in Shenzhen. In the first round he took down Top 300 player Yunseong Chung in convincing two sets. In his second match, Spaniards Lopez-Perez proved to be too strong on serve for the Czech.

Round two was also the end of the line for Ruben Bemelmans in Eckental this year. Oscar Otte held nerves in tight three sets and got the better of the Belgian on the fast new carpet in the House of Sports. Alongside his doubles partner Daniel Masur, Ruben had more success than in singles. The German-Belgian team made the semifinal where they lost 7-10 in the Championstiebreak.

15,000 kilometres away, Tatsuma Ito was able to take up his successful previous week and reached another semifinal in Playford. After a highly competitive first set got lost 5-7 to James Duckworth, the Japanese was forced to retire at the beginning of the second set. Hopefully Tatsuma recovers quickly and will be able to compete in his first round match at the Challenger in his home country.

home sweet home

At the base in Offenbach most of our Junior players got their final preparations for upcoming tournaments done. Five of of them will play in Luxembourg. Syrias Taym Al-Azmeh and Japans Gen-I Inoue stepped on the plane to fly to the United Arab Emirates to compete at the local J5.

We wish the players and coaches on the road a successful time and lots of new experiences!

other success stories