What a lovely Sunday it was in the Royal Hall. After the qualifying finals, the Tennis Europe Junior School was held for the players, the Coaches Meeting for the players’ coaches and the traditional opening ceremony with around 170 players from 36 nations on the famous Royal Center Court.
On Monday, it’s time for the main draw with some of Europe’s and the world’s best 14-year-olds. KKDP is a Super Category Tennis Europe competition and the Nordic region’s most prestigious junior event.
Both of the first-seeded players in the girls’ and boys’ classes come from the Czech Republic. Jana Kovackova tops the Tennis Europe rankings while Richard Krizan is second among the boys.
Kovackova meets Elin Brönnvall, Danderyds TK, in the first round and Krizan also meets a Swede: Eric Ten, Åby TK.
Other players to be reckoned with are Daniella Britton from Great Britain and Xinran Sun from China, who incidentally met in the final in Tim Essonne in Paris on Sunday. The British player meets in his first match Mimmie Büchler, Helsingborg’s TK. Joyce Geng from Canada is another exciting name.
In the boys’ final in Paris, Alex Tuomolin from Finland met Eric Lorimer, Great Britain, who are both in the starting field in Stockholm. By the way, Finland has three players that are directly qualified.
Among the Swedish talent, we can mention Grace Bernstein, who trains at Good to Great, and William Repakis, Upsala TK.
Monday’s games start at 10:30. It is game on! – a warm welcome to The Royal Tennis Club of Stockholm.