Once again, we will welcome some of the best U14-players in the world to the Royal Lawn Tennis Club when Kungens Kanna & Drottningens Pris starts on the 25th of February.
Last year was a great tournament. Our finalists in the girls’ competition Giulia Safina Popa and Anna Pushkareva, also faced off in the final of Les Petits As earlier this year.
Several current players on the ATP and WTA tour played the tournament, with Grand Slam finalists Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas standing above all. So who from this year’s starting field will we see on tour in the next few years?
After postponed competitions due to the pandemic, we are now back to the regular competition date of “week 9”; as always, it takes a great effort from KLTK staff, members and volunteers to make the competition possible.
In this year’s competition, there is a very exciting lineup where, among other players, we get to see Great Britain’s hope Mark Ceban again. Mark was victorious in Les Petits As and also led the team that won European Championships for the U14s last week. In the wake of Casper Ruud, Paul Hjorteland is one of Norway’s great hopes for the future; Paul is ranked top 10 in Europe and will do his best to become the first Norwegian to win Kungens Kanna.
Among the Swedish hopefuls, KLTK’s William Kjellberg is noticeable among others. William is the oldest of a trio of KLTK boys and will have great support in the stands as usual. William qualified for Les Petits As and was part of the Swedish European Championship team and achieved good results at Tennis Europe last fall and is ranked among the top 40 in Europe.
The entire European elite is in place on the girls’ side, including Sofie Hettlerova and Veronika Sekerkova, who just won the European Championships for Teams with their Czech Republic. Left-hander Kali Supova from Slovakia has a big game, and her combination of power and nice stop balls could be a winning recipe in the hall next week.
Swedens’ greatest hope is KLTK’s Rebecca Malmström, ranked among the 30 best girls in Europe and frequently competes internationally. Rebecca is known for her strong serve, and if she gets her offensive tennis to work, she can disrupt any player on court.
We are really looking forward to the 2023 tournament and welcome everybody to Stockholm and the Royal Tennis Hall soon!