Offenbach Junior event promoted to Grade A status in 2022
Offenbach will play host to one of the premier ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors tournaments from next season after the event was promoted to Grade A status by the International Tennis Federation.
The move puts the German clay-court event on a par with the four Grand Slam Junior draws, as well as long-standing leading junior tournaments, including the Banana Bowl in Criciuma, Brazil; the Trofeo Bonfiglio in Milan, Italy; the Orange Bowl in Florida, USA; and events in Osaka, Japan, Merida, Mexico and Cape Town, South Africa.
The ITF Junior Committee promoted Offenbach to Grade A status after reviewing a shortlist of six Grade 1 events based in Europe. As a result, from 2022 there will be seven Grade A events in the tournament calendar, alongside the Junior Grand Slams.
The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Offenbach tournament dates back to 1993, when the event was held in Frankfurt before moving to its current home in 2005, and enjoys a first-class reputation among players, coaches and parents.
Traditionally played on clay in the week following Roland Garros, it was granted Grade 1 (J1) status in 2001, since when the likes of Tomas Berdych, Victoria Azarenka, Pablo Carreno Busta, Ana Konjuh, Barbora Krejcikova and Hyeon Chung have claimed the singles titles.
In addition to its upgraded status, the tournament will move from its traditional June berth to an earlier date in the ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors calendar. The 2022 event will be played in the week commencing April 25, 2022. Both the 2020 and 2021 editions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The ITF World Tennis Tour Juniors Offenbach has been one of the most popular tournaments on the calendar for over 20 years and the ITF is looking forward to upgrading it to Grade A from 2022,” said David Haggerty, President of the ITF.
“The Grade A tournaments, along with the Junior Grand Slams, are the most prestigious events on the Junior Tour and offer the best young talents the competitive experience they need to be successful in professional sport.”
German Tennis Federation (DTB) Vice-President Dirk Hordorff added: “To receive the license for a youth tournament at the highest international level is a great honour, and confirmation of the work done by the organisers. This makes Germany one of the few nations in the world that has ITF Junior tournaments in all categories.”
“This is a proud moment,” Kai Burkhardt, President of the Hessian Tennis Association (HTV) that organises the Offenbach event, said. “Now, of course, we hope that we can again welcome many spectators to the course at the premiere of the Grade A event next year.”