50 Years of International Junior Tennis at the „Rot-Weiss“
For generations of tennis players world-wide, the name LTTC „Rot-Weiss“ has, during the complete post-war period since 1950, had a particularly special ring to it. For many, it was the place where they took their first tentative steps in international tennis. Some of them celebrated their first successes on these grounds, others gained initial experience for their later triumphs. The International Junior Championships of Berlin were an integral part of the „Junior World Ranking Calendar“ of the International Tennis Federation and belonged to the most popular events world-wide on the Junior Tour.
Belonging to the (later) most prominent winners among the girls were Almut Sturm (1959), Katrin Pohmann (1973), Eva Pfaff (1976), Barbara Paulus (1988) and Anke Huber (1989). The list of boys winners is even more impressive: With Wolfgang Stuck, Hajo Ploetz, Wilhelm Bungert, Harald Elschenbroich, Hans-Juergen Pohmann, Karl Meiler, Uli Pinner, Peter Elter, Klaus Eberhard, Wolfgang Popp, Patrick Kuehnen and Boris Becker (1983, two years before his Wimbledon triumph), many of the best German juniors of their time entered their names in the winners list. Among the international stars were winners Yannik Noah (1976), Bjoern Borg (1969 to 1971) und Pat Cash (1980).
But there were many participants who did not appear in the winners list and made their international breakthrough at a later date, for example Mats Wilander, Stefan Edberg, Steffi Graf und Claudia Kohde. With so many prominent names it is worth taking a glance at the history of the junior tournaments at the „Rot-Weiss“.
When W. A. Bruckmann, at that time a member of board of directors at Rot-Weiss responsible for junior tennis, launched the „International Junior Championships of Berlin“ in 1950, he definitely could not have envisaged that this event would become one of the most significant cornerstones for the promotion of Berlin’s and Germany’s tennis youth. According to the legend, 50 Deutschmarks out of his own pocket sufficed in order to cover the event’s budget. But of course this was a very modest start. It was only during the 1950’s (with the first international guests from Switzerland and Sweden) and the 60’s that the tournament developed to become a junior event with European dimensions.
„Rot-Weiss“ became the most prestigious venue for junior tournaments in Europe and it was therefore obvious that they should hold the first European Junior Championships in 1976, 2 years after the incorporation of the European Tennis Association. It was an excellent premiere. A year later the German Tennis Federation, as a consequence of the developments at that time, launched the International German Junior Championships. It seemed to be a brilliant idea to hold the tournament in annual rotation in Berlin and Moenchengladbach, because the „Gladbachers“ had in the meantime also built-up a successful junior tournament. The idea was good, but the implementation proved to be a more difficult matter. During the division of East and West Germany, Berlin was not necessarily loved - even by German officials - and resistance had also to be overcome from this corner in the Tennis Federation. The greatest difficulties were however faced on the international political platform. Because the Eastern bloc countries - just as the GDR – did not accept West Berlin as an integral part of West Germany and therefore could not perform any sovereign functions, the “International Junior Championships of Germany” in the divided city were from this point of view a political affront by the “FRG” and were promptly boycotted. As far as players from the GDR were concerned, this was not a great problem as, although tennis was tolerated as a sport there, it was not politically sponsored. A more profound problem was the absence of junior players from other Eastern bloc countries, in particular from the then Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia, who at that time and despite all adversities were renowned for their youth development work. Berliners and the politically interested can certainly still remember such terms as the „Three State Theory“ or the „Autonomous Political Entity West-Berlin”. At all events, the boycott lead to the fact that the line-up for the tournament continually diminished qualitatively, it received a lower classification in the international tournament calendar, and at the beginning of the 1980’s the German Tennis Federation finally awarded the tournament completely to Moenchengladbach.
„Rot-Weiss“ had in the meantime other, greater tasks to accomplish: Since 1979, the club was host to the world’s best women’s tennis players at the „German Open“ and the development of the women’s championships required utmost concentration. For a number of years the junior championships were held parallel to the women’s tournament, but 1990 was for the time being the end of the line. In the following 2 years two brilliant junior events were held, with the European Championships for up to 14 year-olds (1991) and the European Championships for all agegroups (1992) on the „Rot-Weiss“ grounds (in both cases the club stood-in on short notice). A fundamental interest however was no longer present within the club.
It was due to Eberhard Wensky, memeber of board of directors and Manager of the Club, that, despite all obstacles, the idea of an international junior tournament lived on. The first attempt in 1996 failed when Moenchengladbach gave up the International Junior Championships for financial reasons and “Rot-Weiss” was quasi confirmed by the German Tennis Federation as the successor. At that time the executives of the club regarded an existing financial gap as far too risky. Although the gap was breached 14 days later, the decision could no longer be reversed: The German Tennis Federation had in the meantime decided in favour of ETUF Essen. This was a pity for Berlin, but was an excellent choice, as it transpired that the Essener set new benchmarks for European youth tournaments with their beautiful grounds on the Baldeneysee Lake and excellent support and organization.
The second opportunity arrived at the beginning of 2001, when a favourable constellation appeared in the ITF junior calendar for a junior tournament in Berlin. They could however only seize the chance after acquiring the Dorint AG as a sponsor, which met a considerable part of the budget totalling 250,000 DM. Alfred Weiss, member of board of directors of Dorint and who was closely associated with the club over many years, could quickly be won-over for a positive decision. The fact that Dorint supported the German International Junior Championships until 1995 in Moenchengladbach (the headquarters of Dorint) surely played a small roll. Also, the Dresdner Bank, AIR-BERLIN, Mercedes-Benz, EUROCARD and Dunlop Sport offered their support for the event, and help also came from the Tennis Association of Berlin-Brandenburg. The re-start began as the „Dorint Berlin Junior Open“ - a grade 3 in the international tournament calendar. The line-up was superb and produced a fantastic girls’ final between Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Maria Kirilenko (RUS), which Groenefeld decided in her favour in three tight sets. In the meantime their roads have often crossed on the WTA Tour and both have reached positions among the top 20 in the world rankings.
Since 2002, the Berlin Junior Open is „only“ a Grade 4 tournament in the international junior calendar. Because of the difficult tennis situation in Germany, it was not possible to arouse the enthusiasm of enough sponsors to bear the funds for the hotel costs for the players by the organizer, one of the prerequisites for the classification of a Grade 3. But this has had no influence on the professional organization of the tournament whatsoever.
After 3 years of support, with the event in 2003 the Dorint Group withdrew from their sponsorship for corporate reasons. One cannot thank the responsible parties at the Dorint Group enough, especially Alfred Weiss, for their support. Without their help the renaissance of international junior tennis would not have been possible in Berlin.
We are also very grateful and pleased about the fact that the airline airberlin and their tennis-enthusiastic Chief Executive Officer and friend of „Rot-Weiss“, Achim Hunold, have stepped into the breach to take the role as the new title sponsor. Also, the Hotel InterContinental Berlin has expanded its support for the event and now „presents“ the Junior Tournament as co-sponsor. Since 2004, the new title is: airberlin junior open presented by the Hotel InterContinental Berlin. For 2008 (and hopefully for many more years to come) it was possible to win Vattenfall as a further prominent enterprise for the support of international junior tennis in Berlin. Vattenfall’s commitment again makes it possible not only to offer the participants free board but also free hotel accommodation, which is one of the important prerequisites for an „upgrade“ to Grade 3 for the coming years. The ITF has already signalized that it will accredit this higher ranking if the field of players again in 2008 offers the appropriate quality. In view of the fact that the other sponsors Mercedes-Benz, Dunlop Sport, Apollinaris, Wolfram and Lahr EDV have indicated their prospective support, the future of the event seems to be secure in the long term. At this point we should not forget the generous patronage received from the State Sport Association of Berlin and the Tennis Association of Berlin-Brandenburg, who to a great extent helped balancing the € 50,000 tournament budget.
Since 2009 the situation of the Berlin Junior Tournament has changed fundamentally. The German Tennis Federation has awarded its “International Junior Championships” to Berlin. It is a “Grade 1” tournament in the international tournament calendar of the ITF. The LTTC „Rot-Weiss“ has therefore regained a position in the front row of the hosts of international junior tennis events with a tournament which follows in its significance right after the four Grand Slam events (Australian Open, French Open, US Open and Wimbledon). Let’s hope that the “airberlin german juniors” will replace the former “airberlin junior open” for a long time to come.
In the introduction we mentioned W.A. Bruckmann, whose idea it was at the beginning in 1950 to hold initially a national, and then an international junior tournament on the beautiful grounds on the Hundekehle Lake. This idea still endures. Let us hope that „Rot-Weiss“ and Berlin will continue to fulfil the role as host as successfully as they have done for the last 49 years.
