Invitation series of the DTB: venues and fields of participants have been determined
The A new series of invitation tournaments organized by the German Tennis Association (DTB) is taking shape: the venues and fields of participants have now been determined. Jan-Lennard Struff (ATP 34) for men and Laura Siegemund (WTA 68) for women will lead the purely German competitions. The tournament rounds start in the week of June 8th and will take place until July 26th with the finals in ten different cities.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 07, 2020, 02:19 pm
The first matches of the national tournament series will take place in Troisdorf (North Rhine-Westphalia), Überlingen (Baden-Württemberg), Großhesselohe (Bavaria) and Neuss (North Rhine-Westphalia) with the men's preliminary round. Among them will be Germany's number two, Jan-Lennard Struff. The Warsteiner is the top-seeded player in the competition, in which 32 men will take part. "I think this idea is just cool. The DTB gives many players the opportunity to collect match practice and also earn some money. Therefore, the tournament invitation series is very important for us, ”Struff recently said in an interview with the DTB.
Struff gets competition from his Davis Cup teammate Dominik Koepfer, who is currently ranked 92nd in the ATP ranking. Double specialist and French Open winner Kevin Krawietz will also be there. The men's finals will take place in Großhesselohe.
Announcement of the games at "Kasi Live"
The 24-member women's competition contests the preliminary round in Darmstadt (Hesse), Versmold (North Rhine-Westphalia) and Stuttgart (Baden-Württemberg). She is led by Fed Cup player Laura Siegemund. The world rankings-65. will have to compete with Anna-Lena Friedsam (WTA 106) or the Porsche Talent Team players Alexandra Vecic and Jule Niemeier. The venue for the women's final round is Versmold.
"I am pleased that the planning for the tournament series continues. It was very well received by the players, which can also be seen in the attractive fields of participation. Everyone involved will benefit from this important action in a difficult situation, ”says DTB President Ulrich Klaus.
The announcement of the individual groups and their respective venues will take place next Monday (May 11th) and Tuesday (May 12th) in the Instagram talk format "Kasi live" with Christopher Kas (@tennisnetnews). DTB Head of Women's Tennis Barbara Rittner will be there for the women on Monday. The men's groups followed on Tuesday with Davis Cup captain Michael Kohlmann. The start is at 6:00 p.m.
The mode of the tournament series
First, the professionals duel in a preliminary round to qualify for the intermediate round. There the participants of the semi-final round will be determined before the finalists play for the title. It is played in groups of four according to the round robin principle, two groups in parallel at one location. All participants play against each other once in a group over three tournament days. The placement games take place across the groups on the fourth day of the preliminary round. The top four of each venue qualify for the intermediate round, places five to eight continue to play in a bonus round. The winners of the bonus rounds can come to the semi-finals as lucky losers if they are canceled at short notice. When awarding the Lucky Loser slots, the lot decides between players of the bonus groups who are ranked equally.
In times of the corona pandemic, all matches will be played under special conditions. The health of the players and everyone involved, as well as compliance with the requirements of the federal and state governments have top priority. For example, the matches are only played with a chair umpire and without line judges and ball children.