Marc-Kevin Goellner brings new Challenger to Germany
Marc-Kevin Goellner, former Davis Cup player, and organizer Marc Raffel will enrich the tournament landscape in Germany with another ATP Challenger tournament in June. The event will take place from 22.05. until May 29th, 2022 at TC RW-Troisdorf.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Mar 03, 2022, 11:44 am
During his time as a tennis pro, Goellner not only set playful accents when he defeated Ivan Lendl in the final in Nice in 1993 and celebrated his first tournament win. The second and last followed three years later in Marbella, where Goellner beat Alex Corretja twice in a tie-break in the final. Goellner was also part of several German Davis Cup teams, so his success in the decisive match against Horst Skoff in Unterpremstätten in 1994 was unforgettable. A year earlier, the now 51-year-old had defeated Australia 4-1 with Germany in the final and won the title.
No, Goellner also shaped all subsequent generations in terms of fashion: namely with his cap that was put on the wrong way round. This variant has found many imitators - at the moment it is performed most successfully by Matteo Berrettini.
And now Marc-Kevin Goellner will organize an ATP Challenger tournament together with the Cologne organizer Marc Raffel. Namely at the TC RW-Troisdorf. Why there and not in neighboring, much larger Cologne? "That's a difficult question," Goellner is quoted as saying in a press release. "I believe that many structures are already very stuck and find it difficult to allow or promote new things. Fortunately, the support for our ATP tournament in Troisdorf is very broad. The district administrator, mayor and the organizing club are all pulling together with us. And without wanting to praise ourselves too much, but Marc Raffel and I already have a tremendous amount of expertise that obviously makes events like the Saturn Oil Open possible."
Goellner also calls for more ITF tournaments
Now there are a few opportunities in Germany to score points in Challenger tournaments. Compared to Italy, for example, there are simply too few events. "The organization of such an event consumes an enormous amount of time and responsibility," Goellner continues. "However, the RW Troisdorf association and the region support us in a very exemplary manner. And then you need people who can take risks and tackle it. Bringing all this together is a big challenge that many shy away from. In my opinion, you should also have more ITF Organize tournaments in Germany - i.e. the beginner's tournaments - in order to create an interesting tournament landscape for young German players."
Organizer Marc Raffel took the same line. "The German tennis tournament landscape urgently needs new events and a clear concept. After the big tournaments in Munich, Hamburg and Halle, there are important ATP Challenger tournaments in Heilbronn, Braunschweig, Eckenthal, Ismaning, Lüdenscheid and Meerbusch. These are not just popular ones Events for the entire region but also an important playing field for our German professionals. In this area, the organizers need to get a lot more support from the associations, there is still a lot of room for improvement." And they want to use it in Troisdorf for the first time in May 2022.