Tennis is also flourishing in Catalonia
Anyone who travels through Catalonia has a lot to tell. Even as a professional tennis player.
by Florian Heer
last edit:
May 23, 2024, 07:13 pm
By Florian Heer from Mataró
When you think of Catalonia, a variety of images and associations immediately spring to mind that make this region in northeastern Spain so unique. The region, with its capital Barcelona, is known for its rich culture, stunning landscapes and a proud, independent identity that is deeply rooted in history.
Catalonia offers a wide variety of landscapes. The Pyrenees in the north attract visitors with their snow-capped peaks and offer excellent opportunities for winter sports and hiking. The Costa Brava in the east is a paradise for sun worshippers and water sports enthusiasts. In addition, the fertile plains of the Ebro Delta in the south are an important habitat for flora and fauna and a place of natural beauty.
But Catalonia is also known for its wealth of professional tennis. This is exactly what fans and players in the autonomous community with its four provinces were able to experience this spring. From March to May, eight tournaments were held in Torelló, Les Franqueses de Vallés, Badalona, Tarragona, Reus, Sabadell, Valldoreix and Vic as part of the ITF World Tennis Men's Tour. There were also the ATP Challenger events in Girona and El Prat de Llobregat. The latter was held at the Tennis Academy of former top 10 star Emilio Sanchez Vicario. The clay court swing was crowned by the Barcelona Open, the only ATP 500 tournament in Spain, where Rafael Nadal celebrated an emotional farewell this year.
For comparison, only the BMW Open, three Challenger events and four tournaments on the men's ITF Pro Circuit took place in Germany during this period.
Wide support for the tournament series
"The love of the sport is very great here," says Nicola Kuhn, who was active on the tour for Spain from 2016 to 2021, but is now competing under the German flag again. "There are many clubs that organize national tournaments. Then the jump to the international level is not quite as big. The Spanish Tennis Federation has also invested a lot of money this year to help the tournaments. This is then also visible and gives the younger players in particular more opportunities to play an event every week. This seems to work very well."
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Kuhn lives in Torrevieja, a city on the Costa Blanca in the province of Alicante, and has taken part in much of the swing in Catalonia. He has been quite successful: in Valldoreix, the 24-year-old reached the final, narrowly losing to former top 25 player Martin Klizan. In Reus, he won his first title of the season.
"For me, the tournaments here are ideal and easy to reach by car. The week in Reus was very nice. The people at the club are all very nice. The stands were also well filled, which is not always the case at a Futures event," Kuhn said.
High power density
"The level of the tournaments here is enormous," explained Ignacio Buse, tournament winner of the ITF M25 event in Vic, following his third success on the Pro Circuit. The 20-year-old Peruvian trains in Barcelona and is happy about the many international tournaments in the region. "The Spanish Tennis Federation is doing a good job. There are many opportunities for us to take part in international events."
With the third edition of the Torneig Internacional Ciutat de Mataró, the tennis fiesta comes to a temporary end this week with the ninth ITF tournament in Catalonia. However, the traveling circus will return in the autumn. Two more Pro Circuit events will be held this year in Sabadell and Barcelona.