SCHWIEBERDINGEN, December 15, 2017
The entry list for the first ITF Pro Circuit event in 2018 held on German soil has been revealed on Thursday. World No. 269 Marek Jaloviec from the Czech Republic leads the line-up for the Südwestbank Tennis Grand Prix held at the Tennis King Academy in Schwieberdingen from 8 to 14 January 2018.
The 23-year-old leftie from Ostrava will be the top contender for the title of the $15,000 Futures event but will face tough competition. Defending champion Evgeny Karlovskiy of Russia will return to Schwieberdingen. The Moscow native rallied back from a set down to overcome Yaraslau Shyla of Belarus to eventually lift the trophy last year. Karlovskiy added two more Future titles later in the season.
Jan Choinski, 2015 champion Daniel Masur as well as Robin Kern and Elmar Ejupovic will build a strong German contingent in Swabia.
Young Guns In Schwieberdingen
21-year-old Italian Gianluigi Quinzi is one representative of several #NextGenATP players coming to Schwieberdingen. In 2012 Quinzi entered in the history of Italian tennis, as he won the 2012 Junior Davis Cup with Filippo Baldi. It has been the first time ever in tennis history that Italy won this competition. On January 1, 2013 Quinzi reached his best ranking of World No.1 in the ITF Junior rankings being the first Italian player ever to obtain this result.
Quinzi, who was noticed by the talent scout Nick Bollettieri at the age of eight and offered him a scholarship to his academy, obtained his first ATP point in September 2011 at the 2011 Mazatlán Open beating the Swiss tennis player Luca Margaroli in the first round. Two years later he captured his first ITF Futures trophy in Morocco.
In 2017 he mainly played at ATP Challenger level, reaching the semi-finals in Lisbon. The left-hander finished the season by qualifying for the inaugural NextGen ATP Finals in Milan, winning a wildcard tournament. Quinzi is currently ranked World No. 330.
Austrian teenager Yuri Rodionov is also part of the young guns playing at the indoor carpet event. The 18-year-old competed in the main draw of an ATP Challenger for the first time this year, qualifying impressively before reaching the quarterfinals at the Prague Challenger. He was then handed a wild card into qualifying at the ATP 250 event in Kitzbühel, but could not reach the main draw.
The qualifying of the Südwestbank Tennis Grand Prix will take place from 7 to 9 January 2018. Main draw action starts on 9 January.
For more information, please visit the tournament’s website.
