World Tour & Challengers Announced for 2019

FIR World Tour 2019 + Challenger Tournaments

A huge amount of work and energy has gone into developing the World Tour & Challenger tournaments for 2019. I’m very proud of what we have been able to put together for next year and I think it represents the most exciting Tour I can remember for many years: 14 World Tour tournaments and 3 Challengers (with more Challengers set to be announced throughout the season) across 14 different countries. The Tour has officially been approved by the newly formed FIR Council.

I have been very keen to bring in some new tournaments and fresh ideas onto the Tour for 2019 to try and keep things interesting and exciting.  I think it’s vital that we can keep offering something different to the players each year, which will also help Racketlon to develop in new cities and new countries. The staging of well organised, well promoted World Tour tournaments is one of the best ways to ignite lots of local interest and bring new players into the sport.

So expanding the Tour and bringing Racketlon to new cities across Europe and to new countries outside of Europe is a key part of our plan over the next few years – 2019 is just the start of this process. Exciting times are ahead if you’re a Racketlon player!

Here are a few selected points about next year’s Tour:

Swedish Open – ever since the iconic 2012 World Championships, the Racketlon world has been desperate to return to the famous Enskede Rackethall in Stockholm. I’m very glad that October 2019 will see this glorious return!

Victor Racketlon Series – brand new for 2019 will be a 3 tournament series, sponsored by Victor, which visits Berlin, Riga and Malta, where those players who score the most ranking points across these 3 tournaments will receive some very special Victor prizes. All the details about the Victor Racketlon Series will be made in a separate announcement.

Brand new IWT in Berlin. An exciting new tournament in the spring sunshine of Berlin with a high quality Racketlon centre and a tournament hotel right in the heart of the city that is walking distance from Checkpoint Charlie and the historic sights of one of Europe’s great cities. The Berlin Open will be a fantastic new addition to the World Tour.

Brand new Challenger in London (with grass court tennis)  This Challenger will see the worldwide Racketlon community invited to one of the most exclusive sports clubs in the whole of the UK. The Roehampton Club in South London is an unbelievable facility: gardens, fountains, a golf course, wine bars, restaurants and is where the qualifying tournament for Wimbledon takes place.

And yes, this will mean that the London Open Challenger will use the 10 grass courts for the tournament!

World Championships 2019 The KOR team, along with the full support of Oudenaarde City Council will be hosting the Doubles World Championships on the Thursday and Friday before their annual SWT King of Rackets. There is no doubt that the team behind the most popular tournament of the year will put on a great show!

The Teams & Singles World Champs will be in Braunschweig, Germany (near Hanover) at a fantastic hotel and sports complex called Vienna House, where players will be able to walk from their rooms straight onto the courts in less than a minute. It is set to be a very special 5 days of Racketlon for all the players and supporters with plans to present the sport in some unique and exciting new ways. It will be the perfect finale to what should be a memorable year for the sport.

Please see the list of tournaments below. Full details of all the tournaments will be released over the coming months.

Duncan Stahl / FIR Executive President