The Nations Cup draw has now been made and includes Germany 2, Hong Kong China 2, Austria 2, and Great Britain 3 in group A, and Netherlands, Great Britain 2, USA, and France 2 in group B.
Great Britain 2 will be hoping to go one better than last year, where they won all games in their group, and fairly comfortably, but lost to a very strong Hong Kong China team in the final. Their team includes Tom Atherton, who has been achieving great results recently on the UK tour; experienced campaigners Luke Barnes, Jo Shelley, and Jack Bishop; talented young player Ross Wilson; and James Hempstead, a student who was the star of GB4’s silver showing in last year’s Challenge Cup, now rightfully picked two teams higher (even while GB have added a fifth team this year, such is their strength in depth).
Germany, always a solid presence in international racketlon, line up with a typically strong team: Bastian Böhm, Tom Branke, Gregor David, Bastian Holzhäuser, Steffen Neumann, Patrick Oettl, and Alina Reissenauer. One to watch is up-and-comer Bastian Böhm, world no. 14* who was juniors player of the year in 2022, after winning the Juniors U18 Singles World Championship title and then stepping up to Men’s Elite. He recently took the Elite Doubles in Switzerland, with Yannick Andrey. (*Perhaps the highest ranked player ever not to make a country’s first team?!)
Hong Kong China 2 move up to the Nations Cup after triumph in the Challenge Cup last year, where they beat Great Britain 4 in an epic final. The smart money is on that they will be competitive – the racketlon scene in Hong Kong is very active and growing. In fact, some of the squad were committed enough to have travelled to Taiwan (a 95-minute flight) just to practice clay court tennis ahead of Rotterdam.
Great Britain 3 includes the experience of Johnny Bispham and James Langworthy; Alistair Prades making a welcome return to international racketlon; talented young players Rohan Shergill and Jamie Watkin-Rees stepping up to the main teams after successful junior careers; and Satarra Thaker, now a household name on the UK tour with many podium finishes.
Austria 2 include Sandra Ettenauer, Kathrin Widu, Gustav Andree, Philipp Patzelt, Roland Pichler, Florian Prorok (the man behind the great @racketlonmemes Instagram), Johannes Sgiarovello, and Matthias Windbacher.
Koen Hageraats, Maroun Nader, Stan Soels, Paul Twisterling, Guus Van De Burgt, Guidi Weijel, Fabienne Dony, and Kirsten Kaptein will be trying to nab home glory for the Netherlands. Key will be elite player Koen Haageratz, who reached the final of the World Championships Singles in 2022 (losing an epic to Luke Griffiths by seven). He says, “The thing I look forward to the most is to see everyone, and my family will be there because it’s at home.”
The Americans, captained by Patrick Moran, travel over the pond with a mostly unchanged team from last year, hoping to improve on an impressive 3rd place debut in the Nations Cup last year, following promotion from the Challenge Cup the year before. They have Patrick Moran, who seems to play at least one racket sport pretty much every single day (?!); Alex Porush, a TT and squash specialist who got silver in the C last year; squash specialist Andrew Leung; all-rounder Shree Dhond; newcomer Zain Magdon-Ismail; and Steph Chung, who is seemingly never without a racket (usually tennis) whatever part of the world her adventurous life takes her!
Despite the unfortunate clash with the Paris Olympics, the French are still out in force in Rotterdam, with a whopping six open age teams, the most of any nation and testament to the strength of their domestic tour. Their 2s are comprised of Aurelie Bujeau, Julien Castel, Luca Hamon, Jean Michot, Stephane Quiquempois, and, fresh from travelling the world by all means promoting racket sports, Jules Riss.
