The IWT Berlin Open is held in a city which is rich in recent history. Berlin was famously split by the Berlin Wall before it’s fall in November 1989 and during Cold War was seen as a significant centre of espionage, due to its divided nature. This period of a divided Germany before re-unification in October 1990 has left behind many sights to see in the now unified Berlin, including Checkpoint Charlie, the Brandenburg Gate, and the Berlin Wall Memorial. However, Berlin does not just have its history to offer, as it is also renowned for its vibrant and diverse nightlife, meaning that it is a brilliant city to visit no matter your interests.
Fast forward to Racketlon in Berlin. The last IWT event to be held in Berlin was the inaugural Berlin IWT
Open which was held in 2019. This event saw a large turnout, with all ninety available places being taken up, leading to a great tournament full of extremely experienced and highly ranked players. Many of the players used it as a warmup for the 2019 world doubles tournament which took place only a few weeks later. There was an extremely competitive field in all of the categories, but particularly in the Men’s A and Women’s A which saw four of the men’s top 10 players in the draw and two of the women’s top 10, as well as the previous runner up in the 2018 World Championships, Astrid Reimer-Kern, and the return of a previous world number two, Amke Fischer, after two years out.
Naturally, this led to some epic matches with two extremely tense finals, despite a sickness bug wiping out many of the players, meaning that no men’s semi-finals were played. After two very tight encounters, Rav Rykowski came through and won the men’s final against Kresten Hougaard, while Astrid Reimer-Kern won the women’s final, beating the number one seed, Zuzana Severinova.
As we look forwards to this year’s event, we can see many similarities to the one held 6 years ago. To start with both Anna-Klara Ahlmer and the previous men’s singles champion Rav Rykowski are playing, as well as Sylvain Ternon, Cornelius Radermacher, Thorsten Lentfer and Micheal Horacek. Not only this but the Men’s A and Women’s A are also extremely strong, with six of the world’s top ten women playing and two of the top ten men playing in the elite singles categories. Berlin is also once again a great opportunity for doubles pairs to practise together one last time before the world doubles, which is being held in Switzerland this year in two weeks’ time.
However, despite these similarities, let’s hope that there is no repeat of the sickness bug which ended many of the players’ tournament in 2019!! Although, not only will the Berlin Open be a fantastic chance to compete with the world’s best players, but it will also be a great opportunity to soak up the sights of Berlin and socialise with fellow Racketlon players, with two nights’ out scheduled, and a BBQ and prize giving ceremony tofinish off the weekend.
Holly Ranson
