While sports tournaments and events remain canceled worldwide, a tennis cup is taking place in Hungary this weekend. All players of the Hungarian tennis elite are taking part in the Budapest Tennis Cup, held between May 22-24 at the National Training Center in the Hungarian capital and will be broadcasted on “M4Sport.”
Miklós Jancsó, coach of the no. 2. Hungarian player Márton Fucsovics, said that “the basic idea came from the fact that all of our leading players are currently at home because of the coronavirus pandemic. Now it is easier to organize a tournament where they can play with each other.” Jancsó added that the concept of the tournament is based on the structure of the Hopman Cup, where in addition to men’s and women’s individual matches, mixed doubles are also played. The coach also said that with the tournament,
maybe we can also help the players in the tennis community who are more affected by the downtime.
Regarding the three groups of the Budapest Tennis Cup, the organizers said that “when we formed the groups, we made sure that the power was balanced. Accordingly, the best male player is matched with the sixth-placed female player, and the top female with the sixth-placed male player.”
The “blue group” also includes the Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky, who currently lives in Hungary and celebrated his greatest career success in 2013 by defeating Roger Federer at Wimbledon.
The players in the tennis cup include Tímea Babos, Réka Jani, Dalma Gálfi, Anna Bodnár, Fanni Stollár, and Adrienn Nagy among the women, and Attila Balázs, Márton Fucsovics, Sergiy Stakhovsky, Zsombor Piros, Fábián Marozsán and Péter Nagy among the men.
photo: Budapest Tennis Cup
Three of the players in the Hungarian tournament are also among the top 100 in their respective world rankings: Tímea Babos, Attila Balázs, and Márton Fucsovics.
Tímea Babos
The Hungarian player has had the greatest success so far in doubles. She triumphed at the Australian Open in 2018, 2020, and at the French Open in 2019, as well as at the WTA Masters in 2017, 2018, and 2019. On July 16, 2018, she became No. 1 in the world rankings.
Highest ranking (singles): 25 (September 19, 2016)
Current place (singles): 98
Attila Balázs
He is a seven-time Hungarian national tennis champion. After Béla von Kehrling, József Asbóth, and István Gulyás, he is the 4th Hungarian player to win at least 6 consecutive national championships. In February 2020, he also reached the TOP 100 in the world rankings.
Highest ranking and current place: 76 (March 2, 2020)
Márton Fucsovics
In 2010, he won singles in Wimbledon and also moved on to the semi-finals of the Australian Open and the US Open. As a result, on July 5, 2010, he reached the top position in the junior world rankings. He has been among the TOP 100 players in the world since 2017.
Highest ranking: 31 (March 4, 2019)
Current place: 84
Yellow group (“Sárga Csoport”)
Adrienn Nagy/Attila Balázs
Dalma Gálfi/Zsombor Piros
Réka Jani/Fábián Marozsán
Blue group (“Kék csoport”)
Fanni Stollár/Márton Fucsovics
Anna Bondár Anna/Sergiy Stakhovsky
Tímea Babos/Péter Nagy
featured photo: Budapest Tennis Cup