The IC of GB takes home the Gottfried von Cramm Trophy 2025

The Frankfurt Tennisclub 1914 Palmengarten was the venue at the end of August for the second Gottfried von Cramm Trophy, a team competition in which one women's singles, one men's singles and a mixed doubles are held in each match. While the two singles are played normally, the mixed doubles is a championship tiebreak. In each match between two teams, the winner can reach a maximum of 3 points. For example, if a team wins both singles but loses the championship tiebreak, 2 points go to the winner and 1 point to the loser.

In Frankfurt, five teams from six nations participated: Spain, Great Britain, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland in conjunction with Canada. Due to the odd number of teams, the format required all teams to play everyone else.

After three rounds, the teams from Spain and Great Britain were in the lead. In the last game of the tournament (against Germany), the British took the points to pass Spain and win the trophy. Below is the final ranking and the individual players:

1. Great Britain (Emily Arbuthnott, Pedro Ocana)
2. Spain (Isabel Fernandez, Carlos Garcia Villanieva)
3. Germany (Natali Gumbrecht, Tim Richter)
4. Luxembourg (Tatiana Silbereisen)
5. Switzerland / Canada (Kasia Poplawski)

The Tennis Ball

On Saturday 10th November 2018 over 500 guests descended upon the London Hilton Park Lane, to help raise money for two of Britain’s leading tennis charities; Give It Your Max (GIYM) and the IC Philanthropic Programme (ICP).  

The ball was compered by leading Sky Sports presenter Marcus Buckland, with a key note speech by Sir Trevor Mcdonald, who is Patron of both charities.   Leading British comedian Dominic Holland entertained the guests and speed painter Dave Sharp painted two spectacular portraits of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic which were auctioned that evening and will be signed by both players.

Money was raised through a raffle, donations and auction items.  The live auction was a great success, skilfully directed by the entertaining and highly regarded auctioneer Charlie Ross.  

Tim Henman and Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow MP were amongst the many personalities present.  Guests danced into the early hours to The All Time All-Stars, 10 piece band. 

Tim Henman, former British Tennis No.1 and GIYM Patron said:
“The Tennis Ball is a wonderful event for two fantastic charities. I’ve worked closely with Give It Your Max and the work they do is really helping to enhance the life of so many children. The money raised from this year’s Tennis Ball will help them to grow their programme to even more areas across the UK.”

Honorary President of The Tennis Ball John Beddington said:

“The fifth Tennis Ball was the most successful we have held yet, raising much needed funds for GIYM and IC Philanthropy – much more than we could have ever expected. This money will go to these two very worthwhile charitable tennis initiatives, giving many children all over the world the opportunity to play tennis.”

The Tennis Ball was supported by Linklaters, Zoo Communications, Maui Jim and City AM.

For more information and to view the video from the night visit http://www.thetennisball.co.uk

Pictures from the night can be seen in the gallery below and by Clicking here