TK Grün-Weiss Mannheim

Grün-Weiss Mannheim eV tennis club
Regional association:
Founding:	1900
Club colors:	Green white
Contact:	Tennis Club Grün-Weiss Mannheim eV ; Neckarplatt 11 ; 68259 Mannheim
Website:	http://www.gruen-weiss-mannheim.de/
Board:
Number of places:	Total: 21 ; outdoor ; courts: 18 (clay) indoor courts: 3
Audience capacity:	Center Court: 3600 seats ; Court 1: 1200 seats ; Court 10: 1200 seats
Members:	900 As of September 2016
Game operation:	Men: 1st Tennis Bundesliga 2019; Women: Baden League 2019 ;

The Grün-Weiss Mannheim eV tennis club is a tennis club from Mannheim , whose first men's team is a member of the 1st Bundesliga and in 2019 was able to achieve the title of German team champion for the eighth time.

The club was formed in 1948 from the merger of the two traditional clubs Lawn-Tennisklub Mannheim (on Friedrichsring, founded in 1900) and the tennis and tournament club Grün-Weiss Mannheim (on Neckarplatt, founded in 1928). With around 1000 members, it is the largest tennis club in Baden and, as a member of the Leading Tennis Clubs of Germany, one of the most traditional tennis clubs in Germany. The most prominent members include Steffi Graf and Boris Becker. On over 50,000 square meters, the club has 18 clay courts, three indoor courts, an outdoor swimming pool, a clubhouse with restaurants, an office and green spaces.

In addition to the first men's team, several senior teams are also represented in the highest German leagues. A total of 35 teams in various age groups are currently taking part in the association games (as of 2019), including eleven youth teams.

history

1900-1919

In the spring of 1900 an advertisement appeared in a Mannheim newspaper. In this way, they were looking for "women and men with a great spirit of enterprise to found the first Mannheim tennis club". But everyone else agreed on the desire to practice white sport in a community and on a large scale. The Lawn Tennis Club Mannheim was founded on July 14, 1900, the first venue of which was on the Friedrichsring, where the National Theater is today. The annual fee was set at twenty marks .

Since some LTK members cultivated the close connection between tennis and hockey from an early age, the first game with a stick was played on the racing fields in 1905 and the Mannheimer Hockey Club was founded in 1907 , which was given a playing field on the grounds of the Lawn Tennis Club in 1915 .

1920-1932

At the beginning of the 1920s, the LTK, along with the TC Blau-Weiss Berlin , matured into one of the leading addresses in tennis at the time. As early as 1921, the men's team reached the semifinals of the German club championship; but then it had to admit defeat to the Leipzig sports club . A year later, in 1922, LTK Mannheim won the German team championship with a 7-2 victory in the final against LTC Düsseldorf. Second place was achieved two years later; the club lost 7-2 to the Berliner SC in the final .

In 1925, the LTK dropped the “Lawn” and henceforth operated as the “Mannheim Tennis Club”. 16 playing fields, arranged in two long lines, including two championship courses, allowed for an orderly sporting activity. The association now had over 500 members.

On July 14, 1928, the Grün-Weiss eV tennis and tournament club was founded on Mannheim's Neckarplatt. The facility comprised 11 all-weather courses, including a low-lying championship course that offered space for around 2000 spectators. There was a friendly rivalry with the tennis club at Goetheplatz. In 1936 the area was expanded to include a swimming pool - largely financed by donations.

1933-1946

The racial policies of the new rulers hit both tennis clubs hard in 1933. The discrimination against the Jewish members could not be prevented. According to the law, every sports community had to include the Aryan paragraph in its statutes. In short: Exclusion of all Jewish members from the governing bodies and tournament teams. The period from 1939 to 1945 caused great damage to Mannheim tennis as a whole, as in addition to the exclusion of Jewish members, many others fell victim to the war.

Although all associations were considered dissolved after the end of the war by resolution of the occupying powers, private initiatives could not be forbidden. As early as February 1946, a small group of former members of both clubs met to discuss a possible start-up. However, the first inventory was not very positive - the old tennis club was left with no space. Therefore, they initially avoided "Blau-Weiss", the neighbor founded in 1933 on the Sellweide, where balls could be hit again in 1946.

1946-1959

A bird's eye view of the club complex

For the further development of Mannheim tennis after the war, a sporting merger was necessary. After preliminary talks and “small” general meetings in the tennis club and at Grün-Weiss, both were inclined to shape the future of sport together in view of the special situation. On June 24, 1948, 25 members in the Arkadenhof restaurant decided to merge the two associations in order to build on earlier traditions. It was decided on the name "Tennis and Tournament Club Mannheim". The club had 70 members, the annual fee was 60 DM .

In March 1956, the ordinary general meeting decided to rename it to “Tennis Club Grün-Weiss Mannheim eV” - a connection between the names of the former “Tennis Club Mannheim” on Friedrichsring and the former “Grün-Weiss”. The club already had over 500 members, including 200 young people.

1960-1979

In the following years the sporting development went steadily upwards and was reflected in numerous Baden championships in various age groups. In 1965, the first men's team even achieved third place in the German team championship on their own facility. In terms of club sports, the year 1974 should also be highlighted, when the first men's team was promoted to the Bundesliga.

1980-1999

Full center court at the Bundesliga game

In 1983, German youth champion Boris Becker was already on the club's Bundesliga entry list at the age of 16. He played for Grün-Weiss when he was promoted back to the Bundesliga and a year later when he won the German team championship in the hall. Boris Becker received honorary membership in the Grün-Weiss in 1987 and was also registered at point 1 of the club that year. With Patrik Kühnen and himself, there were two Grün-Weiss players in the Davis Cup team that won the silver cup in 1988, for the first time in German tennis history - Sweden was defeated 4-1 in Gothenburg.

1993 was the year in which the title of German team champions went to the city of squares for the second time after 1922. The favorite and nine-time winner in previous finals BW Neuss was defeated in the two finals with 5: 4 and 5: 1. Furthermore, the number of members rose to over a thousand for the first time this year, and the 2nd men's team was promoted to the top division of Baden (Oberliga). The Bundesliga team took part as a representative of Germany in the European Cup of national champions, but lost there in the first round against Toulon. In 1996 the club became club champions for the third time in Germany. In the two finals, ETuF Essen was defeated 6: 3 and 5: 1 in front of a total of over 8,000 spectators. After this success, Helmut Lüthy ended his engagement as a coach of the Bundesliga team after more than 15 years. Gerald Marzenell succeeded him. In 1999 Grün-Weiss won the German runner-up after losing to Essen in the final and was also awarded the “Team of the Year 1999” award by the city of Mannheim.

Since 2000

Clubhouse and terrace

In 2000 the tennis club celebrated its big anniversary under the motto "100 years of tennis club Grün-Weiss Mannheim eV ... a successful history with a future ...". In 2002 the team rose from the top division for the first time since 1985. One year later, however, with an almost unchanged squad, they won the group in the 2nd Bundesliga South and thus directly rose again. At the same time, the first women's team also provided a novelty, as they were also promoted to the first Bundesliga unbeaten, which means that for the first time both teams found themselves in the top German division. The first women of the club were relegated back to the second division in 2004. In the years 2011 to 2013 the men's Bundesliga team finished the season in fourth place, from 2014 to 2016 the team finished third. In 2016 the club celebrated its 40th Bundesliga anniversary. In 2008 and 2017, the first men's team was each German runner-up. In 2005, 2007, 2010 and 2018 the team again brought the championship title to Mannheim. On August 11, 2019, the Bundesliga team from Grün-Weiss Mannheim and team boss Gerald Marzenell won the German team championship for the 8th time. Highlights with record audience numbers at the Feudenheimer Neckarplatt were the appearances by Tommy Haas in 2012, 2013 and 2017 and by Dominic Thiem in 2018.

titles and achievements

German team champion: 1922, 1993, 1996, 2005, 2007, 2010, 2018 and 2019
German runner-up: 1924, 1999 and 2008
German indoor champion: 1984

Champion team 1993
Champion team 2005
Champion team 2007
Champion team 2010

Bundesliga

The club's flagship is the 1st men's team, which played its 38th season in the 1st Bundesliga in the summer of 2014, making it the sole record holder in terms of membership in the 1st Bundesliga. Over 2,500 spectators regularly attend the home games on the Neckarplatt facility. The team is coached by team boss Gerald Marzenell and coach Dirk Dier on match days when four singles and two doubles are played .

Current squad 1st men's team

Squad Bundesliga 2018
position	player
1	Austria Dominic Thiem
2	Bosnia and Herzegovina Damir Džumhur
3	Germany Peter Gojowczyk
4th	Germany Maximilian Marterer
5	Argentina Federico Delbonis
6th	Moldova Republic Radu Albot
7th	Argentina Nicolas Kicker
8th	Austria Gerald Melzer
9	Germany Tobias Kamke
10	Germany Daniel Brands
11	Germany Robin Kern
12	Germany Andreas Beck
13	Germany Bjorn Phau
14th	Germany Justin Schlageter
15th	Germany Jannik Giesse
16	Spain Marc Lopez