LOVE 4 TENNIS player Danylo Kalenichenko has had great weekend. In one day he played at two tournaments. On Saturday, August 6, he won the singles qualifying match at STRABAG Challenger Open 2016 and immediately after he moved to Piestany to win the Futures doubles title.

Kalenichenko made it to the doubles final in Piestany together with David Pichler from Austria. They played fourth tournament together, won their third title. For Kalenichenko, it is his sixth title this year and ninth overall. “We both wanted to play Challenger in Trnava in singles, so we hoped for good weather forecast so that our matches will not have any delay. It was very rainy in Trnava on Friday night, courts were wet but luckily we finished our matches before noon, so we had time to move to Piestany to play doubles final there,” said Danylo Kalenichenhko about his busy schedule on Saturday.
“Supervisor in Trnava was very kind to us in scheduling the games early. We played the final in Piestany not before 2pm, so it was manageable. Trnava and Piestany are not far,” said LOVE 4 TENNIS Academy member.

Ukrainian tennis player had this experience from the past. “Two years ago, I had opportunity like this one, but I declined. Now I did it, because the distance was not as big between those two cities. I remember two years ago, my Romanian doubles partner Victor Vlad Cornae was successful. We played doubles semi-finals in Opava, after he played first qualifying round in Bratislava. It was about 300km but he made it,” laughed Kalenichenko.

Final qualifying round in Trnava

Kalenichenko beat Turk Ergin Kirkin 6-2, 6-0 in the first qualifying round in Trnava and on Sunday he was successful against Spaniard Juan Lizariturry 3-6, 6-1, 6-1. “It was very difficult match. He was concentrated from the beginning, played well . I was down 0:4. However in second set, he lost tempo. I started to believe in myself more and I had better length of strokes. It was more difficult for him to play lifts. Spaniards are great on clay. I tried to go to the net more and be the active one. I managed to break his resistance and his good play from the baseline,” said Kalenichenko after advancing into final qualifying round where he lost against Czech Roman Jebavy in two sets 3-6, 6-7(4).

Piestany, Slovak F2, F2 Futures, 10 000 USD, clay, outdoor:
Danylo KALENICHENKO (UKR) [8]
1R: Yanais LAURENT (FRA) 3-6 2-6
Doubles partnering: David PICHLER (AUT) [2]
1R: Tomislav TERNAR (SLO) / Marcel WALOCH (AUT) 6-1 5-7 [10-6]
QF: Benjamin BALLERET (MON) / Christophe NICKELS (LUX) 6-2 6-2
SF: Petr MICHNEV (CZE) [4] / Pavel NEJEDLY (CZE) [4] 6-2 6-4
F: Martin BERAN (CAN) [3] / Scott PUODZIUNAS (AUS) [3] 6-2 6-0

Trnava, Strabag Challenger Open, ATP Challenger, 42 500 €, clay, outdoor:
Danylo KALENICHENKO (UKR)
1QR: Ergi KIRKIN (TUR) [WC] 6-2 6-0
2QR: Juan LIZARITURRY (ESP) 3-6 6-1 6-1
Qualifying Final: Roman JEBAVY (CZE) 3-6, 6-7(4)

There was a big surprise at the clay tournament EMPIRE Slovak Open 2016 in Trnava with total prize money of 100 000 USD. WTA No. 621 Lenka Jurikova surprised everyone in the first round after advancing from the qualification, eliminating American Louisa CHirico 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Chirico was the big favourite of the match against Jurikova, as she reached the semi-final of WTA Premier Tournament in Madrid last week, where she lost to another Slovak Cibulkova. On Monday, American player moved up to No. 76 in the WTA rankings. Jurikova, however was not nervous at all. “I was very confident before the game, I had nothing to lose. I’m happy I won. She had problems with backhand, so I tried to play more into her backhand. My first serve was also good, it was very important,” said Jurikova, who did not ask for advice from Cibulkova. “I watched some YouTube videos with my coach and boyfriend Michal Milko, regarding tactics. I used it a bit.”
In Round 2, she played 24-years old Czech Kristyna Pliskova, number 5 seed, losing in two sets 4-6, 2-6. She receives 19 points into the WTA rankings for 2nd round in Trnava and 1520 USD. Moreover, she moved up to No. 510 in singles ranking.
Lenka JURIKOVA (SVK)
1QR: Lidziya MAROZAVA (BLR) 6-4 6-2
2QR: Sandra JAMRICHOVA (SVK) 3-6 6-1 6-1
QFinal: Arantxa RUS (NED) [1] 3-6 7-6(5) 6-3
R1: Louisa CHIRICO (USA) 3-6 6-2 6-2
R2: Kristyna PLISKOVA (CZE) [5]  4-6 2-6

Erik Csarnakovics, head coach of the LOVE 4 TENNIS Academy in Bratislava, revealed more about new relationship between the two tennis clubs in the video of the Slovak TV DIGI Sport.
“There are twenty clay courts, two hard courts and nine courts in the hall.  This is a competition for any top club in Europe. The cooperation between TC EMPIRE TRNAVA and LOVE 4 TENNIS has been created because we are more aware that we share the same goals. The main goal is that we want to coach the players who are going to be competitive in the world and in Europe. There is an exchange between the clubs regarding players and there is the cooperation with players who have the base in Trnava and need to train in Bratislava and vice versa.”
The important thing is to be stronger. “We are looking for new partners in Slovakia and Czech Republic, perhaps also in neighboring countries. We have understood that, on the basis of this cooperation, we are stronger together and we are not trying to compete with anyone, because each player from our clubs actually competes with the world,” said in the end Csarnakovics.
Miloslav Grolmus, head coach of the club TC EMPIRE TRNAVA, is a former professional player. He has told more about his duties in the club.
“I have started my work in this club one year ago. Before that, I had been working as a coach at the highest level and before that, I was a professional player. This was a new challenge for me. One of my main duties was and is to create more professional team here,” said Grolmus. “We’ve got all the prerequisites to attract the best players in Slovakia and, of course, also from abroad, and gradually bring them up,” he added.
The cooperation with the club  was started by Kamil Capkovic, former Davis Cup player of Slovakia, just one month ago, too. „I can say that I am still looking around here. I am new here so I have a new view on things. I can change routine according to what I have seen in Europe and in the world – what are the new trends. The conditions are fantastic here, there will be a new tennis hall with additional infrastructure. It’s going to be unprecedented in Slovakia,” said Capkovic.