Tennis Archives • Milan Hutera Photography

16/05/2023 by Milan Hutera

Empire Tennis Academy Open 2023

Photogallery from an 8-day shoot covering Empire Tennis Academy Open 2023 – the largest women’s tennis tournament held in Slovakia (ITF World Tennis Tour – 100 000 USD + H). The 12th edition had a number of firsts – first all-Belgian final and first time the final was played “in the bubble” due to persistent rain and unfavorable weather forecast. Nevertheless, it was a good week – being back as the official photographer of the event, getting the basic things done a bit easier thanks to the mirrorless system. The urge to capture new and exciting stuff was great, if only the matches were as good as I remember from the past…

Singles winner: Yanina Wickmayer defeated Greet Minnen. Doubles winners: Amina Anshba, Anastasia Detiuc.

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09/02/202009/02/2020 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2020 World Group Play Offs Slovakia: Great Britain

Fed Cup entered into a new era during the first week of February 2020. Sixteen World Group teams competed to secure the spot in the newly established Fed Cup Finals, held in Budapest, Hungary. Slovakia hosted Great Britain and managed to win the tie 3:1. Tie details and results here.

Note: Unfortunately they haven’t invented a way, so one person can be two places at the same time. Due to other comittment, I was unable to capture the deciding match between Anna Karolina Schmiedlova and Hariett Dart. I’m hoping to catch more Fed Cup action in Budapest in April…

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23/04/201923/04/2019 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2019 World Group 2 Play Offs – Slovakia : Brazil

On April 20 – 21st, Team Slovakia played against Team Brazil during the 2019 Fed Cup Play Offs. The winning team would secure the position among top 16 Tennis teams of the World. It was also the last Fed Cup tie for Dominika Cibulkova. She decided to retire from Fed Cup and other team competitions in front of the home fans after playing in Fed Cup for 14 years.

Results: Dominika Cibulkova : Carolina Alves – 6:1, 6:1. Viktoria Kuzmova : Beatriz Haddad Maia – 6:3, 6:3. Dominika Cibulkova : Beatriz Haddad Maia – 7:6, 6:0, Viktoria Kuzmova, Rebecca Sramkova : Carolina Alves, Luisa Stefani – 1:6, 3:6.

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05/02/2019 by Milan Hutera

Davis Cup 2019 Qualifiers – Slovakia : Canada

On February 1st and 2nd, the new format of Davis Cup was played for the first time with 24 teams competing for a spot in newly established Davis Cup Finals held in Madrid. The Canadian team led by rising star Denis Shapovalov and playing captain Frank Dancevic faced Slovak team for the first time in almost 22 years. Bratislava saw 5 high quality rubbers played on clay over the two days with Felix Auger Aliassime securing the win for Canadians in the deciding 5th rubber against Norbert Gombos.

Results: Filip Horansky : Denis Shapovalov – 4:6, 5:7, Martin Klizan : Felix Auger-Aliassime – 7:5, 6:3, Martin Klizan, Filip Polasek : Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov – 3:6, 7:5, 6:3, Martin Klizan : Denis Shapovalov – 6:7, 4:6, Norbert Gombos : Felix Auger-Aliassime – 3:6, 4:6

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27/05/201827/05/2018 by Milan Hutera

Empire Slovak Open 2018

The 10th edition of Empire Slovak Open 2018 took place from May 12th to May 20th 2018. For the first time, I shot this largest women’s tennis tournament in Slovakia as the official tournament photographer. Viktoria Kuzmova became the second Slovak player in tournament history to win the title. She beat Veronica Cepede-Royg of Paraguay in three sets. Other notable players in the main draw were Andrea Petkovic and two time Grand Slam finalist Vera Zvonareva. The schedule was very demanding, as two full days had to be cancelled because of the rain.

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13/02/201813/02/2018 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2018 – Slovakia : Russia

On February 10. – 11. Team Slovakia played the Fed Cup 2018 World Group II tie against Team Russia. In the battle of young and upcoming players, Team Slovakia managed to win against Team Russia for the first time in 25 years in tennis team competitions. Viktoria Kuzmova made her debut in Team Slovakia, playing two rubbers. On Sunday, she recorded her first Fed Cup victory and secured the historic win for her team.

Team Slovakia: Magdalena Rybarikova, Viktoria Kuzmova, Jana Cepelova, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova
Team Russia: Natalia Vikhlyantseva, Anna Kalinskaya, Anastasia Potapova, Veronika Kudermetova.

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16/11/201716/11/2017 by Milan Hutera

Tennis Champions 2017 – Daniela Hantuchova’s Farewell Match

The 10th edition of Tennis Champions Exhibition was dedicated to Daniela Hantuchova, who announced her retirement from professional tennis earlier this year. Her three guests were Kim Clijsters, Tommy Haas and Slovak Davis Cup hero Dominik Hrbaty. Additional guests included winning Slovak Fed Cup Team of 2002, various hockey players, Daniela’s colleagues from Slovak edition of Dancing with the Stars and Daniela’s childhood hero Miloslav Mecir. The sold out arena also saw very special appearance of the President of Slovakia Andrej Kiska.

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22/08/2017 by Milan Hutera

Belinda Bencic joins Empire Tennis Academy Trnava

In mid-August 2017, Swiss tennis player Belinda Bencic joined the ranks of Empire Tennis Academy in Trnava, Slovakia. Belinda is working hard on the return to professional tennis after the left wrist surgery in May 2017. After the short meeting with the press, she shared a few laughs on court with her friend Tereza Mihalikova. Afterwards we strolled around Trnava’s historic center to make some off court, leisure time photos.

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22/05/2017 by Milan Hutera

Empire Slovak Open 2017

Empire Slovak Open 2017 – the largest women’s tennis tournament is Slovakia saw some amazing battles. This ITF Event with the prize money of 100 000 dollars is often a lauching pad in the careers of young tennis players. I believe this year we’ve seen the future superstars of women’s tennis in Trnava. Marketa Vondrousova of Czech republic (17 years old) claimed the title, defeating Veronica Cepede Royg of Paraguay. With this victory Marketa broke into Top 100 for the very first time and continued her impressive match record. In the first 5 months of 2017, Marketa managed to win 47 matches and recorded only 6 loses. Anastasia Potapova of Russia (16 years old), who is currently the Junior number one, made another notable appearance. She lost to Cepede Royg in a very close semifinal match.

Viktoria Kuzmova recorded the best result for a Slovak player this year with 2nd round loss to Heather Watson. Watson and her british colleague Naomi Broady captured the doubles title. They defeated Renata Voracova and Chia-Jung Chuang in straight sets.

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26/04/201727/04/2017 by Milan Hutera

Fed Cup 2017 – Slovakia : Netherlands

Slovak Fed Cup Team Played the 2017 Fed Cup World Group Play Off Tiea against Team Netherlands on April 22. – 23. Due to the injury of Dominika Cibulkova, the Dutch led by World No. 20 Kiki Bertens were a favorite of this match. In the end, Bertens and Richel Hogenkamp managed to secure 3 necessary points. Netherlands won the tie 3:2 and advanced to the 2018 Fed Cup World Group 1.

Prior to Sunday’s matches, Daniela Hantuchova received Fed Cup Commitment Award as the first female tennis player from Slovakia. It is awarded to players who have shown long-standing dedication to Fed Cup competition and played a minimum of 20 World Group ties or 40 ties at any level of the competition over the career. Daniela has been playing in Fed Cup since 1999 and she led the Slovak team to Fed Cup Victory in 2002.

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