The TC EMPIRE Trnava tennis complex is situated on Hajdoczyho street in the town of Trnava, Slovakia. It is the largest tennis facility in Slovakia with a truly international standard. And this the palce where ITF EMPIRE Slovak Open (2nd – 10th May 2015 is going to take place in a few days. Raising prize money up to 100 000 USD so far will mean better quality list of players who arrive to Trnava. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, seeded No. 1, is the recent winner of Katowice Open WTA tournament and she is No. 46. in the WTA rankings.
There are 9 players on the entry list which are in the top hundred of the WTA rankings. Schmiedlova is looking forward to the 2015 tournament in Trnava. "Last year's triumph was very helpful. On the court, I felt after that success much more confident. And thanks to the points that I have earned in Trnava, I had less pressure to defend my points in Paris," says Schmiedlova about the success that has lead to another great performance.
After the EMPIRE Slovak Open final she was playing another final in Prague and then showed great performance in Paris at the Roland Garros 2014. She beat former world number one Venus Williams in the second round. "The atmosphere in Trnava was great. I appreciate all the people who came. They helped me in the difficult moments during the matches. It's a different feeling than to play abroad. Too bad we don't have more similar tournaments in Slovakia," she adds. She is going to play in Trnava for the fourth time and in this edition she is going to try to defend the last year's singles title.
Smitkova and Allertova in Trnava
The tournament will be not missed by Jana Cepelova from Slovakia and Klara Koukalova. The Entry list is full of interesting names including 22-year-old Denisa Allertova (No. 93 in the WTA rankings and WTA semi-finalist in last year's WTA tournament in Luxembourg. Tereza Smitkova from Czech Republic (No. 59), last year's surprise in Wimbledon, will also come.
There is also Yanina Wickmayer on the acceptance list and a well-known name for Slovak fans is the Serb Krunic, the Hungarian player Babos is arriving too, and you will also see Friedsam of Germany and the Russian Rodin.
Latvian Sevastova, former No. 36, has received a wild card from the organizers to qualifying.
There had been a lot of great players in Trnava before, for example Halep, Bovina, Daniilidou, Husarova, Meusburger, Knapp, Hradecka, Sevastova, Brengle, Martic, Tsurenko, Krunic, Jaksic, Glushko and much more.
