31st Mallorca Seniors: A Successful New Beginning with a Familiar Feel and two Grand Slam Champions
The 31st edition of the Mallorca Seniors – the first under new management – was a resounding success. With around 1,000 participants from 42 nations, the event reaffirmed its status as the world’s largest seniors tennis tournament. A total of 1,360 matches were played across age groups from 30 to 90 over two weeks, spread across four venues: Fergus Club Font de Sa Cala Beach, Na Taconera, San Bessó and Aguait. The star-studded line-up included Grand Slam champions such as Dutchman Paul Haarhuis (60), the former doubles world No. 1, and French legend Gail Benedetti (81), who has four French Open doubles titles to her name.
They were joined by several world No. 1 players in their respective age categories, including Japanese crowd favourite Naoki Arimoto (men’s 50), whose mother is Spanish, and Germany’s Manon Kruse (women’s 45). The six-time singles world champion is a familiar face at the Mallorca Seniors and won the tournament for the fourth time. Portugal’s Rita Freitas (40), meanwhile, celebrated her first Mallorca title. The victory also took her to the top of the women’s 35 world rankings, having already held the No. 1 spot in the women’s 40 category. Equally impressive was the performance of Herbert Althus (92): the German seniors tennis stalwart, multiple world champion and much-loved regular at this classic Mallorca event did not drop a single game in the men’s 90 competition.
There was also a famous face among the spectators: Czech former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova (34) accompanied her husband Michal Hrdlicka, who competed in the men’s 35 category. She supported him as his coach and hitting partner, and the couple also enjoyed a few hiking trips on Mallorca.
“It was a fantastic two weeks, with world-class fields, a welcoming atmosphere and perfect holiday weather. We’re delighted with how our first edition went,” said tournament director Björn Kroll. “My personal highlight was the gala evening in the second week, for the 65 to 90 age groups, when the whole room danced the night away to live music from our singer and pianist. Our players’ hotel has rarely seen an atmosphere quite like it.”
Co-tournament director Sigrid Rinow added: “We’ve received a lot of positive feedback, but we also know there’s still room for improvement. The suggestions from our participant survey will help us with that. Some players missed the T-shirts that everyone used to receive. We’ll definitely bring that tradition back next year – that’s a promise I can make right now.”
But back to the tennis: the tournament produced some special stories on court, too. One of them was Paul Haarhuis’s debut on the Balearic island. The man who won six Grand Slam doubles titles, spent a total of 69 weeks at the top of the doubles world rankings and reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 18 teamed up with Igor Rubinchik to claim the men’s 55 doubles title in commanding fashion. The 60-year-old, who is now also the Netherlands’ Davis Cup captain, looked as fit and elegant as ever. Comments on social media suggested that time seemed to have stood still for him.
Gail Benedetti, previously known as Gail Sherriff or Gail Chanfreau, was also in superb shape. The Australian-born former professional, who later represented France and beat icons including Billie Jean King and Margaret Court during her career, dropped just one game throughout the women’s 80 competition in Font de Sa Cala.
In the women’s 75 draw, Reinhilde Adams, representing the long-established German club ETUF Essen, claimed the title – and reached the top of the world rankings for the first time.
As in previous years, Düsseldorf’s Christian Schäffkes was one of the crowd-pullers, dominating the men’s 55 singles competition. Dutchman Bart Beks, a former ATP doubles world No. 174, also thrilled spectators with his talent and powerful game. He secured the men’s 50 singles title.
Particularly moving was the victory of his fellow Dutchman Romano Frantzen in the men’s 40 category. The world No. 2 dedicated his third Mallorca title to his late father, Marcel. Just a year earlier, Marcel had been in Font de Sa Cala cheering on his son. “Even then, it was a miracle, because he was already sick. That week here really lifted him up,” Romano Frantzen recalled.
The men’s 40 doubles triumph of Björn Kroll’s brother Thorsten offered another example of the family atmosphere at the Mallorca Seniors. Thorsten also served as the tournament’s racket stringer. Keen to remain impartial, Björn preferred to leave the congratulatory handshake and trophy presentation to Sigrid Rinow. The 71-year-old, herself a long-standing participant in the tournament, competed again this year – in both tournament weeks, no less.
Behind the scenes, the new tournament directors had also set themselves an important goal: to bring the new organising team and the existing tournament crew, including long-time associates of tournament founder Helge Albrecht, together into a cohesive team. “That worked very well, and I was delighted,” Sigrid Rinow emphasised. For the tournament as a whole, she said, the aim had been to combine the tried and tested with fresh ideas: “It was very important to us to preserve many of the tournament’s much-loved traditions while also introducing a few fresh ideas. I think we succeeded.”
You can find all the results here.
