Hungarian Tennis Championships


The Hungarian Tennis Championships originally known as the Hungarian International Championships is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It is currently part of the official Tennis Calendar of Hungary of the Hungarian Tennis Association and is a gentlemen's and ladies' event.

History

It is the fourth oldest tennis tournament of the world, which is held annually since its establishment. The first championships entitled as the Hungary's Lawn Tennis Championships were arranged on June 16, 1894 in Balatonfüred by the Stefánia Yacht Club. It was a coeducated tournament thus the first "men"'s singles trophy was awarded to Austrian countess Paulina von Pálffy. The next year the women's roster was distinguished and the men's, women's doubles and in 1909 the mixed doubles were added. In 1899 the tournament moved to Budapest and was organized by the Budapest Lawn Tennis Club. In 1903 the first unofficial international competition was held and subsequently became a standalone championship. In 1907 the Hungarian Lawn Tennis Association was formed as a subsidiary of the Hungarian Athletics Club thus the latter's name was included as the Annual HAC Tennis Championships. The hard court came into use when the National Indoors Championships were distinguished in 1927. The same year red clay was introduced as a new surface beside the already existing grass courts. Traditionally the winner of the outdoors championships is considered the Hungarian champion. In the beginning the tournament accepted foreign entries but after 1924 the Hungarian International Championships served as a diverse event while only Hungarian players could possibly go for the national title. After World War II the international branch went defunct and only the nationals were held. Thus this tournament did and does not qualify as an open on ATP standards and no points are awarded for the results. The location of the event is determined each year, which allows several clubs and cities to host it outside the capital Budapest including Pécs, Szeged and Hódmezővásárhely. The date also varies to fit the schedule of other events but to be suitable for open air playing thus it takes place between May and end of September.

Past finals

Men

Statistics

Hungarian Champions
16 times championBéla von Kehrling
15 times championIstván Gulyás
13 times championsJózsef Asbóth
7 times championAttila Balázs
6 times championBalázs Taróczy
5 times championPál Segner
4 times championsSándor Noszály, Ottó SZigeti
3 times championsJenő Zsigmondi, Tibor Dániel, Kornél Bardóczky, Emil Gabrowitz
2 times championsArthur Yolland, János Benyik, Sándor Kiss, József Krocskó, László Markovits, Zoltán Nagy, Péter Nagy, Attila Sávolt, Ede Tóth
1 time championsPaulina Pálffy, András Ádám-Stolpa, György Balázs, Szabolcs Baranyi, Levente Barátosi, Károly Demény, Zoltán Katona
Ádám Kellner, András Lányi, Iván Lukács, Róbert Machán, Viktor Nagy, Norbert Pákai, Ödön Schmid, Géza Varga, Ferenc Zentai jr., Zsombor Piros