We started with gathering top players from Istria and Kvarner and since then children from over 100 countries and all the continents have taken part in this lovely competition over the years. Today Smrikva Bowl is considered to be one of the most important Under 10 tennis tournaments in the World.

In 2002 we joined forces with the MCB tennis foundation that organizes the “Little Mo” tournament, the most important tournament for kids in the USA. The “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl event was born as the first ever Under 10 tennis competition between the USA and Europe in the World. "Little Mo"/Smrikva Bowl was organized for 9 years.

Many years ago I started to nominate every Smrikva Bowl player as a Smrikva Bowl Ambassador. In 2005 we also started a tradition of planting an Olive tree that has now become a part of the yearly Ambassador’s nomination ceremony.

The select Olive tree needs to be older than the oldest man living on the earth today and during the ceremony every Ambassador puts a tiny piece of land close to the root of the Olive tree and says his or her name. This way the tree gets the names and a piece of soul of each Ambassador.

The Olive tree is a symbol of peace, while the age of the tree is a symbol of intergenerational responsibility. Every person is born without knowing anything about life on this earth and it is the responsibility of every generation to understand and to learn to preserve all that each of us is born with.

The people that planted this Olive tree for the first time are no longer among us and the message this Olive tree transmits to the Ambassadors is that intergenerational responsibility will allow future generations to enjoy the beauty of life, the sunsets and the seasons of the earth.

One day we might be able to produce a special collection of Olive oil from the trees planted by future tennis Champions.

In Smrikve we continued the tradition of Mate and Milka Bencic to produce outstanding wine and olive oil. My grandfather’s passion was wine.

I would also be pleased to introduce you to the meaning of the Smrikva Bowl symbol and the Smrikve coat of arms.

If you visit some of the towns presented in Istria from Smrikve you will note that almost every town has its own coat of arms, although over the centuries the original meaning of each of them has been partially lost.

I can tell you the story I had in my mind when I drew the Smrikva Bowl symbol and carved in wood the Smrikve coat of arms.

The symbol of the Smrikva Bowl was designed in 1996 when I came back from Barcelona.

The birth of this symbol was inspired by modern Spanish art and the town of Barcelona. The modern art in Barcelona is something you live daily and it is very easy to get influenced by its beauty because you can spot it everywhere, at every corner of the city.

The Smrikva Bowl symbol represents a tennis ball and a stylised tennis racket. In it some may see the letter “S”, for Smrikve, while others can make out the line you see when you rotate a tennis ball.