News

25/10/09

Perry Gregg, Jensen Brooksby, Claire Liu and Vivian Glozman are the under 9 "Little Mo" National Champions and Runners-up eligible to represent the USA - "Little Mo" team in the 9th"Little Mo"/Smrikva Bowl 2010

Few days ago the “Little Mo” Nationals completed and I received the information from Carol Weyman that they had a very successful “Little Mo” Nationals.

The winner and runners up of Boys and Girls 9 that are eligible to represent the “Little Mo” team in 9th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl edition are:

Boys:

#1 – Perry Gregg, Davis, CA

#2 – Jensen Brooksby, Jenson Sacramento, CA

Girls:

#1 – Claire Liu. Thousand Oaks, CA

#2 – Vivian Glozman, Vivian Bellevue, WA

Congratulations Perry, Jensen, Claire and Vivian!

Murphy Jensen, the former tennis player, was the guest speaker that kids really enjoyed listening as you can see in the following video:

“Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl story...

In 2002, the Smrikve Tennis Club and the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation have created “Little Mo”/ Smrikva Bowl, the first-ever international competition between the United States and Europe for boys and girls 10 & under. In the last few years Smrikva Bowl started to gather top players from all around the World but “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl continues to be a special event and has arrived to its 9th annual.

9th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl will be played the day after the finals of the 15th Smrikva Bowl 2010 and will be played on June 27th, 2010 in the Smrikve Tennis Club in Pula, Croatia.

The players that participate in this unique competition are increasing year by year and many of them are among the best players in their age groups in their countries and in the World.

“Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl players...

Former “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl players include a long list and they are:

1st “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2002
Jordaan Sanford (USA), Morgan Basil (USA), Ajla Tomljanovic (Cro), Ema Burgic (BiH).

2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2003
Emmett Egger (USA), Robert Stineman (USA), Karen Forman (USA), Katie Klyczek (USA), Jennifer Ren (UK), Silvia Njiric (Cro), Dominic Thiem (A), George Morgan (UK)

3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2004
Mitchel Polnet (USA), Rayan Andrada (USA), Blair Shankle (USA), Anna Mamalat (USA), Ivan Levar (Cro), Miki Jankovic (Srb), Saska Gavrilovska (Srb), Ecaterina Opriou (Rum)

4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2005
Jeffrey Schorsch (USA), Jose Gracia (USA), Yale Goldberg (USA), Dorothy Tang (USA), Saska Gavrilovska (Srb), Olga Yanchuk (Ukr), Matteo Donati (I), Gyore Laszlo (Srb), Gianluigi Quinzi (I), Harry Busby (UK)

5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2006
Daniel Maese (USA), Aries Wong (USA), Christina Makarova (USA), Gabriella Umoquit (USA), Gianluigi Quinzi (I), Filip Kraljevic (Cro), Eleonor Dean (UK), Dina Paocic (BiH),

6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2007
Eduardo Nava (USA), Tommy Paul (USA), Ndindi Ndunda (USA), Domonique Garley (USA), Sacha Merzetti (I), Bogdan Borza (Rom), Virginia Pena (Esp), Ana Konjuh (Cro).

7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2008
Justin Lee (USA), William Blumberg (USA), Ingrid Neel (USA), Luka Panic (Sui), Mihnea Turcu (Rom), Katarina Jokic (BiH), Maia Lumsden (Sco).

8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl 2009
Noah Schachter (USA), Alex Gee (USA), Michaela Gordon (USA), Ashley Lahey (USA), Alvaro Regalado Pedrol (Esp), Samuele Ramazzotti (Ita), Katie Swan (Uk), Jovana Vukovic (Srb).

Congratulations once again to Perry Gregg, Jensen Brooksby, Claire Liu and Vivian Glozman I hope to see them all in Pula at the end of June 2010!

Please visit www.smrikve.com to learn more about Smrikve, Istria from Smrikve, Smrikva Bowl, one of the most important under 10 tennis tournaments in the World, and Villa Smrikve, for your accommodation with swimming pool in Stinjan (Pula – Pola) if you decide to spent your holiday in Istria, Croatia.

21/10/09

Ajla Tomljanovic (born in 1993 - #400 on WTA list) on you tube through pictures collage

Ajla Tomljanovic, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 runner up and third ranked on 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003, this week reached the ranking #400 on WTA list.

Ajla is only 16 years old and is among the best players in her age group in the World. She was the top 5 ITF and month after month continue to increase the ranking positions on WTA professional tennis ranking list.

A nice pictures collage with photos of Ajla in action was posted on you tube that I am pleased to share with Smrikva Bowl comunity.

Ajla Tomljanovic few years ago moved with her family in the USA to train at Chris Ever Academy in Florida. She is from the sports family. Her father Ratko Tomljanovic was the captain of the Croatian Hand Ball Team that won the golden medal at the Olympic games in Atlanta in 1996 thus for sure Ajla knows how mutch of hard work is required for the achivement of top results.

In 2002 Ajla Tomljanovic and Ema Burgic went to Austin in Texas and played the 1st “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl. Ajla at the time was 9 years old and although a year younger than the other girls she contributed to the victory of the Smrikva Bowl team and the “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl Trophy.

When Ajla returned from the USA she send us a beautiful patchwork, a form of needlework that involves sewing together pieces of fabric into a larger design, that her grandmother did.

14/10/09

Justin Lee donated a big Wilson US OPEN Ball to the future signatures of the Smrikva Bowl winners

Today I received a new Wilson US OPEN Ball that just arrived from New York. Justin Lee and his family are the donators the new Wilson signature ball.

Justin Lee is from the US and he played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl in 2007 as one of the most talented US players and currently is among the top players in under 12 age group in his country.

A month ago I received an e-mail from Lee family where they were informing me about their plan to go to this year US Open. They asked what would I like to have as a memory of their trip in New York and I thought that a new Wilson US Open Ball would be a nice gift for the future Smrikva Bowl winners because the current Wilson ball has almost no free space for the signuture.

In 1998 I was in New York during the US Open and I bought a big US Open Ball that since 1999 has been signed by the Smrikva Bowl winners. On current Smrikva Bowl Wilson ball there are signatures of:

• Astrid Besser
• Borko Mudronja

• Adelchi Virgili
• Tereza Mrdeza

• Petra Martic
• Marin Dragana

• Javier Marti
• Martina Caregaro

• Jennifer Ren
• Dominic Thiem

• Ivan Levar
• Saska Gavrilovska

• Matteo Donati
• Saska Gavrilovska

• Gianluigi Quinzi
• Eleanor Dean

• Sacha Merzetti
• Virginia Pena

• Luka Panic
• Katarina Jokic

• Alvaro Regalado Pedrol
• Katie Swan

Thanks to Justin Lee now we have another big Wilson ball hopefully for another decade where many other names with best wishes of playing one day on Artur Ashe stadium will be signed :)

On the picture below you can see Justin and Ingrid Neel, two US young tennis hopes.

Thank you Justin and thanks to your family for this nice gift!

13/10/09

Top Smrikva Bowl and "Little Mo"/Smrikva Bowl players on ATP, WTA, ITF, USTA and European under 14 and 16 ranking lists (update October 2009)

IN 1996 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM ISTRIA AND KVARNER

1996 – 1st Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Vilim Visak, 1st Smrikva Bowl 1996 winner, from Croatia. Vilim’s best ranking was #612 in March 2006 and his best double ranking was #370 in February 2009.

GIRLS
Natali Zuliani, 1st Smrikva Bowl 1996 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.

IN 1997 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM CROATIA

1997 – 2nd Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Zeljko Peric, 2nd Smrikva Bowl 1997 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.
Filip Kricka, 2nd Smrikva Bowl 1997 runner up, from Croatia, is not ranked player.

GIRLS
Ivana Lisjak, 2nd Smrikva Bowl 1997 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #221 on WTA list. Ivana’s best ranking was #95 on WTA list in June 2006.

IN 1998 SMRIKVA BOWL STARTED TO BE INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

1998 – 3rd Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Filip Kovacic, 3rd Smrikva Bowl 1998 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.

GIRLS
Mateja Horvat, 3rd Smrikva Bowl 1998 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player. Her best ranking was around #800 on WTA list.

1999 – 4th Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Borko Mudronja, 4th Smrikva Bowl 1999 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.
Deni Zmak, 4th Smrikva Bowl 1999 runner up, from Croatia. Deni’s best ranking is #1046 on ATP list and is his current ranking as of October 2009. Few weeks ago he had an accident with motorcycle and broke both hands thus for some time he will be forced to stay out of the courts.

GIRLS
Astrid Besser, 4th Smrikva Bowl 1999 winner, from Italy, is ranked #521 on WTA list.

2000 – 5th Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Adelchi Virgili, 5th Smrikva Bowl 2000 winner, from Italy is not ranked.

GIRLS
Tereza MRDEZA, 5th Smrikva Bowl 2000 winner, from Croatia, is currently ranked #305 on WTA list.

2001 – 6th Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Marin Draganja, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #1539 on ATP ranking list.
Dino Marcan, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #1329 on ATP ranking list.

GIRLS
Petra MARTIC, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #84 on WTA list.
Indire Akiki, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #613 on WTA list.

IN 2002 SMRIKVA BOWL STARTED TO BE A EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

2002 – 7th Smrikva Bowl and 1st”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Javier MARTI, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 winner, from Spain, is currently ranked #839 on ATP list.
Giacomo Miccini, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 runner up, from Italy, was ranked #1504 on ATP list in May 2009.

GIRLS
Martina Caregaro, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 winner, from Italy, is ranked #811 on WTA ranking list.
Ajla TOMLJANOVIC, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #444 on WTA list.
Ema BURGIC, ranked 3rd on 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is ranked #740 on WTA list.

2003 – 8th Smrikva Bowl and 2nd”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Dominic THIEM, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 winner, from Austria, is ranked #237 on ITF ranking list.
George MORGAN, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 runner up, from Great Britain, is ranked #178 on ITF ranking list.
Ciprian Porumb, ranked 3rd on 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003, from Romenia, is ranked #349 on ITF ranking list.

GIRLS
Jennifer Ren, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 winner, from Great Britain, was ranked #945 on WTA list.
Silvia NJIRIC, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #857 on WTA list.
Ajla TOMLJANOVIC, ranked 3rd on 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003, from Croatia, is ranked #444 on WTA list.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Emmett EGGER, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #263 on ITF ranking list.
Robert Stineman, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #52 in the USA in under 16 cathegory.

Karen Forman, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #92 in the USA in under 16 cathegory.
Katie Klyczek, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, and is not ranked in under 16 cathegory.

2004 – 9th Smrikva Bowl and 3rd”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Ivan Levar, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #1590 on ITF ranking list.
Miki JANKOVIC, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 runner up, from Serbia, is ranked #512 on ITF ranking list and is ranked #3 in Europe in under 16 cathergory.

GIRLS
Saska GAVRILOVSKA, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 winner, from Serbia, is ranked #199 on ITF ranking list.
Ecaterina Opriou, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 runner up, from Romenia, is ranked #360 in Europe in under 16 cathegory.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Mitchel POLNET, played 3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #1085 on ITF ranking list.

Blair SHANKLE, played 3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #395 on ITF ranking list.
Anna MAMALAT, played 3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #823 on ITF ranking list.

IN 2005 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM 3 CONTINENTS

2005 – 10th Smrikva Bowl and 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Matteo DONATI, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 winner, from Italy, is ranked #14 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Gyore Laszlo, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 runner up, from Serbia, is ranked #21 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Gianluigi QUINZI, ranked 3rd on 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005, from Italy, is ranked #13 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Nikola MILOJEVIC, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 Consolation tournament winner, from Serbia, is ranked #1 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.

GIRLS
Saska GAVRILOVSKA, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 winner, from Serbia, is ranked #199 on ITF ranking list.
Olga IANCHUK, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 runner up, from Ukraine, is ranked #*101 on ITF ranking list.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Jeffrey Schorsch, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #302 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Jose GRACIA, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #86 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Yale GOLDBERG, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #22 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

Dorothy Tang, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #91 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

2006 – 11th Smrikva Bowl and 5th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Gianluigi QUINZI, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 winner, from Italy, is ranked #13 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Filip Kraljevic, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #355 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.

GIRLS
Eleanor DEAN, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 winner, from Great Britain, is ranked #24 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Dina PAOCIC, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 runner up, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is ranked #163 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Daniel Maese, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #683 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Aries Wong, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #134 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

Christina MAKAROVA, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #6 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Gabriella Umoquit, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #438 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

2007 – 12th Smrikva Bowl and 6th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Sacha Merzetti, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 winner, from Italy, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Bogdan BORZA, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 runner up, from Romania, is ranked #161 in Europe in under 14 cathegory*.
Gonzalo Morell, ranked 3rd on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from Spain, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Sergiu Bucur, ranked 4th on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from Romania, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

GIRLS
Virginia PENA, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 winner, from Spain, is currently not ranked in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Ana KONJUH, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #190 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Nina POTOCNIK, ranked 3rd on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from Slovenia, is ranked #431 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Katie Dayson, ranked 4th on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from UK, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Eduardo NAVA, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #27 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Tommy PAUL, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #1 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

Ndindi NDUNDA, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #7 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Domonique Garley, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #65 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

IN 2008 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM 5 CONTINENTS AND TURNED INTO A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

2008 – 13th Smrikva Bowl and 7th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Luka Panic, 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008 winner, from Switzerland, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Mihnea Turcu, 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008 runner up, from Romania, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Grega Kokalj, ranked 3rd on 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008, from Slovenia, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Andrea Guerrieri, ranked 3rd on 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008, from Italy, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

GIRLS
Katarina JOKIC, 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008 winner, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is ranked #433 in Europe in under 14 european ranking.
Maia Lumsden, 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008 runner up, from Scotland, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Viktoria KUZMOVA, ranked 3rd on 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008, from Slovakia, is ranked #409 in Europe in under 14 european ranking.
Estela Perez Somarriba, ranked 3rd on 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008, from Spain, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Justin LEE, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #72 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
William Blumberg, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #220 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

Ingrid NEEL, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #33 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Paulina Ferrari, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #351 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

IN 2009 SMRIKVA BOWL HAD 6 NEW COUNTRIES AND 1 NEW CONTINENT THUS REACHED THE TOTAL OF 40 COUNTRIES AND 6 CONTINENTS THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE TOURNAMENT SINCE ITS FOUNDATION

2009 – 14th Smrikva Bowl and 8th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Alvaro Regalado Pedrol, 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009 winner, from Spain, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Samuele Ramazzotti, 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009 runner up, from Italy, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Karlo Suevich, ranked 3rd on 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009, from Slovenia, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Alejandro Davidovich, ranked 3rd on 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009, from Spain, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

GIRLS
Katie Swan, 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009 winner, from United Kingdom, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Jovana Vukovic, 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009 runner up, from Serbia, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Inci Ogut, ranked 3rd on 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009, from Turkey, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Arianna Capogrosso, ranked 3rd on 14th Smrikva Bowl 2009, from Italy, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Noah SCHACHTER, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #37 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Alex Gee, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #470 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

Michaela GORDON, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #155 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Ashley LAHEY, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked *#197 in the USA in under 12 cathegory*.

12/10/09

Miki Jankovic - 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 runner up - is the winner of the under 16 Tennis Europe Junior Masters 2009 played in Napoli (Italy)

Miki Jankovic won the under 16 Junior European Masters – an elite event for the top eight best-performing European players on the Tennis Europe Junior Tour. Former Masters champions include Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo and Kim Clijsters.

Miki Jankovic is native from Serbia and today is one of the best players in Europe in his age group and this victory is another confirmation of his talent and work.

He was the runner up of the 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 and currently trains at Mouratoglou Tennis Academy near Paris. Mouratoglou Tennis Academy is one of the Smrikva Bowl sponsor that few years ago started to award the winners of the Smrikva Bowl with one week training in this very prestigous and World recognized Tennis Academy.

Miki Jankovic is currently ranked #3 in Europe in under 16 age group cathegory and is also ranked #511 on ITF ranking list.

His road towards the victory of the under 16 Tennis Europe Junior Masters 2009 played in Napoli (Italy) was the following:

Quarterfinals: Miki Jankovic – Connor Glennon (Uk) 6:1, 6:3
Semifinals: Miki Jankovic – Likas Mugevicius (Ltu) 6:4, 6:2
Finals: Miki Jankovic – Michele Palma (Ita) 7:5, 6:4

Congratulations Miki!

For those who are interested to learn more about Miki please visit his website on www.mikijankovic.com

10/10/09

Today in Smrikve we collected olives that will end up in bottles with Smrikva Bowl olive oil that will be given to the 15th Smrikva Bowl 2010 Ambassadors - Istrian olive oil is considered among the best one in the World

Today we started to collect olives, the 2010 Smrikva Bowl olive oil production. It is considered 2010 production because the next year every new Smrikva Bowl Ambassador will receive a bottle of it.

In Smrikve we produce Istrian olive oil that has over 2000 years old tradition in olive oil making and was considered among the best one in the Roman Empire and today is still considered among the best one in the World.

During the Smrikva Bowl we use to give to every Smrikva Bowl Ambasador a bottle of oil as a memory to their Smrikva Bowl. In this days we started the process that will end with transforming the olives into oil for the 15th Smrikva Bowl 2010 players and Ambassadors.

We beleive that one day we will be able to produce special and limited collections of the Smrikva Bowl olive oil from the Smrikva Bowl centuries old olive trees planted by some of the future tennis Champions…

A SHORT INTRODUCTION OF THE LONG STORY OF THE ISTRIAN OLIVE OIL…

The tradition of the olive oil production started to develop in Istria during the time of the Emperor Augustus. Thanks to the olive oil Pula was for few centuries one of the richest towns in the Roman Empire and this is one of the main reasons why Pula got its magnificent Arena.

Arena was completed at the same time as the famous Colosseum in Rome. It is one of the six largest Roman amphitheatres in the World and is today the Roman amphitheatre with best preserved external mantel in the World.

It is important to say that at the time olive oil was not used only as the salad dressing as we use it today but it was used also for lighting thus it was important as todays are important the sources of energy we use. It was the gold of its period. This explain the status and importance Pula had during the Roman Empire time.

Istrian olive oil was considered among the best in the Empire but also the amphorae production was very important. In the village located nearby Pula named Fazana one of the most prestigous amphorae production facilities were located owned by a Roman Consul.

SMRIKVA BOWL AMBASSADORS OLIVE TREES…

In 2005, for the 10th Smrikva Bowl anniversary, we started the tradition of planting an old Olive tree. The Olive tree selected needs to be older than the oldest man living on the earth today.

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

The Lion King cartoon is an artwork and many life messages one can find in it and most of them are in line with the Smrikva Bowl.

They are in line with the message of the Ambassadors’ Olive Tree; they are in line with the values of friendship and love; they are in line with empathy. Love, friendship and empathy are all Cosmopolitan values per excellence, as far as people and humanity are concerned thus in line with Smrikva Bowl mission.

WHAT REMAINED IN ISTRIA FROM THE ROMAN OLIVE OIL TRADITION…

The olive tree can live for millenniums and thanks to this long life of the olive tree we do know one of the sorts that was cultivated during the Roman Empire time.

Today in Istria there are other sorts of olive trees but the olive oil is outstanding thanks to the geographic position of Istria.

It is hard to understand how Romans without sophisticated analysis instruments that we do have today were able to determine in which part of the Empire they were able to get the best food, olive oil and wine. Istria was considered the area of the best olive oil and wine.

Romans had deep knowledge of olive oil making and we do know that they had five different olive oils quality ranking:

1. Oleum ex albis ulivis: first quality olive oil made by green and white olives

2. Viride: olive oil made by the olives that started to become black

3. Maturum: olive oil made by mature olives

4. Caducum: olive oil made by olives collected from the ground

5. Cibarium: olive oil made by rotten olives

Most of the old knowledge returned to Istria in the last decades thanks to the many Istrian families that dedicated with passion in rediscovering this old agricultural art.

THE OLDEST ISTRIAN OLIVE TREE…

On Brioni island there is an olive tree from the beginning of the 4th century that is one of the oldest olive trees in Europe. For its years could be also a symbol of wise.

To give you an idea of his age just imagine that this olive tree was planted during the time of Emperor Costantine the Great.

In general, wise and talented people usually create things after hard personal experiences. Men mostly learn trough experiences and that knowledge usually have value for future generations.

It would be nice to think that the oldest Istrian olive tree from Brioni could lend a part of its wise to every visitor of Istria.

Marcus Valerius Martialis, native from Cordoba, who lived in the 1st century AD, during the Roman Empire times, celebrated Istrian olive oil with the following verses: “Uncto Corduba Laetior Venafro Histra Nec Minus Absolute Testa”. The translation in English would be: “Cordoba, you being more fertile than the olive oil region of Venafro and so perfect as the oil (amphora) from Istria”.

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ISTRIAN OLIVE OIL, WINE, ARCHITECTURE, HISTORY, PEOPLE AND CULTURE IN GENERAL PLEASE VISIT “ISTRIA FROM SMRIKVE” E-BOOK ON www.smrikve.com/istria/.

08/10/09

Kristina Miletic from Arandjelovac won the under 12 Masters tournament

I just received the message from Kristina’s father that after the victory of four under 12 tournaments in the row she was able also to win the under 12 Master of the Serbian Tennis Federation.

Kristina Miletic is only 10 years old and she played her Smrikva Bowl this year. After her participation on the Smrikva Bowl her achievements and results were extraonrdinary and currently she is ranked #13 on under 12 Serbian ranking list but excluding the 1997 age group she would be #3 in the Country.

Congratulations Kristina!

06/10/09

Ariana Rabac won the under 14 Porec Open tennis tournament played over the weekend

This weekend Ariana Rabac won the under 14 tennis tournament that was played in Porec. Ariana is 13 years old Smrikve Tennis School player and she is currently the best junnior Smrikve Tennis School player.

She started to play tennis when she was already 9 years old. Her motivation and love for tennis is allowing her to continue to progress year after year.

As said above this weekend Ariana played an under 14 tournament where 12 girls from Croatia and Slovenia participated and her road towards the victory was the following:

Quarterfinals: Ariana Rabac – Sara Petric (Cro) 6:4, 7:6
Semifinals: Ariana Rabac – Julijana Versic (Cro) 6:4, 7:5
Finals: Ariana Rabac – Kaudija Bukovec (Slo) 6:3, 6:2

Congratulations Ariana!

04/10/09

Updates on Villa Smrikve accommodation units and breaking news on insertion of the Istrian music scale on UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list

Dear Smrikve friends,

Recently we completed some smaller restructuring of our accommodation units to made them more beautiful and confortable for our guests. I am taking this opportunity to invite you to visit the updated villa Smrikva page:

http://www.smrikve.com/villa-smrikve/

In particular there are new photo galleries of the accommodation units Smrikva (Juniper), Trs (Vine), Ulika (Olive), and if you have interest I invite you to read a short summary of the idea that was followed in personalizing each unit.

There is another news of the week that I am pleased to share with Smrikve friends and is related with the Istrian music. The traditional Istrian music was inserted on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list. If someone has interest in listening what type of music it is, I invite you to visit the page of my cultural E-book „Istria from Smrikve“ dedicated to the Istrian music and you will hear my grandparents singing „na tanko i na debelo“ on the Istrian scale.

http://www.smrikve.com/istria/books/smrikve/istrian-music/

I would be pleased to see some of you again as villa Smrikve guests for tennis training or to discover together the historical, cultural and gastonomical beauties of the Istrian Region.

Regards,

Miodrag BOZOVIC

02/10/09

Remy Bertola on Swiss ticinonews TV

Remy Bertola is a former Smrikva Bowl player from Switzerland living in Canton Ticino. I just received the news that he qualified for the Nike Junior Tour Finals.

A nice TV show was registered and broadcasted for ticinonews in honor of his qualification and I am pleased to share it with the Smrikva Bowl comunity that do understand Italian.

In the video Remy talks about the importance he gives to the school and also about Roland Garros dream.

For those who wants to learn more about Remy I also suggest the visit of his website www.remybertola.ch.

Congratulations Remy!

30/09/09

The first "Istria from Smrikve" skycrapper banner (160x600) on www.vstopnice.com

Few days ago the first “Istria from Smrikve” skycrapper banner (160×600) was placed on www.vstopnice.com by Gregor Koprivc – the Smrikva Bowl Golden Honorary Member.

“Istria from Smrikve” is the first cultural E-book about Istria region that aims to further promote the Smrikva Bowl event and also to promote Istria as cultural tourism destination.

www.vstopnice.com was founded and developed by Gregor and is one of the most successful websites’ dedicated to the selling of the music concert tickets in Slovenia. The comunity he created around his music portal counts almost 3000 members and in its history have been sold almost 73000 tickets.

Vstopnice.com sells tickets for the concerts not only for Slovenia events but also for selected concerts in: Croatia, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Serbia and Germany.

I used to say while describing the Smrikva Bowl mission that children, sport, music and culture are already part of the Cosmopolitan world and this is the idea promoted by the Smrikva Bowl event. I am even more glad that this music website is promoting the first cultural E-book about Istria. The promotion campain statement is: “Vikend je pred vami”.

I like the skycrapper banner designed and created by Gregor with the message “Vikend je pred vami” that means in English “the weekend is coming”.

Slovenia borders with Istria and in less than few hours almost every citizen of Slovenia can reach any of the Cultural destinations described in “Istria from Smrikve”.

There are different ways to look at sport. There are different way to look at music, culture, love and also to children.

The vision of sport prefered in Smrikve can be described and extended to: culture, music and children using the following Nelson Mandela – Madiba’s words:

“Sport has the power to change the world, the power to inspire and the power to unite people in a way little else can – it is an instrument of peace.”

Gregor gave us a little help to extend our vision to the music world and thank you again for your contribution!

27/09/09

Igor Dobranovic and Patrik Chiavalon are the winners of the 2nd Smrikve Rekreacija 2009 Tournament

Since this year we established the Spring and Autumn Smrikve Tennis Club tournament for the recreational players and this weekend the Autumn edition was played.

21 Smrikve Tennis Club members participated in the 2nd Smrikve Rekreacija 2009 Tournament. Over two days there were many nice and competitive matches that the people that were in the Club had the opportunity to enjoy.

On Saturday we also had the grill day prepared by my mother and today we had other food surprises for the semifinalists and finalists and also for the people that gathered to cheer them.

The winner of the Main Draw was Igor Dobranovic who defeated in the finals Sandro Suljic. It was a very nice and competitive final full of emontional moments.

Igor and Sandro are both very strong servers and excellent players. It was almost two hours match with many nice points. The final result was 6:3, 4:6, 6:2.

In the Consolation Draw the winner was Patrik Chiavalon who defeated Marjan Grzetic. It was another almost two hours match with extraordinary points for two players that really enjoy and love the tennis game.

I was very pleased for Patrik when he explained after receiving the trophy that he was never really involved in any sport in particular as young boy thus he never had the opportunity to win a trophy in a sport competition.

He fall in love few years ago with tennis and today he obtained his first trophy. It was a great day for him!

Patrik won 9:8 but Marijan was leading few times during the match also thanks to his very strong serve. In end Patrik succeeded to conclude the match in his favour and all the Club friends enjoyed the match they played for them and for us.

Thanks to each member who played over the weekend for the nice tournament and congratulations once again to the winners of this Autumn edition: Igor and Patrik!

27/09/09

Four Smrikva Bowl players in semifinals at 25th Stella Maris Cup played in UMAG - an important under 14 European Tournament

Just a week ago Borna Coric, one of the best Croatian and World players in his age group, won the 25th Stella Maris Cup, an important European under 14 tournament.

I was pleased to read that all the players that were in semifinals are former Smrikva Bowl players and two other Smrikva Bowl players reached the quarterfinals:

Semifinalists:
• Borna Coric and Karlo Skvorc, both Croatian players, played Smrikva Bowl when they were 9 years old, respectively in 2005 and 2004.
• Djere Laszlo from Serbia was the runner up of the 10th Smrikva Bowl played in 2005, and Marin Suica from Croatia also played Smrikva Bowl that year.

Quarterfinalists:
• Neven Krivokuca the fifth Smrikva Bowl player that reached the quarterfinals of the 25th Stella Maris Cup played 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 and is currently part of Niki Pilic Academy. Neven lives in Germany but is of Croatian origin and has a second home close to Smrikve.
• Andre Biro was the semifinalist of the 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 and in Umag he reached the quarterfinals.

Borna Coric met in the semifinals Djere Laszlo and in the quarterfinals Andre Biro on his road towards the victory:

1st round: Borna Coric – Sebastian Schloffer (Aut) – 6:4, 6:1
2nd round: Borna Coric – Matej Buril (Svk) – 6:1, 6:1
3rd round: Borna Coric – Patrik Sudic (Cro) – 6:3, 6:3
Quarterfinals: Borna Coric – Andre Biro (Hun) – 6:4, 6:2
Semifinals: Borna Coric – Djere Laszlo (Srb) – 6:4, 6:3
Finals: Borna Coric – Marin Suica (Cro) – 4:6, 6:3, 6:2

Congratulations boys!

25/09/09

Smrikva Bowl on Japanese junior tennis website - www.kids-tennis.com

Toru Matsushima, the Honorary Smrikva Bowl Member, is a very committed Japanese tennis coach that run several important tournaments in Japan for the under 8, under 10 and under 12 age groups.

Thanks to Toru Matsushima and Keiko Maruyama we had the first Japanese players represented on this year Smrikva Bowl edition: Rimpei Kawakami and Haruna Arakawa.

I am very pleased that Mr. Matsushima decided to spread the world among the Japanese community. His words on www.kids-tennis.com is a tennis word but is also a word of culture.

I do know that many Japanese people do go to visit Rome, Venice, Florence, Paris, London, and other well known places in Europe that are very reach in terms of historical heritage but I do believe that Istria is another cultural spot on the World map that should be included in the cultural itinerary worth visiting and I tried to explain it in my cultural E-book that I also invite people to visit “Istria from Smrikve”.

For those who understand Japanese I invite them to take a look at Toru’s article on www.kids-tennis.com.

I hope to meet few other Japanese kids on the next Smrikva Bowl edition and thanks again to Toru for spreading the Smrikva Bowl and Istria word in the country of the rising sun.

23/09/09

Petra Martic - 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner - reached the semifinals of USD 100.000 worth tournament played in Biella and become #82 on WTA list

Petra Martic, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner, is the best ranked former Smrikva Bowl player on WTA list. This week jump, from the position #89 to #82 on WTA list, was made thanks to the semifinals reached at USD 100.000 worth tournament played in Sofia last week.

Few weeks age, in Biella – Italy, Petra Martic obtained her first USD 100.000 victory.

Petra’s road towards Sofia’s semifinals was the following:

1st round: Petra Martic – Timea Bacsinszky (Sui) – 6:7, 6:2, 6:1
2nd round: Petra Martic – Angelique Kerber (Ger) – 5:7, 6:3, 6:2
Quarterfinals: Petra Martic – Sessil Karatantcheva (Kaz) – 7:6,7:5
Semifinals: Petra Martic – Alexandra Dulgheru (Rou) – 4:6, 3:6

The ranking of the players:

Timea Bacsinszky (Sui) – #78 WTA list
Angelique Kerber (Ger) – #88 WTA list
Sessil Karatantcheva (Kaz) – #131 WTA list
Alexandra Dulgheru (Rou) – #62 WTA list

CONGRATULATIONS PETRA :))!!!

For those who do not know Petra yet please enjoy the video registered in Portoroz at Slovenia Open last year.

23/09/09

Ambassador's website section is created

Ambassador’s website section (under the Smrikva Bowl tournament section) has been created few days ago where past Smrikva Bowl players websites will be added from time to time when they get to the net.

For the moment the following websites are present in the section:

REMY BERTOLA – www.remybertola.ch

AMAURY DE BEER – t4tennis.com

MIKI JANKOVIC – www.mikijankovic.com

NINA MARJANOVIC – my.opera.com/nina-marjanovic/

GIACOMO MICCINI – www.giacomomiccini.com

KATIE SWAN – katieswan.com

For sure in the following years there will be many more Ambassadors’ websites on line :)

20/09/09

Today we collected grapes and started the 15th Smrikva Bowl 2010 Malvazija collection wine production

Today we collected grapes and started 2010 Smrikve wine production. It was a long day and several people helped us during the collection process. The grapes were yellow colored and of very sweet taste. We expect the wine to be good as was good in the past years.

Smrikve Malvazija is thanks to the Smrikva Bowl Ambassadors spread in 40 countries and 6 continents. Every year we create a limited collection of 200 bottles that represent the gift of our family to the Smrikva Bowl families and to our friends.

Wine and gastronomy are part of a culture and wine bottle that we give to every Smrikva Bowl family is part of our cultural gift that every year we are pleased to make to our guests coming from all around the World.

The wine making is the tradition in Smrikve since 1957…

The wine production is a passion for many Istrian families and my grandfather Mate was a great lower of wine and wine making. The first thing he made in 1957 when he settled in Smrikve was to plant a vineyard.

Probably not many Smrikva Bowl readers do not know the story how my grandfather agreed to take out a row of vineyard to create the space for the court where today the Smrikva Bowl finals are played.

My father and me, my uncle and my cousin continue the wine making tradition in Smrikve…

Several years ago I bought a vineyard close to the vineyard planted by my grandfather and today my father and me are doing our best to get the best from what Malvasia grapes can give.

The first phase of the processing the grapes started today…

We collected the grapes but also separated the juice of the rest to obtain the golden color that usually our Istrian Malvazija (Malmsey) wine has. Now for two days the fermentation will be blocked to allow the wine to start its transformation process cleaner than it is today after the collection.

In Smrikve we produce Istrian Malvazija (Malmsey) and during the Smrikva Bowl we use to give a bottle of wine to every family as a memory to their Smrikva Bowl and probably one day this bottles might be something special if our kids continue to love the tennis game and continue to write the Smrikva Bowl story with their results.

Wine as part of the culture…

In the regions where the wine is produced the wine was always part of the culture of the particular site. Also the wine we produce is part of the Smrikve tradition and this is the reason why we are pleased to give a bottle to every family that come to visit us for the Smrikva Bowl.

There is an old Istrian saying: ”Vino od loze i mliko od koze” and “Kruh je za tilo a vino je za dusu”. The translation from Croatian is difficult because you loose the feel of the language. Goat is the symbol of Istria and the meaning of the first saying would be: ”Wine from the grapevine and milk from the goat” and the meaning of the second would be: “Bread is for the body, wine is for the soul”.

With todays collection as I said we started the process of transforming the grapes into wine for the 15th Smrikva Bowl 2010 edition of Malvazija.

The main Istrian wines are: Malvazija, Terran, Refosc and Muscatel.

The glory of the Istrian wine dates back to over 2000 years ago…

For those who are not familiar with Istrian wine I am pleased to remined the reader that Istrian wine was considered one of the best in the Roman Empire, around 20 centuries ago, and was preferred by Livia Drusilla, also known as Iulia Augusta, the wife of the first Roman Emperor Augustus.

Livia Drusilla’s preferred wine was the Istrian wine Pucinum. Livia is considered one of the most influent women in the beginning of the Roman Empire era. It is not know what wine it was because todays wines were brought in Istria mostly by Venitians.

Todays Istrian Malvazija’s story is related with Serenissima… the Venetian Republic

The story of Istrian Malvazija, cultivated in Istria since the end of the 16th century, is fascinating and it relates to the Venetians.

At the beginning of the 15th century the Venetians occupied Peloponnesus in Greece. In the Peloponnesus region there is a town Monemvassia, also named Malvasia. From this town the Venetians started to import the wine into Venice and the other areas controlled by the Venetian Republic.

This wine was so successful and became so famous all over Europe that Venetians decided to plant huge vineyards on the biggest Greek island, Crete.

Between the 16th and 18th century Malvasia become the most important wine in Europe. In 1570 the Turks conquered Crete and Venetians decided to plant Malvasia vineyards in other areas that had friendly relations with Venice which, at that time, also included Istria.

In end Malvasia is in Istria since the above mentioned period while it is not known the sort of the wine that was preferred by the wife of the Emperor Augustus, Livia Drusilla – Julia Augusta.

Giacomo Casanova in his diary talks about another Istrian sort and another great wine…

Giacomo Casanova visited Vrsar several times and in his diary he describes a good wine Refosc and nice women. Today Refosc is mostly cultivated in the Slovenian part of Istria while in other areas the dominant sort is Malvasia.

Another excellent wine can be found around Momjan area made of Muscatel sort.

On Istria from Smrikve you can learn much more…

To learn more about Istrian gastronomy and wine please visit the E-book about Istrian cultural heritage on www.smrikve.com/istria/ named “Istria from Smrikve”.

We try to do our best to get excellent Malvazija…

Sergio Bile is one of the person I do respect a lot because for years he was advising Istrian wine makers how to increase the quality of the Istrian wine. Few weeks ago I met his wife on an exhibition with his new wines collection thus also he from advising started to produce his own wine.

For years Sergio is giving periodical advises to my father how to continue to improve the wine making transformation process and the words of people from all around the World that tasted our wine are increasing my respect for Sergio Bile knowledge.

I was pleased when Gianni Nunziante, an important Italian wine maker and also the owner of Vignamaggio used three nice words to describe our Malvazija. His wines used to get three glasses mark from Gambero Rosso that is one of the most important authorities for the Italian wines rating. Gianni used the following three words:

• “semplice” – simple,
• “profumato” – sweet – smelling,
• “gradevole” – pleasant.

Vignamaggio is a property located in Tuscany. In 2004, the property celebrated six hundred years of winemaking tradition. The property is also famous for the the daughter of Anton Maria Gherardini. The famous Mona Lisa – “La Gioconda”, painted by Leonardo Da Vinci, was born at Vignamaggio in 1479.

16/09/09

Petra Martic is the second Smrikva Bowl player to reach TOP 100 ranking on WTA list

Petra Martic is the second Smrikva Bowl winner to reach the TOP 100 ranking on WTA list. Ivana Lisjak was #95 in the World and today Petra Martic is #89 on WTA list. It is the best ranking in the World achieved by a former Smrikva Bowl player in the 14 years long Smrikva Bowl history.

Almost two years ago, on November 2nd 2007, Marija Zivlak, www.womenstennisblog.com editor, wrote an article with the title “Smrikva Bowl founder on tennis stars of the future”.

Marija was interested in which youngsters have a potential to make it big when they grow up, but I am usually reluctant to answer such a question. According to the statistics of my friend Luca Appino, former Babolat marketing and sponsoring director, only six per cent of the best juniors (from 14 to 16-year-old) reach the Top 100 when they become professional players. This means that chances of a promising 10-year-old that play Smrikva Bowl of making it to the Top 100 are statistically slim to none.

In the article I made comments on few talented former Smrikva Bowl players and I also mentioned Petra Martic thus Maria wrote about Petra: “The 16-year-old Petra Martic from Croatia is another female player the organizer of the Smrikva Bowl highly believes in. She won the event in 2001, and today, she is ranked 340th in the world after having competed in eight tournaments. Miodrag Bozovic believes that she has enough talent to crack the Top 100 in the near future.”

As of September 14th 2009, by taking into account points gathered on US Open and the victory of her first USD 100.000 tournament, Petra Martic ranking rose to #89 in the World.

Few weeks ago she played the US Open and after qualifying for the Main Draw she lost in the second round against this year finalist Caroline Wozniacki. On the other side the week after in Biella (Italy) she defeated in the second round Jelena Dokic, former #4 in the World.

Petra won the 6th Smrikva Bowl in 2001 and currently is the best ranked former Smrikva Bowl player on WTA list and is also the best ranked Croatian player on WTA list.

This summer in Portoroz at SLOVENIA OPEN I had the chance to see her after 8 years…

I was having launch with Luca Appino and my father in the tennis center restaurant nearby the sea and just few tables away from us a blond tall girl came with a plate and smile appeared familiar to me. It was Petra :).

I asked this young lady if she was Petra, she smiled and said: “Yes… I am Petra”. She had a beautiful smile and her eyes spread a worm energy :)...

Congratulations Petra and thank you for writing with your game a nice page of the Smrikva Bowl story…

Best wishes!

14/09/09

Top Smrikva Bowl and "Little Mo"/Smrikva Bowl players on ATP, WTA, ITF, USTA and European under 14 and 16 ranking lists (update September 2009)

IN 1996 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM ISTRIA AND KVARNER

1996 – 1st Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Vilim Visak, 1st Smrikva Bowl 1996 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #1221 on ATP list. Vilim’s best ranking was #612 in March 2006. Vilim Visak is currently ranked #714 on ATP Doubles Ranking. His best double ranking was #370 in February 2009.

GIRLS
Natali Zuliani, 1st Smrikva Bowl 1996 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.

IN 1997 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM CROATIA

1997 – 2nd Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Zeljko Peric, 2nd Smrikva Bowl 1997 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.
Filip Kricka, 2nd Smrikva Bowl 1997 runner up, from Croatia, is not ranked player.

GIRLS
Ivana Lisjak, 2nd Smrikva Bowl 1997 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #219 on WTA list. Ivana’s best ranking was #95 on WTA list in June 2006.

IN 1998 SMRIKVA BOWL STARTED TO BE INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

1998 – 3rd Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Filip Kovacic, 3rd Smrikva Bowl 1998 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.

GIRLS
Mateja Horvat, 3rd Smrikva Bowl 1998 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player. Her best ranking was around #800 on WTA list.

1999 – 4th Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Borko Mudronja, 4th Smrikva Bowl 1999 winner, from Croatia, is not ranked player.
Deni Zmak, 4th Smrikva Bowl 1999 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #1096 on ATP list.

GIRLS
Astrid Besser, 4th Smrikva Bowl 1999 winner, from Italy, is ranked #463 on WTA list.

2000 – 5th Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Adelchi Virgili, 5th Smrikva Bowl 2000 winner, from Italy is not ranked.

GIRLS
Tereza MRDEZA, 5th Smrikva Bowl 2000 winner, from Croatia, is currently ranked #295 on WTA list.

2001 – 6th Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Marin Draganja, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #1856 on ATP ranking list.
Dino Marcan, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #1427 on ATP ranking list.

GIRLS
Petra MARTIC, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #89 on WTA list.
Indire Akiki, 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #598 on WTA list.

IN 2002 SMRIKVA BOWL STARTED TO BE A EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP

2002 – 7th Smrikva Bowl and 1st”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Javier MARTI, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 winner, from Spain, is currently ranked #669 on ATP list.
Giacomo Miccini, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 runner up, from Italy, was ranked #1710 on ATP list in May 2009.

GIRLS
Martina Caregaro, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 winner, from Italy, is ranked #815 on WTA ranking list.
Ajla TOMLJANOVIC, 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #522 on WTA list.
Ema BURGIC, ranked 3rd on 7th Smrikva Bowl 2002, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is ranked #712 on WTA list.

2003 – 8th Smrikva Bowl and 2nd”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Dominic THIEM, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 winner, from Austria, is ranked #340 on ITF ranking list.
George MORGAN, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 runner up, from Great Britain, is ranked #327 on ITF ranking list.
Ciprian Porumb, ranked 3rd on 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003, from Romenia, is ranked #462 on ITF ranking list.

GIRLS
Jennifer Ren, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 winner, from Great Britain, was ranked #960 on WTA list.
Silvia NJIRIC, 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #870 on WTA list.
Ajla TOMLJANOVIC, ranked 3rd on 8th Smrikva Bowl 2003, from Croatia, is ranked #522 on WTA list.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Emmett EGGER, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #323 on ITF ranking list.
Robert Stineman, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #52 in the USA in under 16 cathegory.

Karen Forman, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #95 in the USA in under 16 cathegory.
Katie Klyczek, played 2nd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #262 in the USA in under 16 cathegory.

2004 – 9th Smrikva Bowl and 3rd”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Ivan Levar, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 winner, from Croatia, is ranked #171 in under 16 cathegory.
Miki JANKOVIC, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 runner up, from Serbia, is ranked #510 on ITF ranking list.

GIRLS
Saska GAVRILOVSKA, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 winner, from Serbia, is ranked #500 on ITF ranking list.
Ecaterina Opriou, 9th Smrikva Bowl 2004 runner up, from Romenia, is ranked #220 in Europe in under 16 cathegory.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Mitchel Polnet, played 3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #1485 on ITF ranking list.

Blair SHANKLE, played 3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #616 on ITF ranking list.
Anna MAMALAT, played 3rd “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #805 on ITF ranking list.

IN 2005 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM 3 CONTINENTS

2005 – 10th Smrikva Bowl and 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Matteo DONATI, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 winner, from Italy, is ranked #14 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Gyore Laszlo, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 runner up, from Serbia, is ranked #23 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Gianluigi QUINZI, ranked 3rd on 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005, from Italy, is ranked #12 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Nikola MILOJEVIC, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 Consolation tournament winner, from Serbia, is ranked #1 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.

GIRLS
Saska GAVRILOVSKA, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 winner, from Serbia, is ranked #500 on ITF ranking list.
Olga IANCHUK, 10th Smrikva Bowl 2005 runner up, from Ukraine, is ranked #*195 on ITF ranking list.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Jeffrey Schorsch, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #315 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Jose GRACIA, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #85 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Yale GOLDBERG, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #24 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

Dorothy Tang, played 4th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #87 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

2006 – 11th Smrikva Bowl and 5th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Gianluigi QUINZI, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 winner, from Italy, is ranked #12 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Filip Kraljevic, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #411 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.

GIRLS
Eleanor DEAN, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 winner, from Great Britain, is ranked #22 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Dina PAOCIC, 11th Smrikva Bowl 2006 runner up, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is ranked #165 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Daniel Maese, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #689 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Aries Wong, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #141 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

Christina MAKAROVA, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #8 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.
Gabriella Umoquit, played 5th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #447 in the USA in under 14 cathegory.

2007 – 12th Smrikva Bowl and 6th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

BOYS
Sacha Merzetti, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 winner, from Italy, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Bogdan BORZA, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 runner up, from Romania, is ranked #160 in Europe in under 14 cathegory*.
Gonzalo Morell, ranked 3rd on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from Spain, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Sergiu Bucur, ranked 4th on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from Romania, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

GIRLS
Virginia PENA, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 winner, from Spain, is ranked #500 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Ana KONJUH, 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007 runner up, from Croatia, is ranked #191 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Nina POTOCNIK, ranked 3rd on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from Slovenia, is ranked #427 in Europe in under 14 cathegory.
Katie Dayson, ranked 4th on 12th Smrikva Bowl 2007, from UK, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Eduardo NAVA, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #29 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Tommy PAUL, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #1 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

Ndindi NDUNDA, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #8 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Domonique Garley, played 6th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #68 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

IN 2008 SMRIKVA BOWL GATHERED TOP PLAYERS FROM 5 CONTINENTS AND TURNED INTO A WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

2008 – 13th Smrikva Bowl and 7th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

GIRLS
Katarina JOKIC, 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008 winner, from Bosnia and Herzegovina, is ranked #428 in Europe in under 14 european ranking.
Maia Lumsden, 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008 runner up, from Scotland, is too young for under 14 european ranking.
Viktoria KUZMOVA, ranked 3rd on 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008, from Slovakia, is ranked #403 in Europe in under 14 european ranking.
Estela Perez Somarriba, ranked 3rd on 13th Smrikva Bowl 2008, from Spain, is too young for under 14 european ranking.

“Little Mo” TEAM
Justin LEE, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #83 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
William Blumberg, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #232 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

Ingrid NEEL, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #48 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Paulina Ferrari, played 7th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #343 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

IN 2009 SMRIKVA BOWL HAD 6 NEW COUNTRIES AND 1 NEW CONTINENT THUS REACHED THE TOTAL OF 40 COUNTRIES AND 6 CONTINENTS THAT PARTICIPATED IN THE TOURNAMENT SINCE ITS FOUNDATION

2009 – 14th Smrikva Bowl and 8th”Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl

“Little Mo” TEAM
Noah SCHACHTER, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #41 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Alex Gee, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #478 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.

Michaela GORDON, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked #160 in the USA in under 12 cathegory.
Ashley LAHEY, played 8th “Little Mo”/Smrikva Bowl, from the USA, is ranked *#202 in the USA in under 12 cathegory*.

11/09/09

Petra Martic - 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 winner - defeated Jelena Dokic on her road towards the victory of USD 100.000 worth tournament played in Biella (Italy) and reached TOP 100 in the World

Petra Martic won the 6th Smrikva Bowl 2001 and currently is the best ranked former Smrikva Bowl player on WTA list.

Last week she played at the US Open and after qualifying for the Main Draw she lost in the second round against Caroline Wozniacki.

Petra is at the moment one of the most promising Croatian players on WTA tour and she’s ranking as of August 31st was #137 on WTA list.

As of September 14th 2009, by taking into account points gathered on US Open and the victory of her first USD 100.000 victory Petra Martic ranking rose to #89 in the World.

In Biella (Italy) Petra Martic defeated in the second round Jelena Dokic, former #4 in the World, that allowed her to reach the quarterfinals. In end Petra defeated other three players on her road towards the victory. The results of the tournament are the following:

1st round: Petra Martic – Darya Kustova (Blr) – 3:6, 6:0, 6:3
2nd round: Petra Martic – Jelena Dokic (Aus) – 6:4, 6:2
Quarterfinals: Petra Martic-Ekaterina Ivanova (Rus) – 6:4,3:6,6:2
Semifinals: Petra Martic – Polona Hercog (Slo) – 7:5, 6:3
Finals: Petra Martic – Sharon Fichman (Can) – 7:5, 6:4

The ranking of the players:

Ksenia Palkina (Kgz) – #142 WTA list
Jelena Dokic (Aus) – #83 WTA list
Ekaterina Ivanova (Rus) – #136 WTA list
Polona Hercog (Slo) – #81 WTA list
Sharon Fichman (Can) – #171 WTA list

CONGRATULATIONS PETRA :))!!!

For those who do not know Petra yet please enjoy the video registered in Portoroz at Slovenia Open last year.