Thomas Emmrich

Who is Thomas Emmrich?

Thomas Emmrich is a former tennis player for East Germany. Between 1970 and 1988, Emmrich won 47 German Democratic Republic titles. Unfortunately, he entered the tennis scene after the GDR had decided to promote only those sports which were relevant for the Olympics’ medals table. Thus, he was barred from international competitions outside the Eastern bloc countries and had to keep the status as an amateur. However, he gained some points at an ATP tournament in Sofia as GDR functionaries had not noticed that it had become part of the ATP tour. After this tournament, the ATP ranked him number 482—the only entry of a GDR tennis player in the ATP rankings.

Martina Navratilova claimed that he could have become a top-ten player in the 1970s.

After the German reunification in 1990, Emmrich proved that he could compete on a high international level as he won several titles, i.e. runners-up in the European Championships of the 35+ Seniors, runners-up in the Doubles World Championships in 2003, European Champion in 2006. In addition, he gained many national titles after 1990 in senior competitions.