ECC Antwerp

ECC Antwerp
Defunct tennis tournament
Event name	European Champions' Championship (1982-1985) The European Community Championship (1986-1998)
Tour	Invitational/Exhibition (1982–1991) World Series (1992-1994) Championship Series (1996-1998)
Founded	1982
Abolished	1998
Location	Antwerp, Belgium
Venue	Sportpaleis
Surface	Carpet (Indoor) (1982-1996) Hard (Indoor) (1997-1998)

The European Community Championship was a professional tennis tournament held from 1982 until 1998 in Antwerp, Belgium. The tournament was held as a special invitational/exhibition event run outside the Grand Prix series, and not earning any ATP ranking points until 1992, when the tournament became part of the ATP Tour. While an exhibition tournament, invitations were extended to players who won a tournament title in Europe during that year. The surface of the tournament was indoor carpet.

The inaugural event was held in December 1982 offering a $700,000 purse for 24 players field while the high level (Super Series) European Grand Prix events like the Italian Open or indoor tournament in Wembley, London offered only $300,000 and $200,000 respectively.

It was called European Champions' Championship and from 1986 was renamed to European Community Championship (ECC). Its nickname was "Gold Racquet" tournament because if a player won the tournament three times within a 5 year span, he would receive also a special trophy, a life-size, 13.2-pound gold racquet studded with 1,420 diamonds valued at $1,000,000. This inspired the Proximus Diamond Games, a WTA Tour event held in Antwerp since 2002, to have a similar trophy system.

In 1985 Ivan Lendl won his 3rd title within 4 years and received the $200,000 winners prize together with the Gold Racquet. In 1991 Boris Becker spoiled Lendl's quest for a $1.25 million prize ($250,000 prize money plus the $1 million racquet) at the ECC in Antwerp by beating him, 6-4, 7-5, in the semifinals. Had Lendl won, he would have kept the gold-and-diamond racquet trophy valued at about $1 million, adding to his from 1985. He was in the running for a second after victories in 1987 and 1989, but wound up with only $100,000 that year.

Past winners and runners-up

Year	Date Final	Prize Money	Champion	Runner-up	Score in final
Special / Invitational event
1982	Dec 5	$700,000	Ivan Lendl	John McEnroe	3–6, 7–6^(7–2), 6–3, 6–3
1983	Nov 20	$750,000	John McEnroe	Gene Mayer	6–4, 6–3, 6–4
1984	Nov 18	$800,000	Ivan Lendl	Anders Järryd	6–1, 6–2, 6–2
1985	Nov 3	$850,000	Ivan Lendl	John McEnroe	1–6, 7–6^(7–5), 6–2, 6–2
1986	Nov 10	$940,000	John McEnroe	Miloslav Mečíř	6–3, 1–6, 7–6^(7–5), 5–7, 6–2
1987	Nov 1	$940,000	Ivan Lendl	Miloslav Mečíř	5–7, 6–1, 6–4, 6–3
1988	Nov 6	$940,000	John McEnroe	Andrei Chesnokov	6–1, 7–5, 6–2
1989	Oct 29	$1,000,000	Ivan Lendl	Miloslav Mečíř	6–2, 6–2, 1–6, 6–4
1990	Oct 21	$1,100,000	Goran Ivanišević	Henri Leconte	6–2, 7–6^(8–6), 4–6, 4–6, 6–1
1991	Dec 8	$1,250,000	Aaron Krickstein	Boris Becker	walkover
ATP Tour
1992	Nov 15	$1,000,000	Richard Krajicek	Mark Woodforde	6–2, 6–2
1993	Nov 14	$1,100,000	Pete Sampras	Magnus Gustafsson	6–1, 6–4
1994	Nov 13	$1,100,000	Pete Sampras	Magnus Larsson	7–6^(7–5), 6–4
1995	Not held
1996	Feb 19	$1,100,000	Michael Stich	Goran Ivanišević	6–3, 6–2, 7–6^(7–5)
1997	Feb 23	$1,000,000	Marc Rosset	Tim Henman	6–2, 7–5, 6–4
1998	Feb 23	$1,000,000	Greg Rusedski	Marc Rosset	7–6^(7–3), 3–6, 6–1, 6–4

Doubles

Year	Winners	Runners-up	Score
1992	John Fitzgerald Anders Järryd	Jared Palmer Patrick McEnroe	6–2, 6–2
1993	Grant Connell Patrick Galbraith	Wayne Ferreira Javier Sánchez	6–3, 7–6
1994	Jan Apell Jonas Björkman	Hendrik Jan Davids Sébastien Lareau	4–6, 6–1, 6–2
1995	Not held
1996	Jonas Björkman Nicklas Kulti	Yevgeny Kafelnikov Menno Oosting	6–4, 6–4
1997	David Adams Olivier Delaître	Sandon Stolle Cyril Suk	3–6, 6–2, 6–1
1998	Wayne Ferreira Yevgeny Kafelnikov	Tomás Carbonell Francisco Roig	7–5, 3–6, 6–2

References

• World of Tennis annuals