During this decade, the SEB Arena became a center of attraction not only for tennis - and for fans of other racquet sports. Although there is a lot to choose from, what draws racquet sports fans to this complex is the community spirit.
"In addition to the fact that we sought and still seek to introduce as many people as possible to tennis, one of the most important goals of the SEB Arena during this decade was to gather and expand the racquet sports community in general. Arena constantly contributes to various projects and actively develops them, thinking about social responsibility as well", asserted Ramūnas Grušas, head of the company "Teniso Pasaulis" that administers SEB Arena.
In the past three years alone, the number of regular customers engaged in racket sports at SEB Arena has increased by a quarter - to two and a half thousand. On average, a thousand people exercise here every day. Although tennis is the most popular, both squash and badminton are increasingly being discovered and gaining popularity in the complex.
Here, customers not only enjoy active leisure time, train, but also have the opportunity to try their hand at various tournaments. According to R. Gruš, on average, about half a dozen different tournaments take place here during the year, most of which are tennis. Although most of the tournaments are for amateurs, the international ITF series competitions are also held here every year.
"One of the most prestigious events held here is the first category ITF senior tennis tournament "Vilnius Cup", which annually attracts several hundred participants from all over the world. Davis Cup competitions were also held at SEB Arena more than once. We do not rule out the possibility that they will be organized here in the future as well," he added.
Meanwhile, this year, on the occasion of the anniversary, from October to May next year, "Teniso pasaulis" together with its partners organizes a continuous SEB Arena 10th Anniversary Cup doubles tournament, the winners of which will be awarded with valuable gifts.
"The experience accumulated over so many years shows that tournaments are one of the key tools in gathering the tennis community and popularizing tennis. After all, it is both an emotion, and a discussion of the results in an informal environment, and acquaintances, and at the same time an opportunity to evaluate yourself, your progress and put in more work during training," said R. Grušas.
As racquet sports became popular, the complex was reconstructed in 2013 - significant investments allowed the space to be expanded to 24,5 thousand square meters. There are additional six indoor and four outdoor tennis courts.
In addition to the courts, a 300-square-meter wellness and physical training hall was installed, specially adapted for racket sports representatives.
Meanwhile, this summer, taking into account the ever-increasing number of fans of racquet sports, SEB Arena has also significantly expanded the parking lot. The number of places here has doubled and currently reaches 321 places. Charging stations for electric cars, special places for parking motorcycles and buses have been additionally installed, and the number of parking spaces for the disabled has also been increased by a third.
According to R. Gruš, since its establishment, SEB Arena aimed to create the best possible conditions for sports and training for the country's best and most promising tennis players, therefore members of the Lithuanian tennis national team can do this for free from the very beginning of their activities, and the country's most promising athletes are helped to reach heights by favorable financial conditions for them.
In addition, a year ago "Teniso pasaulis" started to implement the financial support project "Tennis talents". Its goal is to support the country's most promising tennis players. Last year, 230 were distributed to them. euros, while this year the support fund consists of 235 thousand euros.
"In Lithuania, this is probably the only fund established by the private sector, where everything is clearly laid out and what criteria must be met in order to receive financial support. In addition, such initiatives encourage young people to work even harder during training, because they know that when they reach a certain level, they will have someone to turn to for help," explained R. Grušas.
Conditions have been created in the arena for free training and holding tournaments for the disabled. The international ITF "Futures" series "Lithuanian Open" and "Vilnius Open" tennis tournaments for the disabled are held here. About 30 athletes from 10-14 countries participate in them every year.
SEB Arena is one of the largest indoor tennis courts in Europe. There are 14 indoor hard courts and 6 indoor courts with carpet. Also - 4 open hard surfaces and 4 open artificial grass courts.
The multifunctional complex also has 4 squash courts and 4 badminton courts. There is a hotel in the arena, restaurant, are located sporting goods stores, companies providing health and beauty services.
"During this decade, we kept raising the bar of requirements for ourselves and we promise not to lower it. We will try to continue to be an example in Lithuania in the tennis and racket sports sector in general, offering the highest quality services. In addition, we will continue to popularize tennis, implement the latest sports innovations, improve and create products so that as many people as possible get infected with the racquet sport virus, - asserted R. Grušas.
Dominykas Genevičius
