ECC Antwerp

The European Community Championship was a men's 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 did not distribute 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, with a $700,000 purse on offer for 24 players. At that time, 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 the European Champions' Championship and from 1986 was renamed the European Community Championship (ECC). Its nickname was the "Gold Racquet" tournament because if a player won the tournament thrice within a 5-year span, he would also receive a special trophy, a life-size, 13.2-pound gold racquet studded with 1,420 diamonds valued at $1,000,000, created by the artist Varozza. 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 third 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 $1,250,000 million prize ($250,000 prize money plus the $1,000,000 racquet) at the ECC in Antwerp by beating him in the semifinals. Had Lendl won, he would have kept the gold-and-diamond racquet trophy valued at about $1,000,000, 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 finals

Singles

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

Doubles

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

See also

• European Open

References

• World of Tennis annuals