New champions to be crowned at Queen & King of the Court European Finals

The second edition of the Queen & King of the Court European Finals is set to begin on Tuesday in Luxembourg and all but one of the 108 athletes entered in the tournament will be looking for their first victory in the event that will reunite most of the top talent of the continent.

German veteran Karla Borger will be the only one among the four champions of the inaugural edition of the Queen & King of the Court European Finals, held last September in Utrecht, the Netherlands, to return and attempt to retain the crown – Chantal Laboureur, her partner in the tournament, has retired, while men’s champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway won’t play this year.

A two-time Olympian, the 34-year-old Borger is set to compete in this year’s event, at the d’Coque, with her regular partner Sandra Ittlinger. The two joined forces after Borger’s victory at last year’s Queen & King of the Court European Finals and have been consistent on the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, with three top-ten finishes in five events played in 2023.

Slovenians Tajda Lovsin and Tjasa Kotnik, who were third last year, will also be back in the tournament. The two haven’t played a lot this season and, besides fighting for another good finish in the event, will also try to get match rhythm ahead of the 2023 EuroBeachVolley.

Reigning European champions Tina Graudina and Anastasija Samoilova are among the main contenders among the women. The Latvians are coming from a bronze medal on the Beach Pro Tour Jurmala Challenge and will try to secure the crown and ‘unify’ the two continental titles.

Germany will have two other teams in strong contention in Luxembourg. The bronze medallists of last year’s FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championship, Svenja Müller and Cinja Tilmann will try to have the same level of success in a Queen & King of the Court event while veterans Laura Ludwig and Louisa Lipmann are still looking for their first strong result as partners and will work to make it happen in Luxembourg.

Among the men, Swedish David Åhman and Jonatan Hellvig will try to finish one spot higher than they did last year, when they were second behind Mol and Sørum. The reigning European champions will also attempt to retain both continental titles simultaneously.

The Swedish, however, will have to beat some brutal competition to finish first next week in Luxembourg. Among their main contenders will be Germans Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler, who had top-five finishes in all four Beach Pro Tour events they played this season and took bronze in the Tepic Challenge.

Completing the top four in the entry list are two teams with great experience and excellent results – Czechia’s Ondrej Perusic/David Schweiner and Poland’s Michal Bryl/Bartosz Łosiak. The Netherlands will also have two duos with strong cases to be crowned as the European Kings of the Court in Stefan Boermans/Yorick de Groot and Steven van de Velde/Matthew Immers.

The second edition of the Queen & King of the Court European Finals will begin on Tuesday with the qualifiers, when ten teams in each gender will compete for three spots in the main draw. The main phase of the event will go from Wednesday to Saturday, when the champions will be crowned.