The ITF today announced that Lufthansa German Airlines has joined its growing portfolio of junior tennis sponsors.  Lufthansa has signed a three-year deal, 2005-07, to become the Official Airline of the ITF’s 14 & under and 16 & under international team competitions, the World Junior Tennis competition and Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas/Junior Fed Cup.

The two competitions have consistently attracted the world’s leading juniors, with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport and Amelie Mauresmo among an impressive list of former participants.

This year’s events have featured over 300 teams from 84 countries. Sixteen boys and girls teams will contest next week’s World Junior Tennis Finals at Prostejov, Czech Republic on 8-13 August, while the Finals of the Junior Davis Cup by BNP Paribas/Junior Fed Cup will be held in Barcelona on 27 September – 2 October.

Leo Tonidandel, Marketing Manager, Lufthansa, said: “The ITF’s junior team competitions are played worldwide and by the best junior players on the planet. For a global airline like Lufthansa it is a great opportunity to build a relationship with people that already see travel as a key part of their routine. These juniors will only go on to achieve bigger and better things within tennis and travel will continue to play a major part of their lives.”

Jan Menneken, ITF Executive Director, Commercial said: “We are delighted to see Lufthansa partner with our junior team competitions.  Not only are they an extremely reputable airline, but they can offer a fantastic network and service to our junior players.”

Lufthansa is one of the world’s leading airlines. With hubs at Frankfurt and Munich, Lufthansa’s passenger network offers over 375 destinations in 93 countries. Lufthansa is one of the founding members of Star Alliance, which today has sixteen member airlines and offers a network of flights to 795 airports in 139 countries.