Joel Makin and Nele Gilis Headline German Open 2024

European duo Joel Makin and Nele Gilis have been confirmed as the top seeds for the inaugural German Open 2024 – Presented by Sportwerk after the draws were released for the PSA World Tour Bronze level event.

The event will take place from 3rd to 7th April 2024 at The Sportwerk Centre in Hamburg, the first PSA World Tour event ever to be held in Germany.

The Sportwerk Centre has 15 squash courts, including a four wall glass court. The centre court can seat up to 300 spectators and is Germany’s biggest Squash Centre. The venue has hosted the German Junior Open, German Nationals, the German Junior Nationals, the German Masters, the Bundesliga Play offs and several PSA Challenger Tour tournaments.

Makin leads Men’s Draw

Wales’s Joel Makin tops the men’s draw as he looks to score his first title of the season. The World No.9 has been plagued with injuries so far this season, only managing to feature in five events. His only event of 2024 so far  came at the Florida Open where he lost out in to eventual runner-up Mazen Hesham in the quarter finals. The Welshman will be hoping that his injury troubles are done for the season and he can push on in what remains of the 2023/24 campaign. He’ll start his tournament with a second round match against either USA’s Timothy Brownell or India’s Abhay Singh.

England’s Marwan Elshorbagy is the No.2 seed for the event. The 30-year-old has reached two finals this season, at the New Zealand Open and the Pittsburgh Open but has fallen at the final hurdle both times. Elshorbagy will be determined to secure a title this season and reassert himself in the top eight of the world rankings after slipping four places since October.

Malaysia’s Eain Yow Ng and Mohamed ElSherbini occupy the 3/4 seeding positions. Yow Ng will be hoping to find some form in 2024 after a disappointing start to the year for the 26-year-old has seen him win only one match since the turn of the new year. ElSherbini impressively reached the last 16 at another Platinum event a few weeks ago at the Windy City Open, he’ll be hoping that the form shown there can serve him well as he hunts down a place in a World Tour final for the first time since last February. Yow Ng opens his account against either George Parker or Daniel Poleshchuk whilst ElSherbini will play either Spencer Lovejoy or Lucas Serme.

Home favourite Raphael Kandra will have the full support of the Hamburg crowd as he looks to make the home advantage count as the No.7 seed. Kandra will play either Yannick Wilhelmi or Tom Walsh in his opening match on Thursday 4 April. 

Gilis sisters top women’s draw

World No.4 Nele Gilis leads the way in the women’s event as she looks to claim a fifth World Tour title and third of the season. The Belgian No.1 has had a tricky start to 2024, losing out early in both Platinum events. Gilis’ spirits are very rarely dampened as she always seems read to go for the next event. Gilis will be desperate to hold onto her position as World No.4 and with players behind her claiming wins, she’ll be looking for a strong performance at Sportwerk. She will start her event against Yiwen Chan or Torrie Malik on day two.

Nele’s sister and World No.8 Tinne is the second seed for the event. Tinne broke into the top 10 for the first time at the start of the season after claiming impressive wins with strong performances. Since then, the Belgian No.2 has reached four finals but is still yet to claim a title this season after losing to sister Nele twice as well as Amina Orfi and Olivia Weaver. Tinne will be looking to put that right in Germany and starts her campaign against one of Marta Dominguez or wildcard Maya Weishar.

England’s Georgina Kennedy and Egypt’s Rowan Elaraby are the 3/4 seeds and pose serious threats to the top two seeds. Kennedy has been very consistent this season, reaching the semi-finals or better in seven of her ten events. She won’t be satisfied with that however as she is another who is yet to taste silverware this season. Elaraby has found her form again this season, putting together some amazing performances to reignite her love for the game, a win over former World No.1 Nouran Gohar at the DAC Pro Classic being the big highlight. Elaraby is certainly playing the squash that can trouble anyone and will be looking to turn that into a victory come April. 

The wildcards in the men’s event are German No.3 and World No.151 Valentine Rapp and Czech’s Marek Panacek, whilst Katerina Tycova and Maya Weishar will look to cause upsets to delight the home crowd in the women’s event.

The event will be streamed live on SQUASHTV with tickets available to buy here.