Benedikt Duda, Wim Verdonschot and the 16-year-old Josi Neumann have been given wildcards for WTT Champions Frankfurt, which means 10 German players will be in the draw when the tournament starts on Tuesday 3 November.

The German Table Tennis Association (DTTB) awarded its wildcards to Duda and Neumann. WTT gave one to Verdonschot, the German doubles champion, and another to Austria's Sofia Polcanova, the European women's singles champion in 2022 and 2024. Those four places complete the draws of 32 men and 32 women.

The wildcards

Duda, the world No 37, only just missed direct entry after dropping out of the top 20. He was runner-up in the men's singles at the 2024 European Championships and earlier this month won the mixed doubles title at the European Championships in Ljubljana with Nina Mittelham. He has been preparing at the national training centre in Düsseldorf.

"I hope I can show the German fans good form at the Champions too," Duda told tischtennis.de.

Verdonschot is ranked 40th, the highest of his career, and will be playing his first WTT Champions event. He reached the last 16 at the China Smash, beating Slovenia's Darko Jorgic on the way. "Of course I'm thrilled to be at a Champions tournament for the first time," he said.

Neumann, from Hesse, plays her club table tennis for TG Langenselbold and in the Bundesliga for ttc berlin eastside. She is ranked 256th and makes her debut at this level. At the last World Youth Championships she won a doubles bronze medal with Koharu Itagaki, the under-15 world champion, who is representing Germany at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar this week. "I'm incredibly happy about this wildcard," Neumann said.

Polcanova, ranked 44th, is the only one of the four from outside Germany.

Ten German players in the draw

The men's German entry is Dang Qiu, the world No 11, Patrick Franziska (18th), Dimitrij Ovtcharov (21st), Duda and Verdonschot. In the women's draw Sabine Winter, the world No 10, is joined by Han Ying (16th), Mittelham (28th), Annett Kaufmann (35th) and Neumann.

Mittelham did not travel to WTT Champions Montpellier this week because of back problems, but is listed for Frankfurt. Kaufmann, the European women's singles runner-up this month, was given a wildcard for Montpellier. Last year Dang became the first German to reach the final in Frankfurt.

Richard Prause, the DTTB's sports director, said this month that fans could look forward to "the strongest WTT Champions in Frankfurt so far".

The field

The whole of the men's world top 20 has entered, led by the world No 1, Sora Matsushima, and the Lebrun brothers, Félix and Alexis. Wang Chuqin, who pulled out of Montpellier, is on the entry list. Nine of the women's top 10 have entered, including the world No 1, Wang Manyu, and Sun Yingsha.

The prize fund is $500,000, and each singles winner receives $40,000 and 1,000 world ranking points. There is no qualifying event: all 64 players go straight into the knockout draw, and every match is played on a single table at the Süwag Energie Arena.

Schedule in UK time

The draw is made on Sunday 1 November, after the finals in Montpellier. Matches up to the last 16 are the best of five games; the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals are the best of seven.

  • Tuesday 3 November: first round, 11am and 5.30pm
  • Wednesday 4 November: first round, 11am and 5.30pm
  • Thursday 5 November: first round, midday; last 16, 5.30pm
  • Friday 6 November: last 16, midday and 5.30pm
  • Saturday 7 November: quarter-finals, midday and 5.30pm
  • Sunday 8 November: semi-finals from 10am, finals from 4.30pm

Times are one hour later in Frankfurt. Dyn shows the tournament live in Germany, and the draw, schedule and results will be on Eleven's WTT Champions Frankfurt page.