Thomas Emmrich

Thomas Emmrich is a former tennis player for East Germany. Between 1970 and 1988, Emmrich won 46 German Democratic Republic (GDR) titles. He entered the tennis scene after the GDR had decided to promote only those sports which were relevant for the Olympics’ medals table. Thus, he was barred from international competitions outside the Eastern bloc countries and had to keep the status as an amateur. However, he gained some points at an ATP tournament in Sofia as GDR functionaries had not noticed that it had become part of the ATP tour. After this tournament, the ATP ranked him number 482—the only entry of a GDR tennis player in the ATP rankings.