In mid-July
the Australian Men’s Deaf Tennis team embarked on their trip to the 1st
World Deaf Tennis Championships in Nottingham, England, to take on the world’s
best from twenty one countries. Arriving four days early enabled the boys to
recover from the long flight and adapt to the tournament’s hardcourt surface,
official balls and the typically fickle English weather which ranged from sunny
warm days to chilly overcast conditions.
After
several days solid training under the guidance of team coach Dan Norris play
got underway on Monday 20th July with Stephen and Jamie getting the
Aussie campaign off to a flying start with comfortable wins in their first
round matches. Meanwhile Glen and John had first round byes courtesy of their
seedings. Second round matches were a step up in standard as expected with
Jamie going down in straight sets against his more fancied German opponent
while Stephen fought gallantly against Germany’s top player and gave him a
fright in the second set only to fall short in the end. John took on Japan’s top player who used to
be a highly regarded junior and unfortunately lost in two tight sets despite
having opportunities to take a first set lead. Glen comfortably accounted for
his lower ranked Japanese opponent to remain the sole Aussie left in the singles
draw. Next up for Glen was a solid opponent from Austria which he won in
straight sets to advance to the quarter final. The singles campaign came to an
end as Glen went down in straight sets against his in-form French opponent who then
went on to claim the silver medal.
The doubles
draw saw Jamie and Stephen team up for the first time and face off against a
solid Belgian pair in their first match. After a few momentum shifts and three
closely fought sets they scored a confidence boosting victory. On a nearby
court Glen and John paired up and easily accounted for their British opponents.
Up next for Stephen and Jamie in the quarter final were the Americans who had scored
a big upset by defeating the Deaflympics doubles gold medallists however this
did not deter the Aussies as they fought to the death only to lose in two tight
sets in a fine doubles display. Meanwhile Glen and John continued their
successful doubles campaign by accounting for their Indian opponents in
straight sets which saw them through to the semi final. Awaiting them were the
highly fancied French who proved their class in defeating the Aussie pair in
straight sets after a closely fought second set. All was not lost as Glen and
John still had the play off for Bronze (3rd place) to come against
the Americans. Glen and John adopted some aggressive doubles play to
convincingly sweep aside the Americans in straight sets and claim the bronze
medal and ensure the Aussie team didn’t return home empty handed.
Coach Dan
Norris and the players were in agreement that it was one of the best ever run
deaf tennis tournaments in all aspects and very professional in how the
organisers went about it. Deaf Tennis Australia would like to acknowledge
Tennis Australia’s support for the team’s campaign and looks forward to further
success in coming years.
The 2015 Asia-Pacific Deaf Games and the 2017
Deaflympics are the next major international deaf tennis events where Australia
will compete.
