Tennis

USA Deaf Tennis Open Tournament in Las Vegas/United States
Together with the referee, Annette Broersma of the ITF, we organized the USA Deaf Tennis Open tournament in Las Vegas, NV from 16 to 19 July 2010. We had conducted a computer generated technical draw of men singles, women singles, men doubles, women doubles and mixed doubles and it was done without any problems. However the biggest problem we had experienced was the heat! Las Vegas was very hot (ca. +115 Fahrenheit) therefore we had to adjust the daily schedule to occur strictly between 7 - 11 a.m. and 4 - 9 pm to accommodate this problem.

11 women and 16 men tennis players participated in this tournament. Out of those participants, around 40% (12 athletes) played for the first time at this deaf tournament. I am very pleased about it. Below is a summary of the results of the top winners:

The men singles championship match occurred between Mario Kargl (AUT) and Gabor Mathe (HUN) with Mario Kargl (AUT) winning 4:6 / 6:0 / 10:6 and "Newcomer" Andrew Giuffrida (USA) defeated Sebastian Schäffer (GER), who is also the "Newcomer", 7:6 / 6:3 for third place.

In women singles championship, Chiu-Mei Ho (TPE) defeated Beatriz Villamandos-Lorenzo (ESP) 6:2 / 6:2 for the title and Verena Fleckenstein (GER) defeated Raquel Villamandos-Lorenzo (ESP), 6:1 / 6:3, for third place.

In men doubles Kargl (AUT) / Mathe (HUN) defeated Galvez (PER) / Giuffrida (USA) 6:4 / 6:4 for the championship.

In women doubles championship the Villamandos-Lorenzo sisters (ESP) defeated Sha / Ho (TPE) 6:4 / 6:0.

Finally in mixed doubles, Beatriz Villamandos-Lorenzo (ESP) / Kargl (AUT) won the final match against Fleckenstein / Breitenberger (GER) 6:2 / 4:6 / 10:4.

Many matches were very exciting with surprising results. The young tennis athletes have great potential to be very good athletes in the future. After finishing the final matches of the Doubles in the evening, Jack Lamberton and Billy Bowman, from the USA Deaf Sports Federation (USADSF), conducted the closing ceremony on the courts with nice awards.

You can see the pictures from the US Deaf Tennis Open 2010 here - www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=52071&id=123903167660902

Announcement to the Dresse & Maere Tennis Cup 2011 in Izmir/Turkey
Next year the 2011 Dresse & Maere Tennis Cup will take place in Izmir, Turkey from 18 to 26 June 2011.

All the National Deaf Sport Federations have received the information and the preliminary registration forms for this 2011 Dresse & Maere Tennis Cup. The deadline for sending this preliminary form is the 1st October 2010. Please complete and send preliminary registration form directly to me via email: tennistd@ciss.org

You can find further information about this tournament in the homepage: www.deaftennis2011.com

In the last 2007 Dresse & Maere Tennis Cup in Munich, Germany the participation with 8 women and 15 men teams was the best record as ever. It would be great if more teams can participate in Izmir.

I hope to see you all again in Izmir!

Tobias BURZ
ICSD Technical Director - Tennis

By Tobias Burz