I’ve not long returned from the  Med WTC which took place in Antalya, Turkey at the Megasaray Tennis Academy, and am reflecting on a tough, but superbly run tournament in a beautiful setting.  I am also excited to go back there as soon as possible!  Dates and categories for the next event have just been announced and can be found below ⬇️

Event Credits!

This is the first time tournament director Miquel Puig had ran an international tournament outside of his academy. After being part of the organisation and promotional team, and seeing him during the week, I can really appreciate what a difficult a job it was!  There was not a minute that went by that Miquel wasn’t on the phone or speaking to people to arrange transfers, room changes, flights, matches, meeting times etc!  Credit must go to him for such a successful event!  However, it was a team effort and a massive amount of credit also needs to go to the two tournament referees Ramon Minguez and Enric Vives for doing such an amazing job, in what was often, a heated environment.  A special mention also goes to Eduard Denuc who was ’Team photographer’.  Eduard did an amazing job taking thousands of photos each day, making sure all the emotions from every player were caught on camera!

My Trip:

After a 5 hour flight and short transfer, I arrived at Hotel Sirene at around 10pm on Sunday night!  I was greeted by the team including Miquel, Cristian (coach), Eduard, Ramon and Enric.  I had a quick drink in the bar, and retired to my room knowing I had a long week ahead!

Monday morning was an 8am transfer to the Megasaray Tennis Academy where there is 50+ clay courts, 11 BJK Cup National Teams and many other tournaments all taking place at the same time!  It was an amazing experience for the players involved to be able to walk around watching some great tennis in the middle of their own tournament.  Unfortunately there was a slight delay due to rain in the morning and another longer delay where it rained heavily for an hour solid delaying play by 4 hours!  Luckily late afternoon and evening was much better, so we only really lost 4 hours which were made up on Tuesday and Wednesday!  Fortunately we had no more delays for the rest of the week!

Event Structure:

The event itself was structured into two tournaments with the team event played Monday to Wednesday and the singles event was played Thursday, and Friday with the finals on Saturday morning!  Both events were split into boys and girls at U10, U12 and U14 level with 6 categories in total.  There were teams from Spain, Turkey, Russia, Armenia, Morrocco all making up an international feel.  Unfortunately teams from at least 5 other nations pulled out due to economic, social and other circumstances outside their control.

High Tennis Standard:

The tennis itself was an extremely high level with countless high quality matches and long rallies! Both the team event and singles event were fought emotionally at times!  Many times the tournament referees were forced to leave their laptops and assess the line calls.  Parents and coaches were called upon when the heated exchanges took place.  There was also emotional players …with outbursts at times worse than Nick Kyrgios, but all to be expected from such young potential champions!

Special Mention: 

There were teams that deserved credit, players who were so kind and courteous off court but so focused on their games on court, however I wanted to give a special mention to the Moroccan team who attended.  They played so consistently and were such nice characters off court!  They weren’t always the best or most talented players, but they never gave up and fought and fought!  I was delighted to see two of them winning their age group levels in the singles tournament.

Team Event Winners:

• Boys U10: (Spartak, Moscow)
• Girls U10: (Spartak, Moscow)
• Boys U12: (Ace, Morocco)
• Girls U12: (Spartak, Moscow)
• Boys U14:(Spartak, Moscow)
• Girls U14:(Spartak, Moscow)

Individual Event Winners:

• Boys U10:  Joel Rubi (Rials Academy)
• Girls U10: Dina Jaoid (Ace, Morocco)
• Boys U12:  Adam Smihi (Ace, Morocco)
• Girls U12: Safia Urazalina (Spartak, Moscow)
• Boys U14:  Demian Medvedeev (Istanbul, Antuka)
• Girls U14: Anna Akulova (Spartak, Moscow)

Sponsored by SportsProsConnect

SportsProsConnect sponsored this event and was there for the duration of the tournament.  Whilst we were there we made many new contacts and many new friends.  We were lucky enough to interview the winners of each of the individual singles events and also some others during our time there.  We also offered FREE Tennis Player Profiles for each winner of the individual singles events.  At the time of writing, nobody has accepted the offer, therefore if you or one of your team members was a winner, please do contact me in order to set up your profile: WhatsApp +353867922188 or info@sportsprosconnect.com.

If you would like to sign up for a player profile they can do so by clicking here >>

 

Further Information

Please keep an eye on the website for more information on the winners, some of the interviews and amazing photos taken by Eduard over the week!  https://www.medwtc.com/

Further Dates

Finally, I would like to announce details of the next Med WTC events to be held in Antalya:

Dates:  22-29 October

Categories:

• Junior: U-16, U-14, U-12 and U-10
• Adult: + 40 and +55

If you would like to register your interest in coming along to the October event, then please get in touch with me today. I would highly recommend you/your team come if you want to experience competing on the international circuit and at such an incredible venue!

Until next week,