The Tennis Foundation's National Deaf Tennis Coach Chris Cash is looking forward to a bright future for British players after a largely young and inexperienced Great Britain squad of seven men and women finished seventh and fourth in the recent Dresse and Maere Cup, the world team championships of deaf tennis in Izmir, Turkey.
With two players making their international debuts in Great Britain's three-strong women's team contesting the Maere Cup, Bethany Brookes, Sophie Paul and Beth Simmons finished fourth in their event, the same final placing Great Britain achieved in the 2007 Maere Cup in Munich Germany, after a final 3-0 loss to Chinese Taipei in their bronze medal play-off.
National champion Brookes played some outstanding tennis in her singles rubber against Chia-Wen Lin and took the first set, but was unable to get over the finish line after having several match points in the second set, eventually losing out 6-3, 2-6, 7-6 to an opponent that caused constant distractions.
Simmons then lost 1-6, 1-6 to Chiu Me-Ho, an opponent who cleverly made the Briton move around on her injured quad muscle, while 17-year-old Brookes and 14-year-old Paul, the two youngest members of the women's team, slipped to a 1-6, 1-6 loss to Ho and Te-Shiun Sha in the doubles rubber.
However, Great Britain's men ended their Dresse Cup campaign on a winning note after a 2-1 win over Chinese Taipei to clinch seventh place.
Ben Kelly played through the pain barrier to edge Chun Jan Lin 6-4, 7-6 in the opening singles rubber, while another team debutant, Nick Ansell had a difficult task against Chinese Taipei's Wu-Lung Chin, eventually losing 1-6, 1-6, to take the contest to the deciding doubles rubber.
With Dan Tunstall, the most experienced member of the squad, having injured a calf muscle earlier in the week, Tunstall still brought his fifth Dresse Cup to a winning conclusion as he partnered Kelly to a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Chin and Lin.
"If someone had offered me fourth and seventh places at the start of the tournament I would have probably taken it, based on the young team we took to the Dresse and Maere Cup," said Cash. "However, having seen the team play better than expected I feel with a little more luck we could have finished much higher.
"The future is bright and with the likes of Bethany Brookes and Ben Kelly and a little more hard work we have players that can once again be a force on the world stage.
"This has been my first experience of an international deaf tennis event and we have players that have a great work ethic and that have shown great commitment, hunger and passion, not just here in Turkey, but over the past 12 months.
"With the experience of the likes of Dan Tunstall and some returning experienced players next year I am looking forward to our journey towards the 2013 Deaflympics."
Share