Colombia and UAE join ITF Beach Tennis World Tour | ITF
Article 26 Nov 2020

Colombia and UAE join ITF Beach Tennis World Tour

Jamie Renton

26 Nov 2020

Two new nations will join the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour next week, with UAE and Colombia set to host BT10 tournaments in another breakthrough week for the sport.

Colombia and UAE will host their first tour events in Cali and Dubai, respectively on 4 December.

The addition of a first official beach tennis event represents a significant moment for the growth of the sport in Colombia in particular, according to Cali tournament director, Wilfer Solano Morcillo.

“This is a reward for the developmental work of many beach tennis teams in the country,” acknowledged Morcillo. “They have been wanting to promote this tennis discipline for more than three years.

“This event will generate excitement in the beach sports community, including for players in other beach sports like volleyball. We’re sure that [the number of] beach tennis lovers [in Colombia] will continue to grow thanks to the support of the ITF and the Colombian Tennis Federation in the first international event in this format in our country.”

Benefitting from a rich and diverse landscape and with the north of the country bordering the Caribbean Sea, Colombia has the potential to become a desirable stop on the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour in the near future, according to Ceferino Ochao, the development director at the Colombian Tennis Federation.

“There was uncertainty around the initial expectations for this tournament, but it’s been [well received by both] conventional tennis players and beach tennis players,” said Ochao.

“In general, we see a great opportunity for the sport in our country because Colombia has enough locations to host important competitive and practice events.”

Morcillo agrees, and believes that though Colombia currently has just four players with a current ITF ranking - men’s players Andres Pava and Felipe Roman and female players Jimena Eraso and Johanna Otero - that number is set to grow exponentially in the years ahead.

“In five years I see the participation of Colombian players in ITF regional and world events,” Morcillo said. “I think this event is an excellent opportunity to attract the attention of promoters and players, to form a unique national circuit and create a national ranking.”

Naser Al Marzouqi, the General Secretary of Tennis Emirates, echoed those sentiments and has high hopes that next week's Dubai tournament can be the first major step in the development of Beach Tennis in UAE.

"We would like to express our happiness in organising ITF Beach Tennis tournaments," said Al Marzouqi. "Tennis Emirates hopes that this will lead to the spread of the sport and encourage more players, as well as the organisation of more national and international tournaments. We also hope to initiate the first beach tennis league between clubs and academies that have long been a part of Tennis Emirates. There's lots of potentially - especially since the United Arab Emirates is filled with beautiful beaches that attract tourists from all around the world."

Both tournaments will have 16-strong main draws in each of the men’s and women’s doubles events, with Cali also featuring men’s and women’s qualifying events.