It’s fair to say that it has been an eventful last nine months for Tom Egberink. But while the Tokyo 2020 men’s singles silver medallist has had plenty to smile about in that time, the last 10 days has been something of a trial for the 29-year-old world No. 6 ahead of Netherlands’ bid to retain their BNP Paribas World Team Cup men’s title in Vilamoura.  

"After (the success of) last year it was hard to start over again,” said Egberink reflecting on 2021, which brought two Paralympic medals as well as his second World Team Cup men’s title with his Dutch teammates. “But I did really well at the Australian Open, making the semi-finals and almost beating (Shingo) Kunieda in three sets, so I think I’m doing well. I almost beat Gustavo (Fernandez) in three sets in Rotterdam, too, but after that I took a break and I’m a dad now, so that’s really nice.”

It's a little over three weeks since Egberink and his partner welcomed their new daughter on 10 April, but while there was plenty of preparation for their new arrival, one thing that was not in Egberink’s World Team Cup preparation plans was testing positive for Covid-19. It prevented him from playing last week’s Vilamoura Open as a warm-up for the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event.

“It (becoming a dad) has changed me 100 per cent,” said Egberink after Netherlands beat Great Britain 2-1 to make it back-to-back Group B round-robin wins, despite Egberink’s 4-6 6-2 6-1 loss to world No. 1 Alfie Hewett.

”I knew already in Tokyo that I was going to be dad, but nobody else knew. Since she's now here, it's really hard to be away. Especially with missing the Vilamoura Open last week and having to be in the hotel for one week because I had Covid after leaving my girlfriend and baby. It was a really hard week for me. It was a bit tough because I couldn't do anything all week.

“On Monday I came out and played doubles against Sri Lanka and didn't feel well,” he added. “The team said ‘we need you against Alfie’ because of my head-to-head against him. Tokyo was one of my best matches against him. I like the way he plays. He’s aggressive and I like his style. So that's the reason they put me on the list.”

Egberink went into the contest against Hewett leading their head-to-head 6-3 and having won their last three matches, but playing the current world No. 1 when you’re not feeling at your best is a difficult undertaking.

“It was a bit tough because I didn't have any rhythm from (not being able to play) last week,” he continued. “I think I started really well to win the first set. After the second set I missed a few balls. I couldn't move anymore. The effects of the Covid got me and I couldn't make it in the third set. So I'm happy the boys (Maikel Scheffers and Ruben Spaargaren) made the win in the doubles because I couldn't have played. I really hope they're going to be playing more matches this week.”

While Netherlands have one more round-robin tie against Chile to come, also in Group B Sri Lanka are finding it tough going this week, too, having secured a personal best final placing of sixth in last year’s World Team Cup.

Chile’s Brayan Tapia and Alexander Cataldo won two close singles contests against Gamini Dissanayake and Suresh Dharmasena to leave Sri Lanka without a round-robin win ahead of facing Great Britain in their last group tie.

There is also one last set of round-robin ties to be played in Group C, too, after France defeated Israel 2-1. Guilhem Laget, currently part of the Team BNP Paribas Jeunes Talents programme, forced a deciding doubles match and then combined with Gaetan Menguy to beat Adam Berdichesky and Guy Sasson 6-0 6-2.

Korea Republic were unable to upset the odds for the second day in a row. After the No.15 seeds beat fourth seeds France on the opening day of play, Sungbong Han and Howon Im both lost their singles matches against USA’s Casey Ratzlaff and Conner Stroud in straight sets, although there was a tie-break in both contests.

Brazil edge Argentina as women’s round-robins begin

Just two of the four scheduled round-robin ties were completed as the women’s World Group began on the second day of play in Vilamoura, with Brazil earning an early 2-1 victory over Argentina before both nations go on to face Colombia in the all-South American Group D.

Lucimarry Nascimento’s only previous World Team Cup experience also came in Vilamoura in 2021, when the 32-year-old won the lone singles and doubles matches she played at the Qualification event.

Nascimento maintained a 100 per cent World Team Cup winning record as she joined Argentina’s Maria Florencia Moreno in winning two relatively one-sided singles matches, Moreno’s 6-1 6-2 victory over Meirycoll Ducal providing the Argentinian No. 1 and world No. 17 with a late present, coming the day after her 33rd birthday.   

However, Duval and Nascimento went on to win the deciding doubles match 6-4 6-1.

Two former World Team Cup medallists went head-to-head in Group C as USA faced Thailand, with Dana Mathewson, Shelby Baron and Emmy Kaiser combining to secure USA a 3-0 victory after straight-sets wins in all three matches.

Heavy rain brought the second day’s play in Vilamoura to a premature end, but not before Britta Wend earned Germany an early lead against Switzerland in Group B. Exactly a year to the week since Wend made her international wheelchair tennis debut in Vilamoura, the 26-year-old beat Angela Grosswiler 4-6 6-4 6-2.

Katharina Kruger and Gabriela Buehler play the second singles match early on the third day of play, when South Africa also resume their Group A tie against Great Britain.

It’s a contest that saw 19-year-old Abbie Breakwell earn her first World Team Cup singles win in senior competition, while the second singles match was postponed with world No. 4 Kgothatso Montjane a set up against Cornelia Oosthuizen.