Landmark venue to cap beach tennis swing in Brazil
A series of six ITF Beach Tennis World Tour events in Brazil will culminate with the opening of one of the largest beach tennis venues on the planet.
The Arena Maniacs, which is located in Biguacu in the state of Santa Catarina, will be the largest venue dedicated to beach tennis in Brazil. It is hoped that the introduction of this facility, which will house 12 indoor and 18 outdoor beach tennis courts, will help grow the sport in an area that is already synonymous with producing talent.
Santa Catarina is not only home to some of Brazil’s best male players such as Andre Baran, Vini Font and Daniel Schmitt, but it is also the birthplace of current women’s world No. 1 Rafaella Miiller.
The BT10 and BT50 Biguacu events, which will mark the occasion of the opening of the Arena Maniacs, will take place from 15-18 April and are expected to draw a stellar line-up.
Biguacu will be the third location used for a series of six Beach Tennis World Tour events in Brazil, which kick off with the BT10 and BT50 events in Campinas on 1-4 April.
Located about 100km from Sao Paulo - the largest city in Brazil - Campinas stands out in the beach tennis scene because of the great growth of the sport there in recent years.
Having opened less than two years ago, Arena Aveiro, the venue used to stage competitions in Campinas, has a complex of 14 beach tennis courts. Because of this, the city has become one of the largest centres of the sport in the country.
Such players as Lorena Melo (women’s No. 20), Raquel Lotte (No. 21), Isabela Garrido (No. 48), Ricardo Barone (men’s No. 97) and Lucas Sousa (No. 98) call Campinas home.
The second stop on the Brazilian beach tennis swing will be in Curitiba for a BT10 and a BT50 event from 8-11 April.
Curitiba, the largest city in the southern region of Brazil, is another area witnessing the growth of beach tennis. Despite not being on the coastline, the opening of indoor facilities to play the sport has helped to attract new faces.
It will be the second time that Curitiba has played host to an ITF-level beach tennis tournament – the first being Mormaii Curitiba in 2019.
Each of the three BT50 events in Brazil not only offer a prize pot of USD$4,000 but players will also be competing for valuable ranking points.