Morch and France target 'amazing' World Team Cup podium spot
Since Emmanuelle Morch made her BNP Paribas World Team Cup debut in 2015, France has only reached the women’s World Group semi-finals at the ITF’s flagship wheelchair tennis team event once.
However, with the Paris 2024 Paralympics a little over 480 days away, the 32-year-old is hoping that that will change this year, with an improvement on last year’s fifth place at Vilamoura Tennis and Padel Academy still within reach after France beat third seeds Great Britain 2-1 on the third day of competition.
“It would be amazing to be on the podium this year,” said Morch, who beat Cornelia Oosthuizen 6-0, 6-3 to kickstart the French win. “I have never reached it (the World Team Cup podium) but I really think we can do it. With Paris 2024 coming up it would be a great win for us to reach the podium a year before the Games. Every team is working so hard and is constantly improving. The level is higher and higher all the time, so there is still a lot to do. I have always loved playing for my country. I like the support from the team and from people we met here in Portugal last year.”
Injured in a snowboarding accident at the age of 17, Morch was inspired to take up wheelchair tennis after watching two of France’s men’s World Team Cup champions, Stephane Houdet and Michael Jeremiasz.
“I discovered wheelchair tennis at Roland Garros one year after my accident,” Morch said after France’s penultimate round-robin tie. “I watched a doubles match with Jeremiasz and Houdet and I was absolutely fascinated by the way they moved and hit the ball. I was very busy with my studies, so I tried to play a few times for fun but I couldn’t really practice. In 2011 I started my first training sessions, once a week, with (former French No. 1) Charlotte Famin and Souad Yamani. I loved it, started to compete and after a few years I decided to play full-time tennis and make it my job.
“Sport helped me a lot to accept my disability,” she added “At the beginning, it was very helpful to use some experiences from other players about life in a wheelchair. When you leave the hospital, you only have the doctor’s point of view, which is a slightly limited. When I play tennis, I am an athlete, trying to improve all the time and give my best. Sport has given me a very exciting life; it has allowed me to travel a lot, meet lots of new people and feel lots of emotions on court.
“Off court, tennis has also made it easier to the break the ice with people. Talking about sport was a good way to make them see me as a person and not simply as someone with a disability.”
Morch hopes that Paris 2024 will also continue to help to change attitudes and she and her World Team Cup teammate Pauline Deroulede have both been involved in promotion for the next Paralympic Games.
“Paris 2024 organised a Paralympic Day event in October at Place de la Bastille, in order to show people some sport demonstrations and let them try them out. I think that this initiative is great in order to involve spectators in the Games from now on. More and more communication will be made around Paris 2024 in the coming months and hopefully the stadiums will be full for every sport to make it a unique moment.”
For now Morch, Deroulede and teammates Charlotte Fairbank and Zoe Maras have a job to do in Vilamoura but. having beaten Great Britain, France now sit in pole position in the four-nation Pool C, which will see two women’s team advance to the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, having lost out to France, Great Britain now face a must-win tie against Germany on Thursday. Two years ago the same two teams met in almost identical circumstances in Sardinia. On that occasion Oosthuizen and Lucy Shuker saved three match points in a deciding doubles match to edge past Katharina Kruger and Britta Wend and progress to the semi-finals.
Elsewhere, reigning women’s champions Japan beat Chile 3-0 in Pool B, while top seeds Netherlands defeated China, P.R. 3-0 in Pool A.
USA defeat 2022 quad World Group finalists South Africa
Two days after winning his first ever World Team Cup doubles match partnering David Wagner, Andrew Bogdanov won his first singles contest in a USA shirt as the 28-year-old and Wagner claimed both of their singles matches to beat 2022 finalists South Africa and join Netherlands in this year’s semi-finals.
Meanwhile, 2019 champions Japan won their deciding doubles match against Brazil in a match tie-break to join Israel in progressing from Pool B.
Nine-time champions USA will now play four-time champions Israel in Thursday's semi-finals, while Sam Schroder and Niels Vink will bid to take top seed Netherlands won step closer to a third successive quad title when they play 2019 champions Japan in the last four.
With the last set of round-robin ties to come in Pool B of the junior World Group, Pool A came to a close with reigning champions Australia defeating Brazil 3-0 in what was a must-win tie for both countries.
With just three teams in the pool and USA having already won their two matches Yassin Hill and Benjamin Wenzel secured Australia’s return to the semi-finals.
The second set of round-robin ties in Pool C and Pool D of the men’s World Group ended with Spain, silver medallists for the last two years, beating Israel 2-1 in Pool C, while South Africa also came from 1-0 down to beat Morocco 2-1.
Netherlands’ bid for a third successive World Team Cup title continued with a 3-0 win over USA in Pool D as Sri Lanka also beat host nation Portugal 3-0.