Players gear up for Sand Series Gran Canaria
Las Canteras beach, on the island of Gran Canaria, is set to become the beach tennis capital this weekend as the world’s best players take part in a Sand Series event.
The tournament, which is being played on a site well accustomed to hosting top-class beach tennis, is the second of four Sand Series events – a new addition to the ITF Beach Tennis World Tour this year.
With the 2021 world champions having been crowned in Terracina last weekend, there are some obvious frontrunners for the Sand Series title, which offers 500 points to the victors and has a total prize pot of $35,000.
Russia’s Nikita Burmakin and Italy’s Tommaso Giovannini will be looking to continue their fine form this season. The pair won the ITF Beach Tennis World Championships for the first time on Sunday and were also winners at the inaugural Sand Series event in Saarlouis, Germany.
“Sand Series events are extremely important for us,” explained Burmakin. “They give very big points and good prize money and they are like a Grand Slam of beach tennis.”
On the women’s side, world No. 1 Giulia Gasparri and her partner Ninny Valentini will have their sights set on a third straight title, having won the European Championships in Bulgaria before being crowned world champions in Terracina last weekend.
They will face stiff competition from the likes of Italy’s Sofia Cimatti and Nicole Nobile, who won in Saarlouis (defeating Gasparri and Valentini in the final).
Nobile said: “The Sand Series in Germany was amazing firstly because of the location – it’s a different location playing in the city centre – the organisation was perfect, they treated us like professional players and then it was very good because I won!”
There is plenty of beach tennis action to look forward to for the rest of this year, with the World Cup set to take place in Rio de Janeiro on 4-10 October.
Vini Font, who is one of the reigning champions from the Brazilian team that won in Moscow in 2019, has high hopes for the introduction of the Sand Series to the beach tennis tour.
“Sand Series is very important for our sport,” explained Font. “It’s the next step. We need that kind of professionalisation. The sport is growing so big now, you have an enormous amount of people playing worldwide. It’s a huge step, but I think we’re going to go much further than this.”
The Sand Series continues in Brasilia on 14-17 October before finishing in Reunion Island on 29 October-1 November.
For now, all eyes will be on Las Canteras beach, with both the women’s and men’s finals being streamed live from 11:00 local time on Sunday 26 September.