Returning champions star at 2023 ITF Masters World Individual Champs
If the 2023 ITF Masters World Team Championships (65-70-75-80-85) were characterised by upsets galore, returning champions dominated the ITF Masters World Individual Championships (65-70-75-80-85-90) in Mallorca, Spain.
Finals day promised a series of heavyweight contests between legends of the ITF Masters Tour. In the first instance, there was a much-anticipated battle between multiple ITF Masters World Champions Glenn Busby and Norbert Henn.
Their meeting in the final of the M65+ marked their third match in a matter of weeks after they contested the final at MT1000 Mallorca and a singles tie in the semi-finals of the Britannia Cup (M65).
Busby won both meetings and this form continued in the first set, which he won convincingly 6-0. Although Busby briefly lost his rhythm in the middle of the second set, he regrouped quickly to take it 7-5, thus achieving a remarkable eleventh singles title at the World Championships.
Another gladiatorial contest was promised between Patricia Medrado and Ros Balodis in the final of the W65+. Although Medrado was a two-time defending champion in the 65+ category, she was dominated by Balodis, herself a former champion who returned to singles action at the World Championships for the first time since 2018.
Balodis won comfortably 6-1 6-1, and in doing so overturned a 2-0 head-to-head deficit to Medrado and claimed her first world title since 2016.
Other familiar champions included Jairo Velasco Ramirez from Spain (M75+), Jaime Rene Pinto Bravo from Chile (M80+), Giovanni Argentini from Italy (M85+) and Nicole Hesse Cazaux from France (W75+). The American Roz King added an impressive fourth world singles title to her collection, dismantling her Argentinian opponent Viviana Flint 6-1 6-0 in the final.
Only one player added three gold medals to their collection in Mallorca. The American Donna Fales triumphed in the W80+ before she teamed up with Michele Bichon in the women’s doubles and Frederick Drilling in the mixed doubles to complete a remarkable treble.
Despite the overall lack of surprises, there were stories of long-awaited success in the 70 and over category. Pauline Fisher, from Great Britain, has competed at the ITF Masters World Individual Championships for over 15 years and in 2023 she finally won her first singles title.
She told itftennis.com: "Initially I did not expect or even hope to win this year. But, because of illness and injury to other players, the path to gold became possible. However, I did play well, in fact I played as well as I could possibly have hoped to. I am, of course, delighted to win a gold medal in singles".
Meanwhile, Frenchman Paul Torre, who first competed at the World Championships in 1994, also finally won his first title, defeating the first-time finalist Eduardo Rios Almeida in the final of the MS70+.
As the first player aged 100 to compete at the World Championships, Henry Young was deservedly the headline story of the M90+, however it was George McCabe who defended his title from 2022, defeating fellow American Chuck Nelson in the final.
Japan's Emiko Saito also created her own slice of history as she became only the second ever champion of the W90+ category, which was introduced for the first time in 2022.
You can find the full results here: 65-90 World Individual Championships Draws and Results