ITF Young Seniors World Individual Championships

Last week Mark Gatt participated in the World Individual Young Seniors tennis championships in Antalya, Turkey. This event is the highest ranked event on the ITF Seniors circuit attracting 266 participants from 48 different countries in the 35’s, 40’s and 45 age categories. The Ali Bey Club Manavgat, Antalya, Turkey has 62 clay tennis courts, boasting excellent facilities and on site accommodation.

Mark participated in the over 35 singles, over 35 mens’ doubles and over 35 mixed doubles. In the mixed doubles he was partnered by Silvina Delgado of Argentina and in the mens’ doubles by Sergey Malkov of Russia.

Mark was eliminated in the singles by German player Bernhard Hermann in the round of the last 32.

In the mixed doubles Mark and Silvina combined well in their last 32 match to defeat Amrei Korte and Manuel Pfeiffer of Germany 6/1, 6/3. In the last round, they met the very strong no 2 seeds Mark Hadley of New Zealand and Stefanie Kolar of Germany who combined exceptionally well to win 6/1 6/3 and went on to win the silver medal.

In the mens’ doubles event Mark and his Russian partner Sergey first opponents were the No 1 and No 2 of Latvia, Maris Locmelis and Oscars Vaskis who had beaten the Russians No 1 and 2 in the world team championships the previous week. Mark and Sergey played an excellent match to win 6/2, 6/4. In the quarter final Mark and Sergey met Niraj Singh of India and Bernhard Hermann of Germany (Mark’s opponent in the singles event). Mark and his Russian partner played a blinder, winning the all important points and the match7/5, 6/4. This assured them of a place in the semi-final and a bronze medal. Their semi-final opponents were the world No 1 Daniel Dolbea of Germany and Dominik Pfeiffer also of Germany who won the match 6/2, 6/2 and went on to win the world title and the gold medal.

As a result of Mark’s successful efforts at these world individual championships he is now ranked 48 in singles, 7 in mens doubles (+11) and 3 in mixed doubles (+13).

In a statement Mark thanked Living Well for the use of their gym facilities for his physical preparation and his club St. Aloysius Tennis Club for their support in encouraging his participation.