We managed to talk to one of the most successful Russian players, soul of national team Ivan Syrov, which was one of the organizers of the recent tournament MegaFon DreamCup in Saint Petersburg.

BTRussia: Ivan, you live in tennis world for a long time: as a player, coach, organizer. And also you were the head of the international tennis tournament in wheelchairs. Please tell us, how did you get such a brilliant idea to hold a tournament for people with disabilities?

Ivan: Tournaments "Dream Cup" have been held for 9 years already, and our team always wanted to conduct the most relevant for the St. Petersburg tennis competitions. For the first: children's and amateur, and then professional women and men competitions. One of the most especial to me are the mixed tournaments. It seems they gave a major push for the development of tennis in St. Petersburg. I was asked to save the men's ITF Futures tournament 10 000$, and we did a great "Old School DreamCup 2013", then this tournament was to maintain by "PTC".

Speaking about wheelchair tennis, in 2010 my father Sergey Syrov suggested to pay attention to wheelchair tennis. Anatoly Polyatikin, who lived in St. Petersburg and was one of the best tennis players with disabilities in Russia. BTW he coached Polina Shakirova, who now occupies 34th place in the ranking of ITF. So we had good players in St. Petersburg, but didn’t have tournaments for them. That's why we decided that the organization of tournaments for people with disabilities is good idea.

BTRussia: Ivan, this year you returned to the national Russian beach tennis team. Did you miss the joy and fun of beach tennis?

Ivan: I decided to change the schedule of my life, and it is possible for me to play beach tennis now. I really wanted to play before, but I worked 60-70 hours a week as a classic tennis coach, and it was extremely difficult to find the time for BT.

BTRussia: As the organizer you held many tournaments during the Dream Cup, and we have heard there was a beach tennis tournament too. Don’t you plan to lead the development of this direction in Russia?

Ivan: Yes, that's right... Once we even celebrated "Valentine's Day" with our tournament. This is a very interesting direction, but I didn’t think about leading it yet, but who knows, we’ll see.

BTRussia: One of the conditions for inclusion of beach tennis in the Olympics is involving disabled people. Do you think that beach tennis can develop this way?

Ivan: I think that it is possible as well as the sitting volleyball, this sport is already Paralympic, so the condition is quite possible. Thank you for asking me that question, maybe I will try to use this idea in practice in the near future.

The development of relatively new sport, like beach tennis, is difficult. Moreover, the main points of beach tennis in Russia are not in beach cities. The organization tennis and beach tennis tournaments for people with disabilities, it is also a big step in promoting sports and the right way for the Olympics. We wish Ivan the best of success in all his projects!

Of course, there is some experience of the beach tennis tournaments for people with disabilities at the place of birth of beach tennis – in Italy. We spoke on this subject with one of the most experienced tournament organizers in Cagliari Giuseppe Martinez.

BTRussia: Giuzeppe, maybe you know how many beach tennis tournaments in Italy for people with disabilities? Did you organize it yourself?

Giuzeppe: I don't know how many tournaments there's in Italy. I organize a demonstration during my ITF tournament. With cooperation to Special Olympics Committee I invited special Olympic athletes and let them play with other guys, it was very nice. The first one I organized during the second ITF tournament (totally I organized six tournaments).

BTRussia: Do you organize any non-pro BT tournaments?

Giuzeppe: Priority for our association is pro competition, but also I organize some under tournament, and even work a little bit with schools.

BTRussia: Do you think development of beach tennis for more categories will help the world popularization of this sport and inclusion in the Olympic program?

Giuzeppe: Obviously, more categories in this sport and more players is the key to grow interest around the world. Every year more players start to play this game, and I see the possibility for beach tennis to become Olympic one day. I think if we want to increase this sport seriously we have to promote in schools first.

We agree with Giuseppe, the children are our future, and promotion of beach tennis in schools is really huge benefit and it’s could be another step on the way to the Olympics. About development of beach tennis and the possibilities of inclusion in the Olympic program we spoke with the first beach tennis racket – Alessandro Calbucci.

BTRussia: Alessandro, how do you think, is it technically possible to carry out successful competitions for people with disabilities in beach tennis?

Alessandro: Beach tennis is a very accessible sport from a technical point of view. For that reason is a perfect sport for people differently able. BT is easy and is usually practiced with beach and sun that create positive mood. More over motion on the beach is a little bit harder at the beginning but is much safer that hard surface and it’s a perfect condition for funny and joyful atmosphere.

BTRussia: How do you think, development of beach tennis for more categories will help the popularization and inclusion into Olympics?

Alessandro: As to Olympics, of course the participation of players differently able can support the candidature of BT to next Olympic Games. But I think we need more other kinds of engagement from national and international federations to get Olympic goal. Right now it is a very far dream yet.

BTRussia: How BT players could help to make this dream come true?

Alessandro: Players should push all the other actors of BT to do their best and to cooperate in order to develop our game! Instead all the parts of Beach tennis system are just interested in their own small interests instead of visioning our real major shared goals: tv, bigger sponsors and Olympics.

Reporter btrussia.com Ekaterina Bobkova

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