The Russian tennis Federation organized the first category event at the courts of NTC Samaranch - the RTF Cup in beach tennis. Athletes of various ages and levels from different parts of Russia came to participate in the tournament. Despite the fact that the tournament provided professional adult category and a category for juniors under 15 years, several Junior pairs tried to storm the adult draw, and not without success!

So, in the women's competition the main prize went members of the Junior national team of Russia Ekaterina Glazkova and Anna Romanova (both Moscow). They were stronger in the finale of Valerie Trushevskiy and Anna Sedinkina (both Moscow) – 5/7 6/4 10/6.

Men doubles tournament was won by favorites, the participants of the upcoming world Championship in Cervia - Sergey Kuptsov and Nikolay Guryev (both from Samara). With a score 6/4 6/0 they won in the final against Nicholay Zhuiko (Moscow region) and Pavel Makarov (Moscow).

In the mixed category Ksenia Konova and Ilya Gerasimov (both from Moscow) were able to take over Ekaterina Borodina and Nikolai Guriev (both Samara) – 4/6 6/1 10/8.

In the category under 15 years prize-winning places were as follows:

Boys:
1 place Lunis/Gordeev (both Togliatti)
2 place Pokidin/Sedinkin (both Moscow)
3 Ivanov/Korolev (both Rybinsk)

Girls:
1 place Bogatova/Kalichinina (both Togliatti)
2nd place Maslichenko/Sagoian (Saratov/Togliatti)
3 place Khrustaleva/Movchan (both Tver)

Mixed:
1 place Pokidin/Sagoian (Moscow/Tolyatti)
2 Lunis/Kalichinina (both Togliatti)
3 place Alekseev/Khrustaleva (both Tver)

Award ceremony was held by the tournament Director Dmitry Soldatenkov and Vice-President of the Russian tennis Federation Dmitry Vikharev, who commented on the inclusion of beach tennis in the Olympic games in the future:

"To get into the Olympic program, we need to achieve some targets before, like athletes in the sport and the international calendar (this two steps we already pass). The only thing that stops us from applying is the small number of the people involved. This is a young sport, but the trend we have, show us that every year there are more and more people in beach tennis. And the more we have, the stronger will be our arguments in the future."


BTRussia also managed to talk with the participants and winners of the tournament and ask many exciting questions about beach tennis in Russia.

BTRussia: Congratulations! The final match was spectacular and very emotional, the crowd supported your opponents, and enjoyed each ball on your side. : ) But the members of the national team of Russia once again confirmed their status. How do you think, is there a chance for Amateurs in Russia to compete for the gold with Pro players?

Nikolay Guryev (Samara): Thank you for the congratulations! A very good question. Everybody has a chance, everyone has to come play with a winning mood. But the level of players in Russia is very different, there is no middle stage. Perhaps with the increase in the number of such tournaments and the enthusiasm of the players themselves, competition will increase too.

BTRussia: First place in the women's draw took the girls from the Junior team, beating experienced players. Do you think this experience is useful for the players or we should think about categories such as under 14/16/18 years (as in Italy), and manage professional tour separately?

Nikolay Guryev (Samara): Well done, Girls! Congratulations with this victory to their coach Artem Paramonychev. Of course, such experience is priceless and very important for young players, especially because the speed on the women's level is lower and it is easier to pass the age barrier. The categories should be managed only with sufficient number of players to participate in each draw.

BTRussia: Natalia, you came to the tournament from St. Petersburg, despite the fact that at the same dates in hometown also were beach games. Why you choose RTF Cup?

Natalia Gogonova (Saint Petersburg): There were circumstances that my partner had to go to Moscow this weekend. And we decided to make the maximum and to participate in the singles tournament and G4 in Sestroretsk on Thursday and Friday, and to come to the first category tournament in Moscow on Saturday and Sunday.

BTRussia: The tournaments of different categories are held on a regular basis in your hometown, while capital pleases bt lovers with events much less. What do you think about the organization of Moscow tournament?

Natalia Gogonova (Saint Petersburg): Yes, Saint Petersburg has many tournaments. But in any case players like to change places sometimes, but finance does not work now so well, so we try to travel in Russia for tournaments with minimal cost. I played the second time on the courts of Samaranch NTC and I really liked the atmosphere at the tournament. Perhaps there were some bugs in the organization of the tournament, but that's okay, next year I'm sure will be better!


BTRussia: The girls from the Junior team won the WD tournament, beating experienced players. The members of national team also won in MD. Do you think that amateur players can compete with pro athletes?

Natalia Gogonova (Saint Petersburg): I think amateurs should train harder than guys who came from tennis, and then in 2-3 years, of course they have a chance. The main thing is to believe, don’t give up, to fight and to get pleasure from games and tournaments!


BTRussia: Junior girls from the national team won the tournament, as well as in the men's draw victory belongs to the national team. Do you think that amateurs can compete for the gold, or there is a chance only for professionals?

Vasily Reutov (Moscow): I think that any team can win the gold, just have to do a lot of practice and have a good understanding.


BTRussia: You play in different tournaments, but before that, you participated in the Junior competitions, and now you came on court against older players. Do you think such experience is useful? Or would you prefer to play in the League under 15/17/19 years?


Vasily Reutov (Moscow): Yes, I played with adults in the tournament and saw the new speed, greater accuracy. This time I played not with my partner, but I tried to play with adults and I loved it. I hope that in the future, we'll have a lot of tournaments, so I will be able to play with my partner, and then I think, we can show much better results.

Parallel to the RTF Cup in Moscow, Northern capital were held two international tournaments category ITF 0$, where the winners were: