Tennis | Portugal with “ambition” Wheelchair Tennis Team World Cup

The Portuguese national team is “prepared and motivated” to host the BNP Paribas World Team Cup — Wheelchair Tennis Team World Championship, equivalent to the Davis Cup and the Billie Jean King Cup (formerly the Fed Cup).

With organization of Portuguese Tennis Federation and the Premier Sports at Vilamoura Tennis & Padel Academy between the 1st and 7th of May, this is the first time since 1991 that the final phase of the tournament takes place twice in a row in the same country.

Consisting of four categories — male, female, quad and juniors —, the Wheelchair Tennis Team World Championship will bring together a total of 42 teams from 23 countries in Portugal who will learn about the draw on Sunday afternoon, after the traditional captains’ meeting.

As the organizing team, the Portuguese national team received a wild card to compete in the final stage. With Joaquim Nunes as captain, Portugal will be represented in the men’s tournament by Carlos Leitao, jean Paul Melo, João Couceiro and the rookie José Sousa.

“The draw is scheduled for Sunday and we know that we will be in a group with three more teams. All countries will be tough opponents, but with our ability to fight and commitment we will do our best and play to the limit”promised the national coach after this Saturday’s preparation training.

“Our preparation path was made up of events on the national calendar and specific activities for the selection group that left us in a position to do our best in this World Championship”, added Joaquim Nunes, who shared one of Portugal’s main goals for this edition: “We want to show what we are capable of and give everyone at home the opportunity to see that tennis offers this possibility of sports practice to everyone who wants to do it. They just have to look for a club and start training.”

Teams

Men’s frame (Open): Japan, Great Britain, Netherlands, Spain, France, Israel, USA, Poland, Brazil, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, South Africa, Morocco, Argentina, Chile, Portugal

Female frame (Open): Netherlands, Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, Switzerland, United States of America, Brazil, China and Chile

Table of quads: Netherlands, Brazil, Japan, United States of America, Israel, Turkey, Thailand and South Africa

Junior squad (mixed): Australia, Great Britain, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, United States of America and France

Format

All matches consist of two singles matches and one doubles match.

Men’s squad: group stage with four groups of four teams, of which the winners qualify for the semi-finals (Group 1 vs. Group 4, Group 2 vs. Group 3). The second, third and fourth classified face each other, in the same logic, in the discussion for positions 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16, respectively.

Women’s frame: similar to the men’s tournament, but with four groups of three teams and therefore 12 positions at stake.

Frame quads: group stage with two groups of four teams, from which the best qualified go on to the semi-finals (1st place Group 1 vs. 2nd place Group 2, 2nd place Group 1 vs. 1st place Group 2). The winners meet in the final, while the losers play the third and fourth place match. The third and fourth ranked teams from the group stage face each other crosswise in the fight for positions 5-8, with the winners fighting for places 5-6 and the losers fighting for positions 7-8.

Junior cadre: similar to the category quad.

FPT