Kettering's Dermot helps Britain seal a World Cup spot

Kettering's Dermot Bailey helped Great Britain’s men’s wheelchair tennis team win their qualification event in Turkey this week to secure their place at the wheelchair tennis World Team Cup Finals in May,
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Dubbed the world cup of wheelchair tennis, the event is the ITF’s flagship team wheelchair tennis event and the equivalent of the Davis Cup for men and Billie Jean King Cup for women.

The Brits secured their place in the showpiece event with wins over Germany in the pool stage and then Sweden in the semi-final, before coming from behind to take a deciding doubles match and defeat Israel in the final.

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The British team was headed by world No.1 Alfie Hewett British No.3 Bailey.

The duo were joined by 16-year-olds Ben Bartram from Norfolk and Dahnon Ward from Derbyshire, with all four players are supported through the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis Performance Pathway.

In windy, dusty conditions on the clay courts in Antalya, Bartram got Britain off to the perfect start in the pool match against Germany with a 6-2, 6-1 win over World No.129 Sven Hiller.

Newly-crowned world No.1 Hewett then backed up his team-mate's win with a dominant performance of his own – beating World No.48 Anthony Dittmar 6-1, 6-1.

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Bailey and Ward then teamed up for the doubles to beat Dittmar and Christoph Wilkes 6-2, 6-3 and round off a perfect tie for the Brits.

Kettering's Dermot Bailey (front row, centre) with his Great Britain team-matesKettering's Dermot Bailey (front row, centre) with his Great Britain team-mates
Kettering's Dermot Bailey (front row, centre) with his Great Britain team-mates

The team then secured a place in the final after victory against Sweden on Sunday, with Bailey defeating World No.112 Hampus Linder-Olofsson 6-0, 6-2, and Hewett beating former two-time Wimbledon singles champion Stefan Olsson 6-1, 6-0.

Monday’s final saw Israel go 1-0 up with World No.38 Adam Berdichevsky beating Bailey 6-2, 6-4 before Hewett then levelled the tie with a comprehensive 6-0, 6-0 victory over Israel’s No.1 Guy Sasson.

Norfolk duo Hewett and Bartram then combined to take the deciding doubles 6-4, 6-3 against Sasson and Berdichevsky, and in the process secure Great Britain’s men’s place in Portugal.

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The success of the British men in qualifying means Great Britain will have a full representation of teams for the 2022 edition of the finals in Vilamoura between May 2 and 8 with the men joining Britain’s women’s quads and junior teams who had all secured automatic qualification based on their performances at last year’s finals.

Dermot Bailey in doubles action with Dahnon WardDermot Bailey in doubles action with Dahnon Ward
Dermot Bailey in doubles action with Dahnon Ward

However, a combination of injury and illness resulted in Great Britain being forced to withdraw from the men’s competition in 2021 and therefore needing to contest the qualification event this year in order to try and earn their place for the World Group.

The men’s team have a strong track record of recent success at the World Team Cup Finals, winning the title for the first time in 2015 before earning victory again in 2019, after a bronze medal in 2016 and silver medals in 2017 and 2018.

Bailey, who won two of his three matches over the week, said: “I am very happy we have qualified for the world group.

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"It’s always an honour to represent GB, and it’s great to be part of a team event instead of playing as an individual on tour.

"Although I’ve had some up and down performances here the bigger picture was for the team to qualify and that’s job done. I’m looking forward to putting on the team colours again in Vilamoura in May.”

To find out more about wheelchair tennis and the LTA’s wider disability tennis work, visit www.lta.org.uk