World
Virtus World Tennis Championships 2024: Great Britain pocket four gold medals in France
Great Britain’s learning disability team become the most successful national team for a second consecutive year after seizing four gold medals at the 2024 Virtus World Tennis Championships.
The seven-strong squad, who last year became the most decorated team at the summit of all international learning disability (LD) tournaments, collectively won 11 medals during their stint in Annecy, France, including four gold, one silver, and six bronze.
The GB tennis team selections are managed by the LTA, with entry to the event made possible by SportExcel, the official Great Britain member of Virtus.
Virtus follow a classification process whereby all players are selected with consideration to their level of intellectual impairment, separating them into three different classes/draws:
- II-1 – for athletes with an intellectual impairment
- II-2 – for athletes with significant intellectual impairment
- II-3 – for athletes with high functioning autism
The success of GB’s Dominic Iannotti equated to three of the four gold medals won by Great Britain between the 7-15 September, taking home the gold in the II-1 men’s doubles, the men’s team and the mixed doubles.
The former II-1 men’s world No.1 partnered the equally experienced Fabrice Higgins to set up their successful Championship tilt, pipping second seeds Archie Graham and Josh Holloway of Australia to the title after their nail-biting 4-2, 1-4, (10-7) victory.
Iannotti, the 2019 World Champion, also medalled in the II-1 men’s singles after beating Frenchman Arthur Etchebarne 6-1, 6-4 in the bronze medal match before winning gold in the mixed doubles alongside Anna McBride.
Meanwhile, a budding Oliver Beadle reached a career milestone to finish runner-up, losing only to world No.1 Graham 6-1, 6-0.
Buoyed by his singles success, last year’s National yellow doubles division champion Beadle continued to impress across the Channel, joining forces with rising star Aidan Moody to win bronze in the II-1 Men’s doubles for the first time on an international stage.
Elsewhere, the women’s II-1 world No.1 McBride lived up to her pre-tournament billing, adding a further two gold medals to her already illustrious list of accolades.