The World Championship for Wheelchair Tennis Teams, the most important event in the sport, takes place from 2 to 8 May, at Vilamoura Tennis & Padel Academy.
This will be the first time that the final phase of the most important event in wheelchair tennis takes place in our country, with the organization in charge of the Portuguese Tennis Federation and Premier Sports.
Comprising four categories — male, female, quad and junior —, the Wheelchair Tennis Team World Championship will bring together a total of 44 teams from 22 countries in Portugal.
In all, there will be around 150 players, including many of the greatest champions in the history of wheelchair tennis, including leaders in the world rankings, world champions, Grand Slam and Paralympic champions. The constitutions of the teams will be known next week.
As an organizing team, the Portuguese national team received a wild card to compete in the final round of the Wheelchair Tennis Team World Championship. With Joaquim Nunes as captain, Portugal will be represented in the men's tournament by Carlos Leitão, Fábio Reis, who lives in the Algarve, João Couceiro and João Melo.
Teams
Male Board (Open): South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, South Korea, Spain, United States of America, France, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Sri Lanka
Female board (Open): Germany, South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, United States of America, France, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, Switzerland, Thailand
Quad frame (mixed): South Africa, Brazil, United States of America, Great Britain, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Turkey
Junior team (mixed): Argentina, Australia, Brazil, United States of America, France, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands
Format
All matches consist of two singles matches and one doubles match.
Men's table: group stage with four groups of four teams, from which the winners qualify for the semi-finals (Group 1 vs. Group 4, Group 2 vs. Group 3). The second, third and fourth ranked face each other, in the same logic, in the discussion for positions 5-8, 9-12 and 13-16, respectively.
Women's table: similar to the men's tournament, but with four groups of three teams and, therefore, 12 positions at stake.
Quads table: group stage with two groups of four teams, from which the best classified go to the semi-finals (1st place Group 1 vs. 2nd place Group 2, 2nd place Group 1 vs. 1. th place Group 2). The winners meet in the final, while the losers play the match for the allocation of third and fourth places. The third and fourth places in the group stage face off against each other in the fight for positions 5-8, with the winners fighting for places 5-6 and the losers fighting for positions 7-8.
Junior team: similar to the quad category, with the difference being in the clearance of positions 5-8: here, the third classified fight directly for the fifth place and the fourth classified for the seventh position.
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