Czech Open Prague

22. November 2023

A small delegation of 5 Swiss players consisting of Andreas Kotala, Beat Ladner, Bruno Scherrer, Graham King and Dara Ladner made their way to Prague to take part in the IWT Czech Open. The 5 players managed to bring 4 medals back to Switzerland, proving that even though the year is coming to an end, these players are still in form and aiming for the upcoming Swiss Nationals.

The first medal I want to talk about is the one won by our junior player Andreas Kotala. In the U16 draw, it looked like he was going to win a medal as the runner-up and number 1 seed. His Austrian nemesis Leonhard Prager seemed to be the only player with a chance against Kotala. However, Prager's defeat in the semi-finals meant that the match between the two did not take place. This meant that Kotala won the gold medal fairly easily, without even having to pick up a tennis racket.

The second Swiss medal was won by our very own Graham King. Once again he proved that whenever he plays in an international tournament he is likely to bring home a medal. This time he won bronze in the Seniors +55 category. One thing that can be said about this medal is that it was well deserved as Graham showed his best fighting spirit on the court.

The other two medals were won by the same player, Dara Ladner (or this writer who prefers to write about other people's successes). In the women's elite doubles, she teamed up with Kirsten Kaptein of the Netherlands. In a tricky final, which they had hoped to win before the tennis, as their Czech opponents are great tennis players, the Swiss/Dutch combination ended up needing 4 tennis points. With the determination to get those 4 points and the nerves of the Czechs, Ladner/Kaptein won the title. In the women's A singles, the two doubles partners had to face each other in the gold medal match. Kaptein comfortably won her first ever gold medal in the elite singles, while Ladner had to settle for silver. Not a bad result considering it was Ladner's first podium finish in the elite singles and she was playing the tournament with a minor injury. 

For the rest of the Swiss participants, as well as for the other categories in which the medallists played, there were no more medals to be won. Nevertheless, all the Swiss players gave a great performance and sometimes came close to winning a medal, but were just unlucky.

Link to check the results.

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