Doubles World Championship & IWT London Open
27 Juillet 2023
A total of 12 Swiss players made their way to Roehampton in London for playing the Doubles WC as well as the London Open, in the club where tennis is played on grass courts. The small delegation managed to come home with 9 medals won, from which 8 of them were won in the Doubles WC.
Coming first to the Elite categories of the Doubles WC: In the Mixed A doubles, Nicolas Champod was the only Swiss player contesting with his French partner Flore Allègre. Unfortunately, they lost a close first match. In the Women’s A doubles, Gaëlle Wavre and Dara Ladner were faced with strong opponents that also led them to lose their first match. But there was one successful story from the Elite draws and responsible for that in the Men’s doubles was once again Nicolas Lenggenhager with his Dutch partner Koen Hageraats. The pair comfortably reached the semi-finals where they lost a close match against the Danish pair of Jaksland/Hougaard. The pair was then able to find their focus again to go on and secure the amazing bronze medal.
In the Men’s B Doubles where Swiss players Patrick Bürgi, Bruno Scherrer, and Léon Mamié competed with partners from different countries. It was in the end Léon Mamié that could secure a bronze medal for Switzerland with his German partner Bastian Böhm. The Mixed C doubles might have been the category with the highest number of Swiss players competing with five players from Switzerland. In this draw, Julietta Dübendorfer alongside her partner Patrick Bürgi, while her older sister Victoria Dübendorfer teamed up with Léon Mamié. The fifth Swiss player was Gaëlle Wavre pair up with her French partner Bastien Vaubert. In the semi-final, many suspected the preliminary final of the draw to happen in the encounter between Dübendorfer/Mamié and Wavre/Vaubert. The Swiss-French pair managed to come out on top and then safely secure the gold medal ahead of tennis, whereas Dübendorfer/Mamié had to settle for the bronze medal.
Coming to the age classes where Esther Dübendorfer did it once again and managed to win the gold medal in the Women Seniors 40+ doubles for a third time. This time she convincingly won it together with Kirsten Kaptein. In the 45+ Mixed doubles, Esther Dübendorfer managed to secure a second medal by reaching second place with her Danish partner Anders Fyrst. The Swiss Duo of Giovanni Gentile and Manfred Grab came close to the gold medal in the Seniors 55+ Doubles but unfortunately, they had to settle for silver. They for sure hope to come back stronger next year and go for gold again. Graham King is a Swiss player always good for a medal and he didn’t disappoint this time. Our King managed to defend his Seniors 65+ doubles title together with his British partner Julian Clapp.
At the IWT London Open, the three guys competing in the Men A draw, Léon Mamié, Noah Mamié, and Nicolas Lenggenhager managed to win their first match. Unfortunately, all of them fell short in their second match. In the Men C draw Patrick Bürgi came close to a podium but in the end, it was only enough for fourth place. As above stated, one Swiss medal was won at the IWT London Open and this was won by none other than Nicolas Champod in the Men B draw. He managed to get the bronze medal in a highly contested B draw after having been less successful in the doubles categories.
Once again congratulations to all the medal winners. Medal pictures as well as other impressions of the Swiss players can be found on our Facebook and Instagram accounts, while the detailed results can be found under the following links:
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