IC Spain Champions of the Abdesselam Trophy

Madrid, July 2023

During the 5th and 9th of July, our veteran teams +50 and +60 were crowned champions of the Robert Abdesselam Trophy Tournament held at the facilities of the Club de Tenis Chamartín in Madrid, under excellent hospitality and organization.

The competition, organized this time by IC Spain, pays tribute to the figure of Robert Abdesselam, junior champion of France, vice president of the French Tennis Federation and the International Federation, as well as a member of the Davis Cup team. Additionally, he was a founder of NATO, served as a volunteer during World War II, and created the Robert Abdesselam Foundation to support French tennis and promote competition for retired players from the professional circuit.

The competition format is a "round-robin" in doubles mode: 1 women's doubles, 1 men's doubles, and 2 mixed doubles (50/55 and 55/60). Each match won earns one point, so the winning team is the one with the most points after the three days of competition.

For this edition, the IC Spain team was formed by Rosa Bielsa, Carmen Chillida, Carmen Mendaro, Ángel Arbelo, Juan Avendaño, Javier Linares (Captain-player), and Javier Molina, who competed against the International IC teams of Belgium, France, and the invited IC team for this occasion, Norway. Spain emerged victorious in a hard-fought final against France.

The awards ceremony was attended by Nicolás Ramos (President of Club de Tenis Chamartín), Javier Linares (Sports Vice President of CTCH, Captain, and IC Spain executive), and Chema Iñigo (Sports Director of the club and competition supervisor).

It was a heartfelt tournament where, once again, we enjoyed good tennis among friends and had the additional privilege, through the Higher Sports Council (Consejo Superior de Deportes), of witnessing the presentation of the Gold Medal of the Royal Order of Sporting Merit to Spanish tennis player Garbiñe Muguruza.

2022 Potter Cup/Two Presidents' Cup Preview

IC Spain is finalizing the preparations for the 49th Potter Cup & 5th Two Presidents’ Cup.

Once again the competing national teams will meet at the Real Club de Polo and the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 from October 20^th to 23^rd. The men's draw will feature representatives from IC Italy, IC Belgium, IC France, IC Germany, IC USA, IC Ireland, IC Great Britain and IC Spain. Among the participating players is the world champion in the 40+ category, Roberto Menéndez, and Marcelo Charpentier, former Davis Cup player, will participate again for IC Italy.

The women's draw will include the participation of IC Italy, IC Belgium, IC France, IC Germany, IC Hungary, IC Ireland, IC Great Britain and IC Spain. IC Germany will defend the title with the winner of the world championship in the Over 40s category Manon Kruse accompanied by Steffi Gerhlein and Christine Kraupa.

The Spanish team, finalists in the last edition, will feature the world runners-up Rosa Andres and Gisela Riera in the Over 45s category, accompanied by Sonia Delgado and Eva Bes as captain.