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.

Italy and Spain claim Potter Cup titles

The International Lawn Tennis Club of Spain just fell short of an historic double win at the 45^th edition of the Potter Cup last week, which incorporated a ladies’ competition for the first time. Spain’s triumph at the maiden women’s event was almost a precursor to a unique double win, but IC Italy dominated the men’s final, rolling to a 4-1 win at the Real Club de Polo Barcelona.

The home team’s sole point was scored by Jordi Burillo, who beat Antonio Altobelli 6-3 7-5. The Italians then racked up consecutive wins as David Scala recovered to beat José Mª Arenas 2-6 6-2 6-4, Enrico Casadei edged David Valeriano 7-6(5) 6-4, Massimiliano Pace outlasted Carlos Costa 6-4 3-6 6-3 and Giovanni Lelli Mami beat Santi Tintoré 6-2 6-0.  

In the semi-finals, Spain beat the defending champions and top seeds IC USA 4-1. On the other side of the draw, the Italians beat IC Great Britain by the same score, with the Brits going on to take third place, beating the USA 4-1 in the consolation final.

IC France finished in fifth position, beating Spain’s ‘B’ team 5-0, while seventh and eighth place were taken by Belgium and Ireland respectively, after Belgium won their match 5-0.

The first edition of the ladies’ Potter Cup was played in a round-robin format between four teams, with the final day of the competition seeing Spain crowned as champions after a 2-1 win over Italy.

The tie delighted local spectators and went to the wire before decided by a final doubles match. In the singles, Eva Bes beat Valeria Madaro 6-4 6-3 to give the hosts the lead before Emanuela Falleti showed no mercy in levelling for Italy with a 6-0 6-0 win over Paulina Rodriguez. The decisive doubles match then saw Bes and Paula Cabezas score a convincing 6-1 6-1 win over Falleti and Flora Perfetti.

Earlier matches had seen Spain outlast the USA (who went on to finish in third position) 2-1, and Great Britain 2-0.

Alongside the competition, participants also had the opportunity to take part in a full social program, and participated in the now traditional on-court clinic with special players from Acell Foundation.

The Potter Cup – also known as the “XXIV Campionat de Catalunya de Veterans - XV Gran Premi Generalitat de Catalunya” was supported by the Spanish Tennis Federation, the Catalan Tennis Federation, the Ajuntament de Barcelona, the Catalan Sports Council, the RCT Barcelona-1899 and the Real Club de Polo.