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.

IC Spain wins IC Viva Mallorca Tennis Golf Challenge

The IC of Spain welcomed the IC of Great Britain and the IC of Germany to Cala Mesquida, Mallorca, from October 17 to October 20 for the now-traditional Tennis Golf Challenge. 

With a couple of teams short of tennis players due to unfortunate last-minute injuries, the organisers decided to include a ladies’ singles match in each tie plus a mixed doubles, inviting some local players to join the teams. This innovation turned out well, resulting in an enjoyable format to consider for the future tennis-golf events.  The competition combining both sports was held in Son Besso Tennis Club and in the Pula Golf, Son Servera Golf and Capdepera Golf clubs. The competition counted with the support from Viva and Vanity Hotels, and sponsorship from Rossbacher.

The first day of the event saw an extremely close match between Great Britain and Germany with some very close encounters both on the tennis court and on the golf course, with a final 4-3 score for Germany. 

On the Friday the team from IC Spain met Great Britain with some outstanding matches on court. Alberto Tous, who reached the finals of the junior French Open in 1980 before losing to Henri Leconte, teamed with Nicolas Alfin and played a match worthy of the world championship against Benson Greatrex and Graham Neale from Britain, with the Spaniards eventually securing the win after three long sets.  After a great battle both on the tennis courts and on the golf course, Spain claimed the tie, scoring 5 points to Britain’s 2.

IC Germany had the opportunity to play an outstanding local team raised by the Viva Vanity Hotel and also won by a 5-2 score line at the end of the day.

The final day saw a suitably close competition between the IC Spain and the IC Germany.  Alberto Tous and Nicolas Alfin were able to win the tennis doubles after a long battle against the Germans Ralph Schumucking and Uwe Himmighöfer. The players again had a tight battle on the golf course, where the Spanish team also eventually came out on top. The final score between IC Spain and IC Germany was 5-2 for the hosts.

The matches ended with IC Great Britain completing a 5-2 win over the local team to secure third place. The event came to a close with a formal dinner at the Viva Vanity Hotel where the captains expressed their gratitude to the IC of Spain and the organization.