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.

2019 Potter Cup launched in Barcelona

The 47th edition of the Potter Cup, the International Club’s premier team event for senior players, will take place on the clay courts of two of Barcelona’s most prestigious clubs, Real Club de Polo and Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899 from May 30st to June 2^nd 2019.

A total of 13 national IC teams - 7 men’s and 6 ladies’ - will be in action. At the Potter Cup’s traditional home of the RC Polo, the men’s tournament once again sees a strong line-up, with teams from IC Belgium, IC France, IC Ireland, IC Great Britain and IC USA due to take part alongside defending champions IC Italy, and the host team IC Spain, runners-up in 2018.

IC Spain has named an 8-man team, led by former professional Albert Portas and captained by Santiago Tintoré as they attempt to recapture the title for the first time since 2013. The IC Italy, defending champion has signed up with the team led by former Davis Cup star Marcelo Charpentier and also featuring Filippeschi, Altobelli, Caldarelli, Scala, Altobelli,Pertosa, Scaiola and Senatore - all of who are former ATP-ranked players.   

The ladies’ competition looks to build on the success of last year’s inaugural event and will see seven teams in action at the RCT Barcelona-1899, before moving to the RC Polo for the finals.

In the ladies’ event, defending champions IC Spain will be fancied to retain the title, with 2018 team members Eva Bes and Gisela Riera named to the squad alongside newcomer Noelia Perez, a former Spanish Fed Cup player. They will face tough competition from the team they beat to win in 2018, IC Italy, whose squad features former pros Francesca Frappi Poldini and Alice Canepa, a former Top 50 player on the WTA Tour, amongst others.

The remaining teams due to take part in what promises to be the most competitive ladies’ event yet are IC Belgium, IC France, IC Ireland and a team from IC Great Britain featuring three former ITF World Senior Team Championship medallists.  

The tournament will also stage its now traditional tennis clinic for players with intellectual disabilities from the ACELL Foundation, who play alongside Potter Cup participants during the popular on-court session.

In addition to the two hosting clubs, the Potter Cup is supported by the Catalan Tennis Federation, the IC Council, the Barcelona Town City Hall,the Diputación de Barcelona,  the Consell Català de l’Esport and the Spanish Tennis Federation.