Tennis in Surrey 2015

promotion
Great Britain win gold in men’s
doubles at World University
Games with Surrey doubles pair
Darren Walsh from Southern
Methodist University in Texas, and
Joe Salisbury from the University
of Memphis, both Surrey players,
helped Great Britain claim gold
in the men’s doubles at the World
University Games in South Korea,
making it the most successful
games ever for Great Britain’s
tennis team.
The Surrey pair defeated home
favourites Hyeon Cheung and
Ji Sung Nam from South Korea
2-6, 6-3, 10-8 in the final to claim
Britain’s first gold medal for ten
years in the tennis competition.
Funded and supported by the
Tennis Foundation, a team of six
players made the trip to Gwangju,
South Korea to compete in the
prestigious event which is this
second largest multi-sport event
after the Olympics with 10,000
athletes taking part.
Against the backdrop of a
noisy South Korean crowd, the
Brits recovered from a slow start
in hot and humid conditions to
win through, clinching a tight
Championship tie-break 10-8 after
some nerveless play at the net.
“This has been one of the
best experiences of my tennis
career and probably my greatest
achievement,” said a delighted
Salisbury. “The team environment
we created was very special and
made the trip so much fun.”
Having started their campaign
by beating the top seeds from
America, Martin Redlicki and
Austin Rapp 6-1, 6-4, the Surrey
players excelled all week against
higher-ranked opposition with
their opponents Cheung and Nam
in the final having an ATP singles
ranking of 79 and an ATP doubles
ranking of 286.
Darren Walsh added: “It’s been
a great week. The spirit within
the tennis team has been fantastic
and I’ve really enjoyed watching
and being supported by the wider
British team from all sports. To
win a gold (and silver in the mixed)
is an amazing experience and
something I will cherish for a long
time.”
Walsh enjoyed a doubly
successful tournament after
partnering Alex Walker from the
University of Bath to silver in the
mixed doubles. Walsh and Walker
exceeded expectations to make
the final defeating the number
one seeds from Taiwain, Hsien-Yin
Peng and Kai-Chen Chang in the
semi-finals.
However, despite their best
efforts they couldn’t match the
highly experienced and consistent
Belarussian pairing of Lidziya
Marosova and Andrei Vasilevski,
going down 6-2, 6-3 in the final to
take the silver medal.
Alistair Higham, Team Manager
and Universities Manager at the
Tennis Foundation said: “The gold
and silver medals are a result of
professionalism, hard work and
fantastic team spirit.”
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