The heat is turned on and the Malta Tennis Federation (MTF) is making significant strides in cultivating a thriving tennis community. The Federation is more active than ever, engaging players of all levels in a variety of prestigious tournaments both locally and overseas.
Never before has Malta seen so many of its players travel abroad to top level tournaments and compete in main draws of major events across most of Europe. This unprecedented wave of enthusiasm has spread rapidly and has garnered belief and well-deserved success.
Tennis Club Kordin (Yonex Open) has recently hosted one of our summer junior tournaments where kids of all ages displayed incredible talent and resilience to battle their way up the local junior rankings. In addition, on the local scene, International high level Tennis Europe U16 events at Tennis Club Kordin by San Michel and at Marsa Sports Club by Planit Travel were also held in the beginning of the summer season. Here, many players from overseas competed against our local talent and provided an opportunity for our juniors to engage in some quality tennis against the best in Europe.
The overseas events have been dominated by the success of our Seniors in the Davis Cup competition held in Albania, where our National Team secured promotion to Group III after an incredible week of tennis. A huge congratulations to our players Alex Degabriele, Liam Delicata and team captain Mark Gatt. Alex and Liam continued their summer plans on the ITF
pro tour securing some fantastic results against players ranked top 600 ATP and climbing up the world ATP rankings.
The Billie Jean Cup another top level Women’s team event proved to
be a difficult task for our young and brave team competing in Group II just before the summer kicked in. Captained by Helen Asciak, our athletes Emma Montebello, Betha Mayo, Carla Baldacchino supported by Helene Pellicano gave their all against players ranked in the top 100
WTA but eventually slipped down to Group III.
Francesca Curmi also continues her gruelling international schedule playing pro tournaments on the ITF and WTA tour week in, week out. Another role model for all our future stars, Francesca recently secured a great win in the doubles ITF W35 in Cyprus. Matija Pecotic, former ATP 206 and Small Nations Gold Medalist has continued to play in ATP Challenger and ITF pro tour but has also taken some time out to
nurse a shoulder injury. Helene Pellicano, a highly rated former European Junior Champion is also planning to make her way back to the senior pro tour after undergoing surgery on a recurrent hip injury.
The overseas junior events have been the busiest in the history of Junior Tennis. Malta participated in the Tennis Europe Summer Cups in almost all categories. The organisation of these events was nothing short of demanding, but we witnessed some brave tennis on all fronts showcasing the Maltese Flag with pride. A special thanks to our local tennis academies
for providing the National Teams with excellent accompanying coaches.
Our athletes competed in various countries including Italy, Spain and France and have returned with a wealth of experience for the future.
The Federation continues to strengthen its ties with our neighbouring countries having obtained more than 100 direct entries (Wild Cards) to tournaments for all our athletes, since January 2024, mostly in the Tennis Europe Junior Tour.
This accessibility to tournaments has allowed our athletes to spend weeks competing with the very best in Europe with extremely encouraging results. The gates are open for our athletes to regularly compete at the highest
level abroad, over and above bringing for the first time an U12 Tennis Europe Tournament by Planit Travel to Malta in December.
The ten-pro global junior tour has also seen increasing participation by our athletes over the past 3 years. The summer months especially have enabled our players to compete in France and Switzerland with outstanding results. Our high-level academies continue to nurture the
promising juniors of our grassroot programmes with many in-house tournaments and overseas trips to neighbouring Italy being the most convenient destination.
The summer season will come to a close with the San Michel Malta Junior Open held at the Marsa Sports Club, followed by the Alska Birkirkara National Senior Open and finally the San Michel Vittoriosa Lawn Tennis Club organising a national junior open. The beginning of the
winter season will kick off with the Grand Malta Senior Tennis Open which promises to be one of the biggest local tennis events organised to date.
