MThis Monday the individual list of the ATP will throw in its first places a circumstance that had not been seen so far this century. The first two players will correspond to the same country: Carlos Alcaraz will be number 1; Rafael Nadal, number 2. Such a thing had not happened since the American André Agassi was the ATP leader on August 7, 2000 and Pete Sampras escorted him. There is no need to talk about the excellent state of health of Spanish tennis. More than a dozen male ‘top 100’. Despite the ups and downs of Garbiñe and Badosa, both remain in the ‘top 10’ WTA. The men’s and women’s teams are in the finals of the Davis and BJK Cups. And Martín Landaluce and Ane Mintegi, among others, talk about the quality of the relay. But even that good health is not limited to ‘traditional tennis’.
Antomi Ramos Viera does not yet personally know Rafael Nadal or Carlos Alcaraz, but he is also a number one player in Spanish tennis. She is in the mode of Beach Tennis or Beach Tennis, a practice that was born in Italy, was regulated in Spain, took root in Brazil and maintains a world circuit recognized by the International Tennis Federation since 2010. The Canarian currently leads the ranking and his condition as leader, also joins the crown of world champion. He has little time left for ‘meetings,’ because so far this season he has played 81 games, with only nine defeats.”You could play three out of four week finals a month,” he tells Primera Plana.
I don’t know how much I’ve played this year, but you can do it almost every weekend
Antomi explains that beach tennis “It is played in pairs. The rackets are similar to those of paddle tennis, specific to beach tennis. The ball is mini-tennis, two-tone and almost without pressure. The net is 1.80 from the ground for men and 1.70 for women. It is played on soft sand, although it can be a beach or an artificial court.. The court measures 16 meters long by eight meters wide. Obviously, the ball cannot bounce, there is only one service, the score is the same as in tennis, there is a golden point with 40 equals and the last set is a super tie break to 10 points”.
Antomi is 29 years old and came to Beach Tennis from tennis: “I started playing when I was 10 years old. I found out about this modality when I was 14, through the announcement of a tournament. I signed up and it was love at first sight. Then I found out that there was a circuit and you could be a professional. I signed up for a tournament of my category in Italy, in a Canarian team, and with a partner assigned by the organization I reached the semifinals. Then I thought that if without specific preparation and without knowing my partner we reached the semifinals, I could have possibilities in that sport, because it was a strong tournament. Then I went to Italy for a year, the cradle of the sport, to train with the best. I had to return due to economic difficulties but I applied everything I learned on my own in Gran Canaria. I kept competing and the results started to come.”
Antomi was already number 1 in 2019 and the World Championship he has won this year is also the second of his career, after in 2018 he was, along with Mikael Alessi, the first non-Italian to win the title. He has more than 60 titles, including several of the ‘Grand Slam’ of this modality. However, he is aware that his scope is different.
From Beach Tennis the six or eight best can live, but it is becoming more professional
“Few players can live from Beach Tennis, perhaps the best six or eight, and obviously dedicating a lot of time to it, getting good results, doing clinics… Living only from sponsorships is difficult, although things have improved, it is growing more. But it is a changing environment depending both on your results and whether sponsors come in or not”. However, obviously, the professionalism is maximum: “We have a very careful preparation, both physically, mentally and nutritionally, because you have wear and tear due to the volume of matches and also due to travel. You see very little of your own and you have to adapt to what you find out there to train.”
In this growing sport, which already brings together hundreds of viewers live and thousands in streaming, Spain is also a power: in the European past it reached silver and in the World Cup, bronze. And Antomi Ramos is the leader.
244 tournaments a year and five ‘Grand Slam’
The ITF Beach Tennis circuit this year comprises 244 tournaments on all continents. Brazil hosts 61 appointments and Spain, seven. Five of these tournaments, the Sand Series, are considered the ‘Grand Slam’ of the modality and two of them are in Spain: GranCanaria and Barcelona -the RFET supports the national circuit-, in addition to Saarlouis (Germany), Brasilia (Brazil) and Reunion Island (France). On the other hand, there is the World Championship, which Antomi won this year together with the Italian Michele Cappelleti. “Before, couples changed a lot,” he points out, “but when the sport has become more professional they have become more stable, because in competition rapport counts.”
