Sanxenxo (Pontevedra), October 14, 2022 The General Secretary for Sport, José Ramón Lete Lasa, participated this morning in the presentation of the XX ITF Junior International Tennis Tournament and the XIV ATE Cadet International Tennis Tournament that will take place at the Sanxenxo Cultural Sports Circle from next October 18.
He highlighted the role of the winner of four Grand Slams, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, present at the event, as a pioneer and inspiration for many of those who came after her, as was the case of Lourdes Domínguez, from Pontevedra, who in 1999 became the first Spanish woman to win Roland Garros Júnior, “a milestone that today continues to be one of the greatest feats of Galician tennis”.
Lete Lasa pointed out that since then, Galician tennis has continued to grow and, in this sense, underlined the importance of Martín de la Puente from Vigo, “the best Spanish tennis player on hip wheels who has just won his first Grand Slam, in doubles in hip of the *US Open”.
Precisely, many of the winners and finalists of that US Open -the Spaniards Carlos Alcaraz (senior champion) and Martín Landaluce (junior champion), the Norwegian Casper Rudd (senior finalist), the Belgian Guilles Bailly (Belgian finalist) or the Filipino Alexandra Eala (junior champion)- previously participated in Sanxenxo tournaments. This, she said, “is an example of the exceptional work carried out by Galicia and this tournament with more than 20 years of history with grassroots sports”.
Lastly, Lete Lasa recalled that the Sanxenxo ITF Junior Tournament has been a Project of Special Relevance for years in the collaboration agreement signed by the Second Vice Presidency and the Department of the Presidency, Justice and Sports with the Galician Tennis Federation. An agreement that in this 2022 rose 3% to about 110,000 euros.
