Tournament Recap: 2023 ITF World Team Championships
Mariko Fritz-Krockow
DATES: March 19 - 24
LOCATION: Antalya, Turkey
DIVISIONS: 30/35/40/45/50
It’s not often in life that you get the chance to represent your country in anything. In age-based tennis, the ITF World Team Championships, part of the Masters Tour, is our amazing opportunity to do so. This year, “Worlds” was held in Antalya, Turkey from March 19 - 24 and I, along with 19 other women, had the incredible honor of representing the USA to compete against countries from around the world. Aside from the experience of traveling to Turkey to compete in an international tournament against players from around the world, which, by itself is already amazing, the greatest part of my experience was hanging out with other members of Team USA. The camaraderie and support that I felt was incredible. It was a true pleasure to compete alongside these amazing women. Over the week we spent together, many friendships were formed over meals, drinks, hammam and sightseeing trips and I truly look forward to seeing my friends again at national tournaments.
2023 was the first year that a 30s category was offered and Mariel Tinnirello, Monica Hoz De Vila, Erika Takeuchi and Lya Kushnirovich made up the inaugural Team USA. We saw some hard fought matches from this team. Mariel Tinnirello showed us what grit looks like, fighting her way through multiple 3-set victories. Monica Hoz De Vila and Erika Takeuchi quickly found their groove as a newly formed doubles team and secured multiple wins. The team’s grit shone through as they walked onto that final podium to receive their bronze medals!
The 35s team was made up of Mariana Correa, Stephanie Kusano Wallace, Jennifer Sinclair and Evgenia Docktor, who finished the week in a strong 5th place. They had an unfortunate first round loss against Italy, the eventual gold medalists, but didn’t let that get them down and won all subsequent rounds. Their final match up, against Great Britain, was a true show of grit and positive attitude as Stephanie Kusano Wallace and Jennifer Sinclair never gave up and came out victorious in their tie-breaking doubles 3rd set supertie!
My team, made up of Anda Perianu, Yulia Bolotova, Isabela Iantosca and me, Mariko Fritz-Krockow, arrived in Antalya ready for battle in the 40s. Expectations were high as the 2022 team had gone home with a silver medal but this team wasn’t about to let that pressure get to them. In fact, it made us fight even harder, especially in a hard semi-finals against the clay-ready Spanish team. Team USA reached the finals without dropping a single match. And then it was time for a rematch of last year’s finals against Germany! Unfortunately, we couldn’t pull through and lost 2-1. But we sure are proud of our silver medals.
Amanda Parson-Siegel, Brandi Bratek, Heather Waters and Patricia Zerban made up the 45s team. With impressive poise and composure, they won their bracket and then unluckily played and fell to eventual gold-medalists, France. This was a team that wasn’t going to slow down, and in their final playoff match for 5th, they came through victorious in both 3-set singles matches. They secured a 5th place finish. Brandi Bratek went on to win a gold medal in the individual tournament the following week in the 45s mixed doubles draw, partnering with her husband, Wojtek Bratek.
The 50s team of Jenny Klitch, Christen Bartelt, Virginie Poritzky and Tracie Currie made a strong showing in a tough draw. They landed in a tough bracket with Germany and Latvia, two very strong teams. Their subsequent strong showings against Portugal, Turkey, Japan and Canada finished them in lucky 13th place. They had so many close matches and each time they came out the winners!
GALLERY
