Tournament Recap: 2024 World Team Championships
DATES: August 4-9, 2024
LOCATION: Lisbon, Portugal
DIVISIONS: 30/35/40
30s Erika Takeuchi
A Rose Gold Finish: Team USA's Women's 30s Shine in Lisbon
Leading Team USA for the second time was an honor I'll never forget. Competing alongside Mylene Martin, Monica Hoz De Vila, and Evgenia Dockter was an absolute dream. We might not have brought home gold, but we rocked those "rose gold" medals for our fourth-place finish like nobody's business!
Lisbon, a vibrant backdrop for the tournament, welcomed players from 300 nations. The conditions were a stark contrast to last year's Team Championship in Turkey: firmer clay, summer heat, and fierce winds.
The Opening Ceremony was unforgettable. The energy was palpable as we lined up behind the USA flag, a mix of excitement, pride, and anticipation swirling in the air. Post-ceremony, we mingled with teams, sipped cocktails, and indulged in delicious Portuguese bites. My favorite? The mini pastel de natas!
The Women's 30 Cup, expanded from 7 to 10 teams, remained the smallest draw. Having taken home the bronze medal last year, we were disappointed we didn’t get the third seed and it significantly impacted our round robin placement.
Our first match against Great Britain was a tough draw. Monica's epic 4-hour victory at #2 singles was a highlight that left us all inspired by her perseverance and strength. Mylene lost at #1 singles in a tough 2-hour match against a hard-hitting Brit. That left it tied up as we headed into the doubles, and Evgenia and I unfortunately came up short. It was an 8-hour day where we gave it our all. I was incredibly proud of our team's effort, integrity, and resilience.
We swept India on a very windy morning with Mylene and Erika in singles, and Monica and Evgenia clinching the doubles. With this win, we advanced to the playoffs for 4-7th place. We also swept against Estonia with Mylene and Monica in singles, and Evgenia and me securing the doubles.
During the course of the week, we had two days off, which was a good chance for us to reset, scout, cheer for the other USA teams, practice, and explore Lisbon. One of many highlights was doing a tuk-tuk tour of Old Town & Belem. We had a blast zipping around the city to learn its history, see some of its iconic landmarks, and get an insider’s view with our amazing guide.
Our match against third seed Argentina was crucial for securing fourth place. We had lost to Argentina in the semi-finals last year in a tight one and knew we’d be up against some master clay court players again. Monica lost in singles, getting pushed back by the windy topspin ball and tweaking her leg in the second set. Mylene came up with a huge win in her singles match finding the right mix of consistency to set up her points and finish them. Going 1-1 in the doubles, Monica and I wanted to avenge our heart-breaker doubles match from last year and knew what we needed to do against the players. It ended up being super close again and we knew we had to stay aggressive at the net and not get into long cross-court rallies. We clinched it in a super tie-breaker, 10-8!
The Official Team Dinner was a magical evening. Hosted after hours in Lisbon’s Botanical Gardens, we were surrounded by flora and spoiled by the delicious food. Lisbon, a three-time World Championships host, proved once again that it knows how to seamlessly blend world-class tennis with unforgettable experiences.
35s Mariko Fritz-Krockow
I had the great honor of representing the USA on the 35s team at the World Masters Championships. Our incredibly deep team included Stephanie Kusano Wallace, Kristen Bleakley, Mariana Correa and myself, Mariko Fritz-Krockow. From our very first group text, you could feel the excitement in our team. We knew we had a shot at winning and we were all in.
When the draws came out, we found ourselves in the D bracket — one of two brackets with two seeds in it. We knew we’d have our work cut out for us. On the first day, we were up against Switzerland. A lovely team of friendly and tough women. I had the honor of playing the very first match for team USA, and took the opportunity to really enjoy my time on the court. All 4 hours of it. After saving 3 match points, I won the match in a 3rd set tiebreaker. Kristen then came through at the #1 singles position with a decisive win to capture our very first team win.
On day two we played South Africa and showed the world how efficient we could be. We lost 3 games total in the 3 matches that were played.
We were ready for our big battle against Portugal. Only one team would advance to the semi-finals and be on the path for a medal. Being that they were the home team, we knew that they would have the crowd behind them. We were assigned center court, which provided an extra challenge of swirling winds and extra attention. But we were ready. Kristen stepped on to the court first against the hard-hitting Ekaterina Lopes. It was a two-hour battle but, unfortunately, Portugal’s Lopes came out on top. Next on, at the #1 singles position, our captain Stephanie took on Rita Freitas. Another battle ensued and, unfortunately again, Portugal prevailed. And even though we would continue on to win the doubles point, it was, sadly, the end of medal contention for the 35s Team USA.
I’m not going to lie — we were very disappointed. We all went home to our hotel rooms and sulked a little bit. Ok maybe a lot. A few hours later though, we all came back together. We knew it wasn’t over. 5th place: here we come, we said!
We were playing Great Britain next. We lost the first match between Mariana and GB’s Lisa Hanley in a nail-biting match. Stephanie brought it back to 1:1 in a 3-set fight against Laura Morrill. It was down to the doubles. Mariana and myself were up against Lisa Hanley and Elizabeth Thomas and Mariana wasn’t going to lose to the same person twice. We went down in the first set but knew we had it when we won the second. We won our spot in the 5/6 playoff in the 3rd set super-tiebreak.
Our final match was against Argentina. The loud, competitive, lovely women who knew their way around clay courts were there to fight. But hey, so were we. I stepped up to the plate first and won my match. One down, one to go. Stephanie was up next and after a long, tough, 3-set fight, gave us our final W of the tournament.
I know we wanted to medal and I know the entire team was disappointed that we didn’t. But I’m still proud of us. We fought hard and came back together after a tough loss and finished with two good wins. It lit a fire in all of us to get there next time. And I know I’m looking forward to the opportunity to do so.
40s Yulia Bolotova
We arrived in Lisbon a couple of days prior to our matches in order to get practice on red clay and adjust to the time change! Coming from a 100 degrees heat into 75 felt great. Most of us were staying at the hotel Vila Galé Ópera, a great location for walking to LX Factory and Marina with a lot of restaurants at both places. It is always a bit more difficult for me to find food as a vegan, but in Lisbon every restaurant had at least one vegan option on its menu. I also searched all the vegan restaurants in Lisbon. There were five of them, one of which was a ten minute walk from our hotel and I was happy to visit it twice before we started our matches. While walking to the vegan restaurant I found mini supermarkets and stocked up on some produce and snacks. After that I realized that everything was much cheaper than in the US.
We practiced Friday and Saturday and got our draw Saturday afternoon. We drew Canada, Switzerland, Great Britain and Spain. Our team was Anda Perianu (captain), Kaysie Smashey, myself, and Jennifer Sinclair.
The Opening Ceremony was held at the Portugal National Sports Center called Jamor. It is a beautiful tennis center with 24 courts and a stadium court. The Portuguese Tennis Federation held a very nice opening ceremony, which was finished with a dance performance from one of the National Dance teams.
On Sunday we played Canada on court 20 and won 3-0. Kaysie and Anda won singles and Jen and I won doubles. That match was at Jamor tennis center. Monday we played Switzerland and had to go to a different location, which was a bit farther. It was another beautiful club called CETO. It was much smaller than Jamor, felt more private, and we were on center court. It was very very windy with 33 mph gusts! We ended up winning in singles 2-0, but Jen and I lost doubles in this one. My ribs were very sore the next day after playing in that wind :) Tuesday it was back to Jamor to play Great Britain on court 13, where Kaysie and Anda won their singles. Jen and I pulled out a doubles win in a 10 point tiebreaker. That concluded our round-robin group and we moved on to the semi-finals.
Wednesday we had a day off. Some players went to the beach, some players went into the city of Lisbon. I got up pretty early, had breakfast at the hotel, went to the gym, then went to support our Men 30’s team at the club called CIF- another beautiful private club in Lisbon! While I was watching men compete I found out that one of the groups of US teams was taking a Tuk Tuk ride for 2.5 hours around Lisbon and I decided to join them. We had a very knowledgeable guide and learned a great deal of history about Lisbon.
Thursday we were at Jamor on court 14 playing Spain in the semi-finals. Spain brought tough competitors this year. Their top two players were former professionals on the WTA tour and had high rankings of 15 and 35 in the world, as well as world doubles rankings of 4 and 5 on the WTA Tour. We fought hard but ended up losing in the singles 0-2 and Spain forfeited the doubles since they already won. Jen and I ended up practicing after the match to keep us strong and sharp for the next day.
Friday we were back to court 13 at Jamor and were playing Portugal for 3rd place. Kaysie had a tough match but ended up pulling it out in 3 sets. Anda won as well, and Jen and I ended up winning doubles. Our team took the bronze medal at this year’s championships.After all the matches concluded, we had the medal ceremony, took some great photos, and went out to celebrate!
The next day it was time for me to fly home to Philadelphia. It was an amazing trip, great tennis, and a fun time meeting new people and catching up with familiar faces. It was an honor to play for Team USA again!
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