A quartet of Great Britain’s leading deaf tennis stars contested in the 15th edition of the European Deaf Tennis Championships, including Phoebe Suthers and Valerie Copenhagen who brought home the gold after partnering in the women’s doubles.
Hosted in Austria under the auspices of the European Deaf Sports Organisation, 15 countries travelled to Central Europe in late June to compete for European champion status in a variety of events and draws.
Selected by the LTA in association with UK Deaf Sport, and led by the LTA’s National Tennis Coach Catherine Fletcher, a four-strong team in Suthers, Copenhagen, Charlie Denton and Ethan Carter all sported the Union Jack as they went head-to-head at the Sportpark Warmbad-Villach in Carinthia, Austria.
Suthers, who gained recognition on a global scale as early as her junior career, continued to impress in a GB shirt after being crowned champion in the women’s doubles alongside Valerie Copenhagen – a six-time silver medallist at the National Deaf Tennis Championships.
The British duo upset Italian pair Giulia Bassini and Asia Carrara, ousting the top seeds 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 to lift the trophy for the first time.
On the road to the final, they beat Turkish pair Naz Albayrak and Tutem Banguoglu in straight sets before knocking out the second seeds Anne Cointe and Caroline Vidal in three to line up their encounter with the Italians.
Suthers was also en route to a stellar run in the women’s singles, beating the seventh seed Tutem Banguoglu 6-1, 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals, but her meeting with eventual champion Heike Albrecht-Schroder signalled the end of the road for the former World doubles silver medallist after losing 6-1, 6-3.
The 2023 Young Deaf Sports Personality of the Year nominee Denton reached the second round in the men’s singles after his watertight performance over Poland’s Antoni Nowicki, but he would eventually fall short against seeded star Olivier Grave.
Meanwhile, Copenhagen’s vie for medals in the women’s singles was stemmed by French star Caroline Vidal, while Carter exited the opening round after losing to the men’s singles champion Mario Kargl.
As well as running the GB national team, the LTA supports both the development and performance programme for deaf tennis.
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