Beach tennis in Russia. The future of beach tennis

In parallel with those sports that have long become commonplace and familiar, our country is suddenly strengthening the position of a very young discipline, which has already brought Russian players more than one medal. On how to start playing beach tennis and what prospects await this sport in the near future, we told the captain and coach of the junior Russian national team Artem Paramonychev.

– Let’s start, perhaps, with a retrospective. Beach tennis is a very young sport, but the history of its emergence is already being debated. Where did it all start?
– There can be no debate. The founders are Italians, without any reservations. It was they who invented this sport, developed it, created the rules. In America there is also beach tennis, but it belongs to another federation. And there is ITF, under the aegis of which all beach tennis tournaments are held. So these are two parallel competing organizations, but the main and most famous is ITF. It includes both big tennis and beach tennis. The Americans pulled the sport up later. Yes, beach tennis has two ways of development in different countries. But only time can show which one will prove to be more promising.

– Despite its young age, beach tennis has already gained popularity all over the world and it is becoming more and more widespread year by year. What, in your opinion, is the secret of such a rapid rise?
– This is a very dynamic and spectacular sport that requires from the player a tremendous physical, tactical and technical preparation, emotional stability, adaptation to external conditions. Tournaments are held on different beaches, in different countries and climatic conditions. You have to get used to constant flights and new opponents. The calendar of tournaments is quite intense, and at each competition athletes try to show their maximum and win. The spirit of competition is very strong here. You can literally see it with the naked eye. When you watch a match on the court, you immediately notice the struggle of character, strength, skill, agility. It is a very diverse sport.

– How did your passion for beach tennis begin?
– A few years ago, my friends invited me to play. I came, got involved and now I try to do everything possible for its development in our country. First of all, I deal with the junior national team, because it is in children that our future lies. We hope that in the near future beach tennis will be included in the Olympic Games program. Then the juniors, which we are now preparing and training, will occupy leading positions on the world stage.

– At what age is it better to start practicing beach tennis? Are there any restrictions?
– There are no restrictions. You can start even at the age of five – with mobile games on the sand. They are very useful for the body, they develop coordination, agility, physical qualities. And further – you can safely play until you are 80-90 years old and show good results in your age category. The most important thing is to be purposeful, cheerful and enjoy the game.

– What does beach tennis training consist of?
– Two times a week and a minimum of one hour of physical fitness. Moving on the sand is not so bad for the joints, but it’s a rather viscous surface, it’s hard to push off from it. That’s why we do a lot of running and jumping exercises on the sand. We always train in an environment where we have to play.

With experienced players we train three times a week for three hours. The main emphasis in physics is on strengthening legs, arms and back. Two hours out of three are devoted to ball work. During the playing season the physical training sessions are reduced, because athletes gain good physical shape in a couple of months and simply maintain it during the year.

From the point of view of psychology it is important to understand: every player is an individual. Beach tennis is a purely doubles sport. We teach the guys to interact with each other, because everyone is an individual, everyone is trying to prove himself. The team should work as a coherent organism. It’s important to be able to adapt, adjust to your partner and move forward together.

– Do matches usually last long?
– The average duration of a match is an hour. During this time a three-set match is played. About 20 minutes per set. Of course, there are also longer matches. It all depends on the opponents on the court. If they show equal quality of play, the match can take longer.

– How traumatic is beach tennis and what are the specifics of injuries?
– There are fewer injuries in beach tennis than in big tennis. The falls on the sand are much softer, and most importantly, there is no shock load on the joints. The only characteristic injury here is the shoulder, because most of the strokes are performed overhead or from behind the head. This can lead to an arm injury, but all players work with espandexes for prevention. Still, injuries can happen because the stresses of beach tennis are high. Athletes can play up to three matches a day.

Sometimes knees also suffer, but also much less often than in big tennis. The main reason, again, is overstrain.

– Do you ever get injured because of a poorly prepared court?
– Yes, it’s not impossible. On indoor courts the sand is usually clean, neat and without any impurities, but on open beaches, even cleaned, there can always be something left. For example, a seashell or a shard of glass. You can step on it or fall and hurt yourself. For protection in such situations, special socks for beach tennis are sold. They are made of neoprene and come in different densities.

– Do athletes neglect these safety measures?
– Most of them prefer to play barefoot, because this way you feel the court and the sand better. But at some tournaments it is impossible to play without socks. There are different beaches, large fractions of sand, a lot of impurities… It all depends on the tournament organizers.

– Tell us about the material side of beach tennis. How expensive are they financially?
– It all depends on the season and the coach. In summer the cost of renting a court is about 1000 rubles per hour, and in winter, when we have to practice in the hall, – from 1500 to 3000. In the same way, the services of a coach vary in price: from 1000 to 3000 thousand rubles per hour. It all depends on his qualifications, a particular sports school and the time in which the classes are held. Evening lessons in any clubs are commercial and quite expensive.

– What about equipment?
– Essentially, only a racket is required. It can cost from 5,000 to 15,000 rubles depending on the model, manufacturer and the level of the racket itself. There are amateur ones, which are easier for beginners, but there are also professional ones. They have different rigidity, weight, balance. Everything depends on each athlete individually. The player chooses the racket for himself.

There is a possibility of customization, individualization of the racket, its improvement for your own peculiarities. It is possible to make an additional application to improve spin. Sometimes they change the stiffness, shift the balance. This is done by beach tennis professionals. The athlete gives the racket into the hands of a trusted master. In Russia, they are also available, but most often it is done by Italians. Every year a new collection of rackets is released.

– Are there any requirements for equipment?
– According to the regulations there should be shorts and a T-shirt, but it can also be a sleeveless shirt. Girls often perform in special sports swimsuits. In general, the form is the same as for beach volleyball. On the head can be a headscarf, cap, bandana. A wristband is also allowed.

– Maybe you know examples when beach tennis was practiced by famous representatives of some other sport?
– In general, many tennis players try to play beach tennis from time to time – I have seen Dinara Safina, Alyona Likhovtseva, Dima Tursunov, Ekaterina Bychkova and many others. Such stars as Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have also tried their hand at beach tennis.

– In which Russian cities is beach tennis best developed?
– There is a national team from St. Petersburg. Beach tennis is developing well in Samara. The Russian Championship was held this year in Rybinsk. Very good work in this direction in Togliatti. I heard that Novosibirsk has recently become interested in beach tennis. Moscow has the largest number of indoor beach courts, so we have a lot of good players. In Tver there are several promising juniors, regular participants of the championship and Cup of Russia. Beach tennis is promoted by guys from Yaroslavl. I would like to see representation in Sochi. This year there was a meeting during the Kremlin Cup, it was attended by interested activists from Sochi. They also want to develop beach tennis there. The Krasnodar region is warm – just what we need. The main thing is to have such sites as in Moscow, Rybinsk and Togliatti – professional certified tennis centers with excellent infrastructure, convenient location within the city and transport accessibility.

– In your opinion, what are the prospects of beach tennis in the near future?
– We need an influx of people, new athletes, ideas, talents. We have a huge experience of communication and cooperation with foreigners. We can share all this. Beach tennis always attracts a lot of spectators because it is held in a pleasant, joyful and very warm atmosphere. All together we can develop, move forward and create a huge planet of beach tennis.