{"id":28262,"date":"2022-06-30T14:45:46","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T04:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=28262"},"modified":"2022-06-30T14:45:46","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T04:45:46","slug":"kelly-wren-and-archie-graham-to-lead-australian-team-at-virtus-european-summer-games-in-poland-next-month","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2022\/06\/30\/kelly-wren-and-archie-graham-to-lead-australian-team-at-virtus-european-summer-games-in-poland-next-month","title":{"rendered":"Kelly Wren and Archie Graham to lead Australian team at Virtus European Summer Games in Poland next month"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former world No.1 players Kelly Wren (NSW) <\/strong>and Archie Graham (Qld) <\/strong>will lead a nine-person Australian team at the second edition of the Virtus European Summer Games<\/strong> in Krakow, Poland from 16 to 24 July.<\/p>\n

The competition, hosted by the International Organisation of Sport for people with a Disability (IOSD), is the first of its kind to be played since the COVID-19 pandemic forced international competition to be cancelled.<\/p>\n

Wren will be joined by Carla Lenarduzzi (Vic)<\/strong>, Breanna Tunny (Qld)<\/strong> and debutant Andriana Petrakis (SA) <\/strong>in the women\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n

On the men\u2019s side, Graham will compete alongside Timothy Gould (Qld)<\/strong>, Mitchell James (Qld)<\/strong>, Damian Phillips (NSW)<\/strong> and seventeen-year-old debutant Luke Barker (Qld)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Gould currently holds the No.1 world ranking for II-2 competition and Barker is a junior player on the rise who sits a top of the Australian rankings for those 18 years and under.<\/p>\n

Wren, who first played internationally in 2002, says she can\u2019t wait to get on the plane for Poland.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be great to be over there, to be on the court, having a hit and really challenging yourself since we haven\u2019t played for two years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe standard is a lot higher when you compete overseas. There are a range of European players that maybe I haven\u2019t played against before. That makes tennis very interesting, when you haven\u2019t met or played against that particular player if they are new to the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always interesting for people like me, all the young ones are coming in now. And I\u2019ve been around for a long time, so I get it and I see it. I\u2019ve noticed a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The world No.3 says she was lucky to be able to train during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was very fortunate where I lived, I didn\u2019t have to travel too far for training.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe complex where I train at [Shaun Hibbert Tennis Academy in Engadine, NSW], it closed for 2-3 weeks, that was it. This is where I count myself lucky.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also had my exercise bike and I had my trainer which has a ball and a piece of elastic which rebounds back to you. I could use my racquet. I bought that from a sport store where I work, so I was doing that so I could hit and still know how to play!\u201d<\/p>\n

For Graham, he believes the Australian team heading to Poland will be a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has been looking forward to travelling again, it\u2019s been a while,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still think we will be a dominant force. We have been world champions for the last five years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Head Coach Alison Scott<\/strong> further emphasised the opportunity this upcoming trip overseas presents to the team and its newest debutants.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter an extended period without international competition, we\u2019re so excited to head to Poland and compete on the world stage once again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re proud to introduce Australia\u2019s No.1 junior boy Luke Barker and women\u2019s No.3 Andriana Petrakis to the team, who are both valued assets.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs defending champions, the team have all worked diligently and I look forward to seeing all their hard work pay off.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before travelling overseas, the team will compete at the Brisbane Open from 1 to 3 July followed by a training camp on the Gold Coast.<\/p>\n

The European Summer Games are the precursor to the Virtus Global Games 2023 which will be in held in Vichy, France from 4-10 June 2023. Australia won the last tournament when it was held in Brisbane in 2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Name<\/strong><\/td>\nAge<\/strong><\/td>\nSuburb<\/strong><\/td>\nInternational Ranking<\/strong><\/td>\nEvents playing in Poland<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Carla Lenarduzzi<\/strong><\/td>\n38<\/td>\nCamberwell, Vic<\/td>\nII-1 Singles – #4<\/p>\n

II-1 Doubles – #1<\/p>\n

II-1 Mixed – #3<\/td>\n

Women\u2019s singles<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s doubles<\/p>\n

Mixed doubles<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wren will be joined by Victorian Carla Lenarduzzi, Breanna Tunny (Qld) and debutant Andriana Petrakis (SA) in the women\u2019s competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6297,"featured_media":28263,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28262"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28262\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}