Moya and Nadal Parera make debut in ITF 30+ age category event
It’s not every day you take to a tennis court and come up against a Grand Slam champion.
Of course, those odds are shortened somewhat if you sign up for a tournament at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy in Mallorca, where Carlos Moya made his debut in ITF Seniors competition last week.
The 1998 Roland Garros champion – and Nadal’s current coach – made a flying start to life on the amateur tour, winning the doubles title alongside fellow Spaniard Xavier Flaquer Vilas in the men’s 30+ event in Manacor.
Moya, who played his last professional tournament 11 years ago in a first round defeat to German Benjamin Becker in Madrid, is now 45 years old but played down several age categories at the Mallorca S200 event in the new 30+ age category.
Launched earlier this year, the division allows players aged 30-and-over to play in competitive, non-professional events – and battle for ranking points – around the world. It adds to an ITF roster that already features more than 500 tournaments a year in over 70 nations across age categories in five-year increments all the way through to age 90 and above.
Moya, who came through a tense battle in the title match alongside Flaquer Vilas as they defeated compatriots Juan Llabres Rossello and Joan Suasi 2-6 6-2 10-6, wasn’t the only competitor with close ties to Nadal in action at the event.
Maria Isabel Nadal Parera – the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s younger sister – also made her debut in the 30+ age category, and the 30-year-old wasn’t too far away from emulating Moya’s title-winning start.
Nadal Parera dropped just a solitary game in singles wins over Great Britain’s Sonja Bancroft and Poland’s Agniezka Kuban, but fell to Spaniard Almudena Sanz-Llaneza Fernandez in her other round-robin match. Click here to see her biting her runner-up trophy in the imitable style of her elder brother.
Nadal was also present at his eponymous academy last week and took the opportunity to meet - and share a hit with - 97-year-old Leonid Stanislavskyi on an indoor court.
The Ukrainian was taking part in the ITF Super-Seniors World Championships at a nearby venue in Mallorca, but jumped at the chance to meet his hero while Nadal's academy hosted its own ITF Seniors event at S200 level.
Stanislavskyi is recognised as the oldest competitive tennis player in the world by the Guinness Book of Records, but proved sprightly on court against Nadal. See more photos in the gallery below.
Aged 30 and above and keen to follow in the footsteps of Moya, Nadal Parera and even 97-year-old Leonid? Why not register and join the ITF community too. Here’s all you need to know about signing up.