HISTORY
International
Beach Tennis was born in the summer of 1979 among friends who frequented one of the “bagno” dealerships in Marina di Ravenna, province of Emilia-Romagna in Italy. That summer and the following ones, enthusiasts, carrying compact rackets and tennis balls, played in the volleyball nets. The game was slow due to the height of the net. At this time, the first competitions appeared.
A few years later, they decided to lower the height of the net. The game has become faster and, accordingly, more interesting and fun. For a few years both versions were played, until, in 1990, the height of the net was established at 1.70m.
Giandomenico Bellettini became interested in the game, creating the IFBT (International Federation of Beach Tennis) in 1997, making a huge contribution to basic legislation and to the growth of the sport. From a free game with no defined rules or tactics, we started to play with scores derived from tennis, but without advantages or second serve. In this way, the game was more exciting.
The first website of the modality appears and the competitions are extended to the “over”. The first international competitions are organized with the participation of players of various nationalities.
The Beach Tennis World Cup has become a mandatory destination for lovers of the sport from all over the world. In Italy, Beach Tennis began to be practiced in the provinces from north to south and also in Sardinia.
However, the dimensions of the beach volleyball field were changed from 18x9m to 16x8m. Beach Tennis ended up adopting the new measures.
Giandomenico Bellettini, between 2001 and 2008, organized the biggest tournament of the modality, the “Mundial IFBT”. The athletes came from different regions of Italy and from different countries. The players were more than a thousand, participating in different categories.
In 2008 Beach Tennis was divided. In Italy, some players continued to play IFBT tournaments, others started to play tournaments within FederTennis. The best players gradually stopped playing IFBT tournaments. That same year, dialogues began for Beach Tennis to unify. From then on, Beach Tennis came under the jurisdiction of the ITF (International Tennis Federation) and the respective National Federations.
Nowadays, Beach Tennis is present on five continents. Italy continues to be one of the reference countries for the sport with the best players in the world. Brazil occupies an increasingly prominent position, not only due to the growing number of players of all ages and all levels due to the opening of clubs in the sport, but also due to the high quality of Brazilian players.
National
In Portugal, Ana Noro, tennis player, passionate about the beach and lover of beach rackets (frescobol). He dedicated a few years to looking for a competitive modality of rackets played in the sand.
In 1998, in one of his searches, he found an Italian website about Beach Tennis. That year he made his first telephone contact with Giandomenico Bellettini. Months later, more specifically in August 1999, he signed up with three more friends (Inês Tralha, João Guerra and Gonçalo Cassiano Neves) for the “Mundial-IFBT”. The experience was indescribable. In addition to competing, he took the opportunity to learn more about this fantastic modality that he had been looking for for so many years. The opportunity served to give a workshop on the technique, tactics and rules of Beach Tennis. In addition, it acquired all the necessary material to promote and publicize the sport in Portugal.
From 1999 to 2008, Ana Noro was linked to the IFBT (International Tennis Federation) and was a founding member of the FPBT (Portuguese Beach Tennis Federation). During this period, it promoted several actions to publicize Beach Tennis in city councils from north to south of the country. He was responsible for several competitive initiatives and worked on the organization of a national Beach Tennis circuit together with Marta Peralta and Margarida Corrêa.
In 2005, Ana Noro created the first school of the sport in Portugal, located on Carcavelos beach, Angels Bar concessionaire.
From 2005 to 2008, he traveled to Italy several times to keep abreast of the technical and tactical development of the sport and also to participate in tournaments in order to evolve as an athlete. In those years, one “World- IFBT” did not fail.
In 2005, beach tennis reached the FPT (Portuguese Tennis Federation) with the holding of the 1st National Beach Tennis Circuit in a single category, in the modalities of Women's, Men's and Mixed Pairs. The Circuit consisted of four Open tournaments and the National Championship.
At that time, the measures of beach tennis played nationally were different from those practiced internationally, for example the dimensions of the field (21x9m) and the height of the net (1.85m). Later, the measurements adopted worldwide (16x8m) and (1.70m) prevailed.
In 2008, the athlete Ana Noro was invited to participate, for the first time, in a tournament under the auspices of the ITF (International Tennis Federation), from that year on she started to play tournaments for that federation.
The FPT, as soon as Beach Tennis passed under the jurisdiction of the ITF, adopted the rules practiced internationally and, thus, standardized the modality.
Currently, Beach Tennis or Beach Tennis players are spread across the country and islands. There are more than two hundred practitioners in total.
The school started on Carcavelos beach in 2005, became part of CRCQLombos and was renamed Beach Tennis Coaching.One Way, being the first and only school in Portugal.