Australia’s top tennis players with an intellectual impairment (PWII) travel to France this week for the Virtus World Tennis Championships.
The event, which provides an opportunity for the world’s PWII best players to compete at the highest level, is held in Annecy from 7-15 September.
Queensland’s Archie Graham leads the 12-person Australian team.
The 31-year-old won four medals (one gold and three silver) last year at the Virtus Global Games and also claimed the men’s singles and doubles titles at the Australian Open 2024 PWII Championships.
“Winning a gold medal means so much,” Graham, the world No.1 in the II-1 category, said.
“There’s nothing bigger than representing Australia, your country, that’s a massive achievement for me. My goal is to win four medals across all the four events I’ll be competing in.”
Graham will be joined by defending champions Timothy Gould (II-2) and Hunter Thompson (II-3), who are both ranked world No.1s in their respective categories. Proud Greek Australian Andriana Petrakis is also on the team.
Petrakis is on the autism spectrum and she has been playing tennis for more than ten years, competing in state tournaments and climbing the ranks to become part of the Australian national team.
After completing a training camp on the Gold Coast last week, Australian head coach Alison Scott is confident the team is going to be extremely competitive on the international stage.
Source: Tennis Australia.
