There is a new sport in town
By Carlos Calo Rodríguez / Thursday, October 3, 2024
A new sport is increasing its popularity worldwide. You need a racket, a net and a ball, but it’s not pickleball or tennis; it’s on the sand. It’s called beach tennis. Who doesn’t like a new sport for beach days? It’s many athletes' therapy, and not only in Puerto Rico, there are a lot of places where this sport is taking over including beaches on the east and west coasts of the United States.
Javier Méndez is part of the best-ranked Puerto Rican pair in the International Tennis Federation (ITF). Currently, he is No.56 in the world and No.1 in Puerto Rico. He started playing beach tennis as a hobby in 2008, to have a fun time with his family at their favorite place, the beach. He fell in love with it and started pursuing a professional career in the ITF Beach Tennis tour in 2013 while only 16 years old.
Fabián Rodríguez is another professional Beach Tennis player from Puerto Rico. He is ranked No.206 in the world and #8 in Puerto Rico and had a similar start on his journey to follow his professional career in this sport.
“After playing tennis in college, there were not a lot of tournaments for people my age. I am mostly a singles player, and the only tournaments offered on the island were for doubles. That’s when I found Beach Tennis and started to play it as a hobby,” Fabián said.
He didn’t take it seriously at first, but when the pandemic hit the island, and only outdoor sports were allowed, he saw it as the perfect opportunity to take it seriously. Plus, being on the beach and similar to tennis was a good addition. “I tried table tennis and padel, but the fact that I was able to be on the beach sold it for me,” added Rodríguez.
Some may ask, how is this game played, and can it be played everywhere or only on the beach? Think about tennis and beach volleyball. The net is at (5’10”) which is a little taller than a tennis net. You need to hit the ball one time per team over the net without letting it touch the sand. The scoring is the same as tennis. The racket is made of carbon fiber and foam, and the ball is a little bit smaller than a tennis ball and is depressurized, which travels more slowly through the air than a regular tennis ball. It can be played on the beach or in a facility with sand courts. Puerto Rico has Eco’s Sports Park, the principal venue for tournaments on the island.
This sport is under the umbrella of the ITF and has a professional tour all around the world. This means that it is one of the sports endorsed by the federation, the same as tennis. There is a variety of tournaments based on level, ranking points, and reward money. BT10 is the lowest professional tournament there is, based on those requirements. Then it progresses to BT50, BT100, BT200, BT400, the Sand Series, and finally continental and world championships, representing the highest level. The “BT” represents Beach Tennis, and the number after it is the quantity of ITF points that the winning pair gets after winning the tournament.
The best tournaments in the ITF Beach Tennis Tour are the continental and world championships. It is the most difficult to secure a spot and represent your country. Puerto Rico participated last year in both. In the Pan American Beach tennis games celebrated in October 2023 in Chile, Puerto Rico finished with 10 medals in total in all categories: men’s, women's and juniors. The ITF Beach Tennis World Cup 2023 was celebrated in Sao Paulo, Brazil, back in December, where Puerto Rico finished 6th in the World.
A lot of people can agree or relate to the fact that representing your country is one of the best feelings in the world. It can apply to sports or any competition where you strive to bring honor to your country.
“Traveling and representing your country is the best thing for an athlete. It doesn’t matter if I'm going with the national team or just as an individual, I want to raise our flag to the highest point and leave my mark, it’s an honor to put Puerto Rico in my chest,” said Javier Méndez.
Juliano Rodríguez, partner of Javier Méndez and a member of the Puerto Rico Beach Tennis National Team, also added, “For me, the biggest honor as an athlete is to represent your country. It was one of the first goals I set for myself when I started playing this sport. I love to travel, and doing it while representing your country is the best feeling, and I'm honored to do it.”
Puerto Rico is one of the favorite venues for tournaments in the world. The island is beautiful, and this year, the island had a BT400 for the first time. A tournament in which the top 10 couples in the world compete for 400 ITF points and $35,000 for the winners.
“I have talked with top players that came to Arecibo, and they said Puerto Rico is one of their favorite venues, I have traveled to play outside of the island, and we have nothing to envy from the other countries that host Beach Tennis tournaments,” said Diego Ruiz, player, and co-owner of Ocean Beach Tennis PR, a Beach Tennis academy on the island.
Before the pandemic, Puerto Rico had only one big tournament called “El Nacional,” which translates to “The National,” Now the country is hosting big tournaments like the BT400 Arecibo, Normandia, and Eco’s Grand Slam.
Inside the tournaments, there are other non-professional divisions. The divisions are beginner, intermediate, advanced, and then professional. Most of the players growing in the sport start in the lower level of tournaments. Yulianna Bonilla and Antonella González (advanced Beach Tennis players) are examples of this. They both started in lower divisions and now are one of the best couples in the advanced division, playing with some professional players in tournaments around the island.
“I’m looking forward to being ranked top five in Puerto Rico and being able to represent my country,” says Bonilla. “Beach Tennis has changed my life. These past two years of playing have helped me to get better and hopefully someday represent the island,” added González.
Puerto Rico has seen an increase in their youth development for Beach Tennis. The national team is starting at 12 years old. The group from 13 to 18 years old is called “Los juniors,” and they represented the island last year in Sao Paolo at the Beach Tennis World Cup and finished 8th worldwide after beating Poland.
“If we keep putting effort into the development of the youth categories, I can see our country being in the top five. We need more international tournaments in Puerto Rico; that way, our players can get to play against them and be better prepared for tournaments outside of the country,” said Méndez.
The sport is increasing in popularity around the world. In Puerto Rico, some pages on social media broadcast the tournaments and keep people informed on tournaments and scores. The biggest one right now is called “Al Día Beach Tennis.” The owner of this page, Ricardo Aponte, started playing Beach Tennis one year before creating the page. No one was covering the sport at the island and he took a shot at it.
In just one year of the page being up, it has already hit almost 2,000 followers on Instagram, and it’s verified as the official page where athletes and fans go to look for information on tournaments and players from the Island.
“We just want to give every Puerto Rican player the chance to be recognized on the island and the world so that more people get interested in this sport,” said Aponte.
There are a lot of things that motivate people to reach their goals every day. Fabian Rodríguez is recognized in Puerto Rico as the lion because he is just having fun in the process of getting into a higher level of playing.
“The lion enjoys more the process of hunting than the actual food,” added Rodríguez. That’s his journey.
Video by: Sport.traits, g_visual, and caldomedia for BeBeachTennis and Fundacion.rimas.
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