Details have been announced of the 2013 FBD Men’s Irish Open Tennis Championships 2013 which will take place at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club, Dublin, running from July 20 - 27.
An exciting tournament is in prospect with seven Irish players guaranteed places in the main draw while many others will hope to win a place via the qualifying tournament.
The event is the only professional tennis tournament held in Ireland and attracted great crowds last year, with play taking place throughout the day and evening, while admission is free. 2012 also saw record media coverage of the event across TV, Radio and Online platforms.
The event has a long association with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club and is the second oldest tournament in World Tennis, first played in 1879, two years after Wimbledon began. Previous winners include William Renshaw, Rod Laver and Tony Roche.
The tournament is an International Tennis Federation Futures event with both singles and doubles events and has attracted an excellent entry of international players from Europe, Australia and the United States who will be competing for valuable ATP points.
Among the entries are Josh Goodall of Great Britain and Albano Olivetti of France. Goodall is the defending champion and as well as being ranked as high as number 2 in Great Britain, he has also qualified for both Wimbledon and the US Open in the past.
Olivetti meanwhile possesses one of the biggest serves in the game, having been clocked 149mph. This serve was put to particulary good use in the Marseille ATP event last February where he defeated then World Number 10, Mardy Fish.
Ireland’s James McGee won the tournament in 2011 and the Irish players will be hoping to emulate his success this year. One of these players will be Sam Barry whose form this year has been impressive. The 21-year-old was the star of Ireland’s Davis Cup team earlier this year when winning the decisive rubber in the victory over Estonia. He also advanced to the semi-final of a tournament in Israel in April.
Colin O’Brien has made a welcome return to professional tennis this year after missing two years through injury. He has reached the semi-finals of a tournament in Portugal as well as winning the Irish Indoors and Irish Close at Donnybrook last week.
Ireland’s third full time playing professional, Castlebar’s Daniel Glancy, will also be hoping for a good run in his home tournament. Glancy has come into a good run of form recently with consecutive quarter-finals in Israel, Portugal and Turkey in his last three events.
Another Irishman who is expected to mount a challenge is Dublin’s John Morrissey. Morrissey has spent the last two years representing Stanford University with distinction, playing at number #1 singles and doubles this year and achieving a top 50 NCAA ranking. Morrissey has also spent the last fortnight in Wimbledon, acting as a practice partner for the World’s Number 1 ranked doubles team, and eventual champions, Bob & Mike Bryan.
©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan
