Beach Tennis

2008 saw the launch of the ITF Beach Tennis Tour, a new circuit of international events of the sport's fastest-growing offshoot.

The calendar consists of National Association sanctioned and/or organised tournaments worldwide, which offer international ranking points to participants. Players are be ranked individually based on their results in doubles events only.

Beach tennis merges the worlds of tennis and beach volleyball into one sport. The sport is predominantly played as doubles on a court similar to beach volleyball, with players using paddle bats and a slightly depressurised tennis ball, which is not allowed to bounce during play. Regular tennis scoring is used, with no-advantage at deuce, no second serve and no let.

Tennis Europe's involvement with the ITF Beach Tennis Tour comes mainly in the form of the annual celebration of the European Beach Tennis Championships. First played in 2007 as a team event, the competition has grown exponentially each year and the most recent Championships in Bulgaria were attended by over 100 players from 19 European countries.

Rules of Beach Tennis and Rules of the Beach Tennis Tour, together with application forms to stage ITF-approved Beach Tennis tournaments can all be found at the ITF's beach tennis weblet: www.itftennis.com/beachtennis

2013 European Beach Tennis Championships

The southern English coastal town of Brighton will host some of the world's top Beach Tennis players when the European Beach Tennis Championships visits Great Britain for the first time from 9-11 August, 2013.

Each of Tennis Europe's member nations may enter a maximum of 2 Men's, 2 Women's and 2 Mixed Doubles teams. Entries must be received from national tennis associations by the deadline of 17th June, 2013.

Further information can be found on the event fact sheet.  

Previous editions

Results and photos from previous editions of the European Beach Tennis Championships can be found here.