There were some emotional scenes on and off the tennis court as the South African 75+ men’s team created some history at the World Team Championships in Crete, Greece.
And Ian Ackerman of Ugu Tennis was right there in the thick of things.
Aside from ensuring the ball went cross-court (and playing smart tennis, as he always does), he kept tennis fans back home updated with the team’s progress.
The team was captained by Jean Hubert and the other two players were Danie Botha and Renier le Roux.
In their first match, they played against Canada and beat them 3-0. Not bad going against the world champs in 2024 and runners-up last year.
What made this even more satisfying was that this was the same team that beat them last year, with the world number seven in their team.
Ian would quite possibly have been satisfied with that, if nothing else, but more great tennis was to come.
As a result of this win, they only needed one point against Denmark to go through to the quarter-finals, which they duly managed and were the only unseeded country to make the top eight.
Ian said it was like a dream and that the bubble may pop sometime. But it wasn’t to pop just yet.
Despite being surrounded by so many famous names, they managed to beat Germany 2-1 and book a spot in the semi-finals.
That was when the emotional scenes unfolded, with the team in what Ian described as ‘unreal territory for us’.
Unfortunately, the game against Spain proved a yard too far, and they lost 2-1, but not without a fight.
They were due to play France for the bronze medal, but news came in early on the morning of the game that both teams would be awarded bronze medals.
Team captain Jean decided that Ian should play against the French number one (and world number one in the 75+, Bruno Renoult), an honour he may have liked to refuse perhaps but couldn’t.
In the end SA lost 2-1, with Ian saying he got a lesson on clay – lob and drop!
Despite this, he was delighted with the medal, saying it was the best a SA team (men 75+) has done in his time.
“We are over the moon,” he said.
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