Federação Portuguesa de Ténis

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Federação Portuguesa de Ténis
Founded 1925
Place of foundation Cascais
president Vasco Magalhães Costa
societies 337
Homepage www.tenis.pt

The Portuguese Tennis Federation ( FPT , port. For the Portuguese Tennis Federation) is the governing body for tennis in Portugal . In addition to traditional tennis, she is also responsible for padel tennis , wheelchair tennis and beach tennis .

The FPT is based in Linda-a-Velha , in the Oeiras district near the capital Lisbon.

She belongs u. a. the International Tennis Federation , the European umbrella organization , the umbrella organization Confederação do Desporto de Portugal and the Comité Olímpico de Portugal , the National Olympic Committee of Portugal.

history

prehistory

King Carlos I playing tennis in Madeira

The sports-minded and well-traveled Guilherme Pinto Basto (1864-1957) was significant co-founder of as Club da Parada known club Sporting Clube de Cascais , considered the primordial cell of tennis in Portugal. Basto is considered both the forefather of football in Portugal and the founder of tennis in Portugal. Together with the Real Velo Clube do Porto from Porto , the Sporting Clube de Cascais was the engine for the first tennis tournaments in Portugal. In 1901, under its president Basto, the club managed to organize its first international tournament, with the participation of the world's best players of the time, including the multiple Wimbledon winner Blanche Bingley Hillyard . Portugal's King D. Carlos I also took part as an enthusiastic tennis player.

After the fatal assassination attempt on King Carlos I in 1908 and the proclamation of the Portuguese Republic in 1910 , many nobles left the country, and with them many of the most important friends and activists of tennis. The international and national tennis tournaments continued, but the further development of the sport in Portugal was slowed down. The outbreak of World War I in 1914 and Portugal's entry into the war in 1916 considerably reduced the number of active Portuguese and English players and their tennis tournaments in the country.

On the initiative of Bastos, the most important tournaments continued after the war, in particular the international championship Campeonato Internacional de Portugal . In addition to Noel Turnbull , Manuel Alonso and Jean Borotra , it was Suzanne Lenglen in particular who, with her victory in the final in 1923 over the then Portuguese top player Angélica Plantier, caused a renewed increase in enthusiasm for tennis in the civil circles of Portugal.

Since the foundation

Rodrigo de Castro Pereira (here at the bullfight in 1936), u. a. Olympic tennis player 1924, President of the FPT from 1934

A group of Portuguese tennis players met in 1924 at the Automóvel Club de Portugal to discuss the establishment of a tennis association. They wanted to participate in the Davis Cup , and a national tennis association was a basic requirement. An initiative based on this by a group of tennis friends around Basto finally founded the Portuguese tennis association as Federação Portuguesa de Lawn-Tennis in Cascais on March 16, 1925 . Basto became the first association president.

José de Verda and António Casanovas in singles and António Casanovas / Frederico Vasconcelos in doubles represented Portugal in the Davis Cup for the first time in May 1925, but had to admit defeat to Italy 4-1. António Casanovas won Portugal's only point, in the singles against Serventi. In the following years, the Portuguese selection was eliminated in the first game, so that the FPT no longer reported a team to the Davis Cup after 1928.

Tennis then led a shadowy existence in Portugal. The first slight improvement occurred after the opening of the Estádio Nacional in Jamor ( Oeiras district ) in 1944, the complex of which also included tennis courts. In 1948 Portugal took part in the Davis Cup again for the first time.

It was not until the early 1960s that interest in tennis increased again, also as a result of the increased level of Portuguese tennis. João Lagos and Alfredo Vaz Pinto were the big rivals and shared all titles between 1963 and 1972. In 1966 the women's record player Peggy Brixhe won her last championship. In the same year, on the initiative of Inocêncio Galvão Teles , Minister of Education of the Estado Novo regime, an official tennis school was set up in Jamor.

The 1974 Carnation Revolution had little impact on Portuguese tennis, which was still developing, but the year brought a major turnaround in other respects. The millionaire Henrique Mantero Belard , who lived in Portugal, died in 1974 and left 10% of his free inheritance to the FPT. The improved financial possibilities enabled the association to become more professional and increased activity. After his end as an active player, João Lagos also turned to tennis as an entrepreneur. In addition to his ambitious tennis school Escola de Ténis João Lagos , which was founded in 1975, his activity as an organizer of various tournaments with prize money should be mentioned.

The sold out and televised exhibition matches of Björn Borg, who had just retired in 1982, in Cascais and Póvoa de Varzim also helped tennis to become more popular in Portugal . As a result, tennis temporarily became the most practiced sport in Portugal after football. In 1983 the Portugal Open was held in the Estádio Nacional in Jamor on the initiative of a German organizer . For the prize money of 250,000 US dollars, u. a. José Higueras , Jimmy Arias , Víctor Pecci and Yannick Noah , the winner was Mats Wilander . The next event with a comparable audience appeal took place in 1986 in the sold-out Pavilhão do Dramático in Cascais, where Kevin Curren surprisingly beat the world number one Ivan Lendl . In the opening game before the match, João Cunha e Silva , the first internationally successful offspring from the tennis school of João Lagos, could be seen. As a Davis Cup player in particular, he made tennis more popular in Portugal.

Since then, the sport of tennis has been finally established in Portugal. The FPT was subsequently able to establish a number of international tournaments in Portugal. The increasing efforts of the FPT in collaboration with João Lagos' agency Sotenis culminated in 1990 with the inclusion of the Estoril Open in the ATP World Tour .

Frederico Ferreira Silva (2011 at Wimbledon), player of the Portuguese Davis Cup team since 2014

activities

The FPT looks after the Portuguese national teams, in particular the Portuguese Davis Cup team and the Portuguese Fed Cup team .

The most important international tennis tournaments in Portugal include the ATP Estoril and the WTA Oeiras (Portugal Open). The ATP Challenger Guimarães is one of the other tournaments .

Since 1925, the FPT has organized the Portuguese tennis championships, the Campeonato Nacional de Portugal , also Portugal National Championships . The Portugal International Championships (the Campeonato Internacional de Portugal ), which are historically important for Portuguese tennis , were last organized by the FPT in 1973, won by the Brazilian Edison Mandarino (* 1941).

The FPT maintains its center of excellence ( Centro de Alto Rendimento , CAR), the CAR-Jamor , in Jamor ( Oeiras district ) .

structure

organs

The president is Vasco Magalhães Costa (as of 2015) . In addition to the association management with its president and six vice-presidents and the general assembly ( Assembleia Geral ), the FPT has four other organs:

  • Conselho Fiscal (German: Supervisory Board or Control Council)
  • Conselho de Arbitragem (German: Arbitration Council)
  • Conselho de Disciplina (German: Disciplinary Council)
  • Conselho de Justiça (German: Judicial Council)

structure

The FPT is divided into 13 regional and 3 professional associations:

Professional associations
  • Associação Árbitros Ténis (Referees Association)
  • Associação Jogadores Ténis Portugal (Players Association)
  • Associação Portuguesa Treinadores Ténis (Coach Association)
Regional associations

Finances

The FPT closed the year 2014 with a deficit of over 60,000 euros, after a minus of just under 3000 euros in the previous year. The reason given is the further cut in government grants in the context of the rigid austerity policy in connection with the euro crisis , in addition to the generally poor economic situation in the crisis-ridden country. These failures could not be compensated by increased income.

The association receives approx. 350,000 euros from membership fees and sponsorship funds as well as a further 750,000 euros from public grants, giving it a budget of approx. 1.1 million euros. This means that only 32% of all income comes from our own sources.

literature

  • Fonseca Vaz: Portugal na Taça Davis (1979)
  • Fonseca Vaz: O Ténis em Portugal (1981)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Founding chapter on the history page of the Portuguese Tennis Association , accessed on August 30, 2015
  2. ↑ a b Chapter at the time of the FPT under the presidency of Castro Pereira on the history page of the Portuguese Tennis Federation, accessed on August 30, 2015
  3. ↑ Chapter from 1973 onwards on the history page of the Portuguese Tennis Federation, accessed on August 30, 2015
  4. ↑ a b Annual report 2014 on the FPT website (pdf download), accessed on August 30, 2015