With the slogan “El nostre únic límit el marca la pista” (Our only limits are those of the court), the TRAM Barcelona Open, the International Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, is back for the fifth edition this year. Once again, this year, the courts at Real Club de Polo de Barcelona will welcome the best players in this category from May 18-20,2022.
The fifth edition of the event – with Transdev’s subsidiary, TRAM, Tramvia de Barcelona, as its main sponsor and organized by the Step by Step Foundation with collaboration from La Vanguardia and Moventis- will feature 48 players and over 15 nationalities.
The TRAM Barcelona Open was recently presented at Real Club de Tenis Barcelona in an event featuring David Escudé, Delegate for Sports for the Barcelona Provincial Council and Commissioner for Sports for the Barcelona City Council; TRAM General Manager, Humberto López Vilalta; Corporate Vice-President of Moventia, Silvia Martí; Sports Director of the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation, Javier Soler; President of the Catalan Tennis Federation, Jordi Tamayo; Head of the Tennis Section at Real Club de Polo de Barcelona, Javier Moreno; Director of the Cruyff Foundation, Pati Roura; wheelchair tennis player ranked number one in Spain and number ten in the world, Martín de la Puente; wheelchair tennis player ranked number two in Spain and eleven in the world, Daniel Caverzaschi; and Director of the TRAM Barcelona Open, Jose Coronado.
And, as always, striving to raise awareness of wheelchair tennis, there will be exhibition matches, clinics, chats and other parallel activities. The finals will be on the morning of Sunday 22 May and should be just as exciting as they were last time. Wheelchair tennis is a spectacular, dynamic sport, with over 1,000 athletes on the international ranking and 160 yearly tournaments in 40 countries on 4 continents. The only difference from standard tennis is that the ball can bounce twice in wheelchair tennis.
Nevertheless, the players at this level of competition only use a single bounce in 80% of the points, and the serve speed can reach up to 150 km/h. With the TRAM Barcelona Open, the capital of Catalonia, considered a global touchstone in the sport, welcomes a major annual adapted sporting event for four days. The TRAM Barcelona Open is open to anyone interested but tickets must be booked ahead online (www.barcelona-open.com), promoting all the values of social inclusion, equal opportunities and personal development. The event is acknowledgement of the participating athletes’ desire to overcome limits. All the players participating in the event have an incredible story of personal and athletic achievement.