MORNINGTON Peninsula’s wheelchair tennis talent took it to the world stage with a dominant victory in the World Team Cup on Sunday 3 June.
Wheelchair tennis players, Riley Dumsday and Heath Davidson, competed in the BNP Paribas World Team Cup in the Netherlands, with the latter combining with four-time Australian Open champion Dylan Alcott, to claim their second quad title in three years.
Davidson, of Rosebud, dropped the opening singles rubber to Israel’s Noam Gershony in the final but the top seeds quickly proved their status as Alcott levelled the tie with a convincing 6-0 6-0 win over Patrick Ben Uriel (ISR).
The Rio 2016 Paralympic gold medallists eventually claimed the quad title with a 6-3 6-1 victory in the deciding doubles rubber.
Davidson said he was fairly confident in the pair’s ability heading into the doubles final.
“I play my best tennis with this guy (Dylan),” he said.
“Even though I didn’t get the job done in my singles, I was confident in Dylan and I for the doubles.”
Australia’s junior team also managed to secure fourth place after reaching the semi-finals, with 13-year-old Riley Dumsday, of Mornington, getting the call-up for the national squad.
It was Riley’s first time competing internationally and with the support of some of the more experienced players, he put in a top performance to compete against players up to five years older than him.
Riley wasn’t able to secure a win in his singles but bought up a couple of victories in his doubles matches.
Riley’s father, Steve Dumsday, said that the experience was great for Riley with some of the more experienced players also offering some advice to help him in the future.
The budding talent then backed up his results from overseas with a victory in the Queensland Wheelchair Tennis Open singles final on Tuesday 3 July.
Riley defeated his World Team Cup teammate, Finn Broadbent, in the final 6-4 6-2, before finishing runners-up in the doubles.
First published in the Mornington News – 24 July 2018
