ITF

ITFWorld // WINTER 2018 23 FAR LEFT: Home favourites Facundo Diaz Acosta and Sebastian Baez won boys' doubles gold LEFT: Iga Swiatek joined forces with Kaja Juvan to secure gold in the girls' doubles To her credit Naito, having come off the court, vowed to win the gold for Japan in the mixed doubles and she did just that the very next day as she partnered Naoki Tajima to a 62 63 win against Colombia's Maria Camila Osorio Serrano and Nicolas Mejia. "I'm feeling so good," enthused Naito after the match. "We've never played mixed doubles before so we're happy. It has been a nice week. I beat the No. 1 in singles so I am proud of myself. When I go back I want to train more. I am ready to play many tournaments and win" The Youth Olympics, which in 2018 boasted the strongest entry list in terms of world ranking in the tournament's history and offered as many ranking points as Grand Slams for the first time, proved to be a happy hunting ground for French tennis and, in particular, Gaston. The diminutive Frenchman, whose cool and calm demeanour belies a determined personality, claimed gold in singles but also two bronze medals - one in the boys' doubles partnering Clement Tabur and one in the mixed doubles with Burel. "It's a dream for me," said Gaston, who cited the Youth Olympics as the "best memory" of his life. "It's amazing to take a gold medal for my country. I'm really happy." And while the players were naturally all competing for the silverware on offer there was so much more at stake for some of the competitors – especially those who had received a Universality Place in order to be in Buenos Aires. One such player was Liechtenstein's Sylvie Zund who, ranked No. 326 in the world, made the most of her place in the competition as she defeated Georgia's Ana Makatsaria and in so doing leapt 126 places in the rankings the next week. Zund, like all of the players who had received a Universality Place, spoke of her gratitude to compete at a much higher level than they were accustomed and wanted to make the most of the opportunity to learn not only from the players on site but also those from other sports in the Youth Olympic Village. That sentiment was echoed by all of the athletes competing in the tennis event, all of whom spoke highly of the experience of playing in the Youth Olympics. USA's Drew Baird perhaps summed it up best when he said: "Being around your country and everyone being so good at their sport, it motivates you to keep going. "Everyone here wants the same thing – they want to be professional – and they want to do great things. Tennis is an individual sport so you have to be selfish to do good, whereas a lot of these sports are team sports, and they're cool to be around to see how they work and how they prop each other up. I think that's what tennis players need to do." Players were also provided with a great opportunity to learn from the two Athlete Role Models at the Youth Olympics – Gabriela Sabatini and David Nalbandian. Both former professionals, who took part in a Focus Day Q&A session with the athletes as well as making themselves available for one-on-one conversations during the week, spoke highly of the current crop of Juniors and both thought that the Youth Olympics were providing Argentina with an opportunity to shine on a global scale. That opportunity will be afforded to Senegal for the fourth instalment of the Games, which is due to take place in Dakar in 2022. ■ Sylvie Zund made the most of her Universality Place Gabriela Sabatini and David Nalbandian as Athlete Role Models

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