Dalbeattie wheelchair tennis player Keith Thom returned to the big stage after a three year absence when he took part in the British Open/Futures series in Nottingham.
Having been out of action for a while, the main objective was to get back on the ITF rankings. Receiving an entry into the main draw play got under way with temperatures on the increase every day.
In his first match Thom dropped only two games, beating fellow Brit Lawrence Blomfield 6-1 6-1. The next round Thom was up against Manoj Somasundaram of India, who was ranked 329 in the world. In previous head-head matches Thom was undefeated against his opponent and this did not change as he reached the quarter final by winning 6-0 6-0.
The next round proved to be more difficult as Thom lost out to Andrew Penny, who is a promising 18-year-old with a current world ranking of 61 on the back of some impressive results overseas this year.
In the doubles Thom teamed up with his former doubles partner Garreth Greene of Ireland. After a bye in the first round and a walk over in the quarter-final. the pairing found themselves through into the semi-final stage.
As a result, Keith has now climbed back onto the ITF world rankings table in singles at 283 and in doubles 282. A point worth noting was Keith was the oldest player in the tournament and whilst fitness levels were impacted by the long layoff and heat, he was extremely pleased to get back into serious competition and is now looking forward to competing in more ITF ranking tournaments in 2022.
