Deaflympics 2025: From tennis clubs to the world stage
• 3 MINUTE READ
As the countdown to the 2025 Deaflympics continues, we spoke with one of Britain’s up-and-coming deaf tennis players about her journey into the sport, from playing tennis as a hearing player as a junior to discovering the world of deaf tennis.
Over the years and decades, many of Great Britain’s leading deaf tennis players have enjoyed fruitful careers in the sport. Whether representing their local clubs and counties, as players including deaf tennis national champions Lewis Fletcher and Peter Willcox have done, or developing successful coaching careers, as in the case of GB national deaf tennis coach Catherine Graham.
With the 2025 Deaflympics on the horizon, and as Deaf Tennis continues to grow nationwide, more and more players are discovering how they can get involved and potentially go on to emulate this year’s squad of Esah Hayat, Fletcher, Willcox and Charlie Denton in representing their country. Among the most recent additions to the LTA Deaf Tennis Pathway is 2024 and 2025 women’s singles National Deaf Champion Gabby Tarasovaite, who first started playing tennis as a hearing player twice a week at her local club at the age of 10. Gabby continues her story:
Gabby (right) claimed her second women's singles title at the LTA's Deaf Tennis National Finals last month.
“I began having one-to-one lessons, and before long I was invited to performance training with the head coach. I loved it, and in my first year of university I was picked for the 1st team, which was a huge highlight for me.
“At the end of my second year, though, everything changed. I was diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis and spent six months in hospital, including time in intensive care. Recovery was tough – I had to relearn everything, even how to walk, and I also lost part of my hearing.
“Last year, someone I used to play tennis with told me about the chance to meet other people who play deaf tennis. That opened a whole new door for me. I’ve met some amazing people, pushed myself harder than ever, and found a new motivation to keep improving. Tennis has always been a big part of my life, but now it feels like it’s helping me shape a new one.”
Gabby is an integral part of the membership at Brentwood Hard Tennis Club in Essex, and after retaining her singles crown at the 2025 Deaf Tennis National Finals in September, it is clear a bright future within the sport is on the horizon.
I’ve met some amazing people, pushed myself harder than ever, and found a new motivation to keep improving.
About the Deaflympics
Great Britain’s leading deaf tennis players will compete for medals at the 25th Deaflympics in Tokyo, after Esah Hayat, Lewis Fletcher, Peter Willcox and Charlie Denton were selected to represent the DeaflympicsGB Team managed by LTA partner UK Deaf Sport between the 15th and 26th of November.
The four players selected to the DeaflympicsGB tennis team will travel to Tokyo along with Catherine Graham, the LTA’s National Deaf Coach, and Sophie Hall, the LTA’s Competitions Support Manager.
Around 3000 deaf athletes representing 80 countries are set to compete in Tokyo, with tennis one of seven different sports that DeaflympicsGB athletes will contest at the multisport pinnacle of elite deaf sport. Held every four years, the first Deaflympics took place in Paris in 1924, making the global spectacle the second oldest international multisport competition after the Olympic Games.
Esah Hayat, in action at the 2023 Australian Open's International Inclusion Championships, will be one of GB's four-strong squad competing in Tokyo (Credit: Tennis Australia)
Like all major international deaf sport championships, the Deaflympics is open to deaf athletes with a hearing loss of at least 55dB in their ‘better ear’, And, while deaf people and those who are hard of hearing increasingly continue to integrate into all aspects of wider society, the LTA is always keen to learn of players playing at their local clubs alongside their hearing peers who may want to benefit from a pathway that includes the LTA's deaf tennis community group right through to National Squad training.
Deaf Tennis
Inspired by the Deaflympics? Whether you want to play at your local club or have aspirations to represent Britain on the world stage, find out how to get involved on our deaf tennis pages.
