Great Britain celebrates historic success at Virtus World Championships
• 2 MINUTE READ
The Great Britain team enjoyed their most successful tournament in history at the 2025 Virtus World Championships, with the five gold medals the highlight of a memorable week in Astana, Kazakhstan.
The team also collected three silver medals and two bronze medals, with Scotland’s Dominic Iannotti leading the way as he became the first player to win four gold medals at a Virtus tournament.
Held for players with an intellectual impairment, the GB tennis team selections are managed by the LTA, with entry to the event made possible by SportExcel, the official Great Britain member of Virtus.
Virtus follow a classification process whereby all players are selected with consideration to their level of intellectual impairment, separating them into three different classes/draws.
- I-1 – for athletes with an intellectual impairment
- II-2 – for athletes with significant intellectual impairment
- II-3 - for athletes with high-functioning autism
Iannotti, who started playing tennis when he was 10 at his local club in Prestwick and has Asperger’s Syndrome, was in impressive form as he added a golden gloss to Britain’s medal rush in Kazakhstan.
He won the Men’s II1 Singles, the Men’s II1 Doubles and Men’s II1 Team Event with partner Fabrice Higgins and the Mixed II1 Doubles with his fellow Scot Anna McBride.
This was a momentous event for Iannotti, following his decision to step back from competing after the 2026 Australian Open Intellectual Disability Championships in 2026.
It brings down the curtain on a magnificent career representing his country, with Iannotti now planning to focus his attention on supporting the team as a coach and helping to support the Development Programme along with Fabrice Higgins.
Dominic Iannotti said, “It’s always an honour to represent Great Britain, to do the best I can for my country and give everything when I step on court. The support from players, coaches and parents is always amazing. Tennis is really important to me because as I’ve gotten older, it’s opened up so many opportunities within coaching mainstream and Disability Tennis.”
Anna McBride said, “I’m very proud to represent Great Britain, especially at this event. It means a lot to show that people like me can achieve great things. Winning the tournament was amazing, and I hope it inspires others to believe in themselves and follow their dreams. Tennis gives me confidence, structure, and a way to challenge myself.
"It keeps me focused and motivated and I love being part of the tennis community. It has taught me so much about discipline, resilience, and focus. For me, tennis is more just a sport – it’s helped shape who I am both on and off the court. I love the challenge, how every match pushes me to grow, and I also enjoy inspiring others to take part and get involved in tennis.”
Aidan Moody added, “Tennis is so important to me as it has opened up loads of opportunities for me, such as meeting loads of new friends from all around the UK and even around the world. It has given me the opportunity to volunteer as a coaching assistant at my local club, where I am now a hitter for u10 and 12s performance players.
"I love sharing my experiences with them. The sport has given me the opportunity to learn new skills for life, such as travelling independently, working together as a team, solving problems and it’s a sport I’ve learned a lot about myself. It has given me loads of confidence in myself as a person.
“I am very proud to represent Great Britain. It’s a real honour to me to have a chance to represent my country and get to experience new places. It’s something I work hard for, I’ve always dreamed of playing for my country as a young boy when I started playing and now it’s a reality, I’m very proud and privileged to be able to play for GB and I hope to continue and keep striving in tennis and make many memories with the team.”
Full list of British medal winners at the 2025 Virtus World Championships
- Gold – Men’s II1 Singles – Dominic Iannotti
- Gold – Women’s II1 Singles – Anna McBride
- Gold – Men’s II1 Doubles – Dominic Iannotti and Fabrice Higgins
- Gold – Men’s II1 Team Event – Dominic Iannotti and Fabrice Higgins
- Gold – Mixed II1 Doubles – Dominic Iannotti and Anna McBride
- Silver – Men’s II1 Singles – Oliver Beadle
- Silver – Men’s II1 Doubles – Oliver Beadle and Aidan Moody
- Silver – Men’s II1 Team Event – Oliver Beadle and Aidan Moody
- Bronze – Women’s II1 Doubles – Anna McBride and Lily Mills
- Bronze – Women’s II1 Team Event – Anna McBride and Lily Mills
We support performance pathways for learning disability, para standing, deaf and visually impaired tennis – giving more players the chance to represent Great Britain on the international stage.
We also stage a year-round calendar of domestic disability tennis competitions for wheelchair, learning disability, visually impaired, deaf and para standing tennis players, so that everyone has the opportunity to compete.
Find out more about Learning Disability Tennis and how to get involved below:
