Learning Disability Tennis National Finals 2023: Aidan Moody among first-rate stars to be crowned champion in Bolton

The National Finals is the culmination of the LTA’s domestic calendar of learning disability events that featured 10 regional tournaments across the country between February and October.

This year saw Aidan Moody claim gold for the first time on the national stage, eventually beating the recently crowned Pershore regional champion, Joshua Kerr, 2-4, 5-4(6), [10-5] to take the top spot in the Yellow Singles Division 1.

Meanwhile, in Division 2, Ryan Caven’s success in Grantham in September seemingly whet his appetite for more silverware, winning his first-ever gold medal at the Nationals after defeating Special Olympics World Games titlist, GB star Adam Brownsword.

In the doubles, Oliver Beadle and Luke Turnball continued their illustrious reign in the Yellow Doubles Division 1 category, successively defending their title for a third successive year after their convincing 6-1 victory over Aidan Moody and Essex’s very own Max Mundy.

The Learning Disability Tennis Nationals, sanctioned by Virtus and the Special Olympics, provides opportunities for all abilities with players grouped into varying ball colour divisions: yellow ball, green ball, and orange ball.

Within these three categories, players are further grouped into divisions based on prior knowledge of the athletes and previous tournament results.

Across singles and doubles events, 20 main draws were played over the course of the three days of competition, with Yellow Division 1 Singles and Doubles played as knockout compass draws and the remaining draws played in round-robin format to maximise the number of matches for each player. Positions in two round-robin groups in Yellow Division 7 Singles were used to decide play-offs for final placings.