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JonH · Tennis legend

RE: Para Tennis 2026

JonH · Tennis legend

Have you had legal support on this, BTW? And have you thought of going to the press to expose it? I know a very good Guardian journalist who might point you to the right person on their team - he may even be interested himself, hes an investigative journalist with a sports background, but also knows Tum Caryol really well.

AnnaM · Lower Club Player

JonH wrote:
Have you had legal support on this, BTW? And have you thought of going to the press to expose it? I know a very good Guardian journalist who might point you to the right person on their team - he may even be interested himself, hes an investigative journalist with a sports background, but also knows Tum Caryol really well.

We have not had legal support, but I have already told Virtus that I think they have broken victimisation laws and that we would be seeking legal advice. We have informed UK's sporting body of all the things we feel that are inconsistent. Including how the complaint went direct to Virtus when their rules state it has to go to the National body first. The person at Virtus started their role in Aug and the complaint came in Aug. We suspect a connection with the complainer and this person via the NHS learning disability services in London. The so called independent person brought in to review the evidence was previously a close colleague of the eligibility person, so not independent. Also, she is a Sports Psychologist, and therefore is not qualified to make a judgement, even if they have worked with the eligibility officer in the past in helping with eligibility assessment. The harsh and cold attitude was unpleasant. The eligibility person even said they were going to a formal stage and go and get the counselling support that the LTA paid for. They took no interest when we told them that it was destroying Anna. They ignored 50 documents that we provided and focused on one report which did not prove their case. We recorded the person brought in the review things telling us that we are hiding scores and she thinks it would be an 80-109 IQ score that we are hiding.

These people are fresh from getting wins in routing out Paralympic OZ athletes who have cheated. But there were clear and obvious things to see in those cases. With Anna they just ran with it trying to make a name for themselves. There are far more obvious targets who would not be able to provide the evidence that we have got. Without us Anna would not have been able to have defended herself.

I have been told that what has happened to Anna has happened to others. So it is a disability organisation designed to support disabled athletes who has no care about how it treats athletes if the narrative suits. Anna's name is mud as people have been talking about it in many different circles. Anna heard someone from Stirling say that she was a scammer. So they have also created a libellous situation.

They obviously do not care about how they treat their best athletes, it is all about tick boxes and control.

Virtus deserves to be exposed for how they have handled this, but we need to get through the next period. GB have had to delay naming their team for Poland because of this. No one could plan for an event that starts early in July. They are going to name the team next week.

-- Edited by AnnaM on Saturday 16th of May 2026 11:09:27 PM

JonH · Tennis legend

How are things looking for Nottingham Open, Anna's Dad? Is that week after next? Was there anything taking place at Queens as well?

In general, any developments on the wider discussions?

And did the team for Poland get named?

-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 4th of June 2026 05:19:45 PM

AnnaM · Lower Club Player

JonH wrote:
How are things looking for Nottingham Open, Anna's Dad? Is that week after next? Was there anything taking place at Queens as well?

In general, any developments on the wider discussions?
And did the team for Poland get named?

-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 4th of June 2026 05:19:45 PM

Virtus have had all the information they needed for their deadline three weeks ago and despite chasing them up are yet to get back to us. It should be case closed with three scores under the qualication and lots of other supporting documents. They had pinned everything on one report out of many proving their case and this has failed. So the delay makes us think there is agenda and they are trying to make up a reason.

We had an online meeting with Sports Excel last week and they are furious with the treatment of Anna. They told Anna that she has done nothing wrong and has fully complied with everything required. They are not allowed to tell us certain things that go against Virtus, but the hint was that we should seek out pro bono legal advice. They did say that organisations like Virtus rely on people not taking legal action when they knowingly break the law. I suspect they assume that people are too scared to go to the press also. Virtus have treated us like we were cheating the system and basically said we were lying. But we have fought hard because we knew that we had done nothing wrong and Anna is actually more qualified to play than many of their other athletes across many sports. Some of whom had to retake iq tests as they were too high the first time, run their own business, are level 4 coaches, while others are at college, Uni, or have graduated. Virtus will have a hard time defending victimisation when they have only harrassed Anna.

In the meantime, everything has been delayed. The people going to Poland only got an email last Friday evening. We found out at 8pm, with a you are selected, but it depends on Virtus classification. It has been absolute chaos and the players and parents were stressing out. It seems that Virtus Europe were ignoring the LTA/Sports Excel and in my opinion they had shadow banned the GB team. We had sent an email to the top Virtus person last Thursday explaing everything, including the team situation. All the other teams knew two months ago. So we are guessing this email may have forced Virtus to respond to Sports Excel and the LTA last Friday. The very late emails suggests it was a big day of meetings and arse kicking.

The late decision has meant flights to Poland are limited and expensive. We are still to hear what the teams arrangements are. Which airport, dates and times.

So in the meatime, we have had to spend money on a train to Nottingham and a hotel. Anna is still in that for now, but who knows. Anna and I are in Soto until Tues the 16th of June, so it will be a rush to get down to Nottingham for Wed. We cannot plan to go to Poland because that may end up as wasted money. If we do, it will have to be a last minute booking.

The world has gone mad over the last 10 years. If you had described the last 10 years to someone in 2006 they would have laughed at you. It is like we have slipped into a strange alternate reality.

JonH · Tennis legend

In February 2026, Virtus wrote this on their website following the AO

With another year of history made in Melbourne, McBride and Graham continue to inspire athletes across the Virtus community and set the standard for excellence in intellectual impairment tennis.

Which sort of beggars belief. Given all youve told us.
Like, what? Why?

JonH · Tennis legend

JonH wrote:
How are things looking for Nottingham Open, Anna's Dad? Is that week after next? Was there anything taking place at Queens as well?

In general, any developments on the wider discussions?
And did the team for Poland get named?

-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 4th of June 2026 05:19:45 PM

Hi Anna's Dad - did Anna get to play Nottingham Open and/or Queens? And did Poland or anything else get resolved or develop?

Hope things are moving in your direction

AnnaM · Lower Club Player

JonH wrote:
JonH wrote:
How are things looking for Nottingham Open, Anna's Dad? Is that week after next? Was there anything taking place at Queens as well?

In general, any developments on the wider discussions?
And did the team for Poland get named?

-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 4th of June 2026 05:19:45 PM
Hi Anna's Dad - did Anna get to play Nottingham Open and/or Queens? And did Poland or anything else get resolved or develop?
Hope things are moving in your direction

Hi JonH,

Thanks

We have heard nothing, despite asking twice. We think there is an agenda, but three scores under 76 makes things difficult for them. We will see if that agenda means so much to them that they will risk legal action and media scrutiny. We asked for a freedom of information from them and they are not going to provide the real information that we asked for. Their excuse was that it might compromise their process. I am not sure how an internal process can be compromised by releasing this info. We suspect it is because it compromises them. So I told them that I would make a new request once the process is over. Just watch them redact the unlawful comments and processes.

We returned from Spain in the early hours of today and have rushed to Nottingham today. Anna is due to play this Fri, Sat and Sun in Nottingham. The last three weeks looked bleak and Anna would not have been able to play in any event. Three weeks ago her old back injury flared up, taking out of training. Then that eased and her old wrist issue flared up, taking her out of training for the last two weeks. There is no ligament damage, so the cause is hard to pinpoint. She has seen the physio a few times and had sports massages.

Anna did some light work with me over the weekend and the pain started to ease. She managed to train at Soto Mon and Tues this week, so hopefully, she has come right just in time. Although, losing three weeks of training right before an event is not ideal. https://www.lta.org.uk/news/lexus-nottingham-open-makes-history-with-first-learning-disability-and-autism-tournament/

There is no order of play or a draw yet. Hopefully, we might find out in the welcome meeting tomorrow morning.

There is nothing at Queens, as the women's there event means there is no room to fit anything else in. The grass courts cannot take so much tennis.

The team for Poland is picked, but has not been released. For ii1 there are five men and two women. I do not know about the ii2 and there won't be any ii3. Let just say, if Anna goes, she won't be playing women's doubles. The team are flying out on Fri the 3rd of July. I have booked flights to Stansted and Anna is booked on a flight to Poland by the LTA. So fingers crossed

JonH · Tennis legend

Good luck for Nottingham and let us know how the results go there - I am guessing they wont be easy to find on the relevant website!!