Balldogs Take Court At Poprad Tatry Challenger
Balldogs Take Court At Poprad Tatry Challenger
The pooches helped during an exhibition match to raise awareness for a local animal shelter
This past weekend’s exhibition match at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Poprad Tatry, Slovakia, featured a unique twist as four-legged “balldogs” took to the court to fetch balls.
Former World No. 4 and Olympic gold medalist Miloslav Mecir and former World No. 34 Marian Vajda were joined on Saturday by three dogs who collected balls during the match. Ruby, Layla and Luky are from a local animal shelter and were brought out to highlight the importance of adopting.
“[They] are the first three official tennis ball collectors in Slovakia,” said local civil activist Monika Kozelova. “They demonstrated how clever, skilled and useful the dogs from an animal shelter can be.”
Mecir was also impressed by the balldogs, declaring that “they are such beautiful dogs, really well-trained. It would be such a pity if they didn’t find their home.”
Horacio Zeballos of Argentina won this year in Poprad Tatry without dropping a set, defeating Gerald Melzer of Austria in the final.
Mecir said he was pleased with the tournament and believes it keeps improving each year. “We had stronger players than last year. We had a Top 50 player in Martin Klizan and some other top players in the Top 100. You could see most of the Slovak Davis Cup team in the singles semi-finals and doubles final,” he said. “After 14 years, we hope a Slovak player can win the singles title here. We haven’t managed it so far, but you can always see top tennis here.”