Boracay boosts sports tourism with ITF beach tennis
BORACAY, Aklan — Already celebrated as one of the world’s premier beach destinations, Boracay is writing a new chapter — this time on the sand courts. At the forefront is Bong Tirol, head of the Boracay Racquet Sports Club PH, who, together with Italian colleagues, first introduced beach tennis to the island. What began as
By Staff Writer
BORACAY, Aklan — Already celebrated as one of the world’s premier beach destinations, Boracay is writing a new chapter — this time on the sand courts.
At the forefront is Bong Tirol, head of the Boracay Racquet Sports Club PH, who, together with Italian colleagues, first introduced beach tennis to the island.
What began as a casual pastime among friends has grown into a dynamic movement that is steadily reshaping Boracay’s sporting identity.
Tirol continues to champion the vision of positioning the island as a leading sports tourism hub in the Philippines.
Through the efforts of the Boracay Racquet Sports Club PH, the island’s iconic white-sand shores have evolved into a competitive arena, now hosting an International Tennis Federation Beach Tennis World Tour event at White House Beach Resort.
Since its inaugural edition in 2024, the tournament has drawn players from more than 18 countries, with 66 athletes competing for valuable world ranking points under the Boracay sun.
Among the standout participants is Maksimilian Andersons, a former world No. 8, underscoring the level of competition now reaching Philippine shores.
Japanese national team players Hiroyuki Tomioka, Kengo Masuda and Satoshi Goda have also made Boracay a regular stop in their international campaigns, using the island’s tournaments as a springboard in the global rankings.
Providing institutional support is Theo Dy, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Philippine Tennis Association.
As a key advocate, he plays an important role in integrating beach tennis into the country’s broader tennis development framework.
For newcomers, beach tennis offers a unique blend of accessibility and athleticism.
Played barefoot on sand, it is gentler on the joints and requires minimal infrastructure, making it especially suited to an archipelagic nation such as the Philippines.
Yet the sport is far from casual.
Matches are fast-paced and physically demanding, typically played in a best-of-three-sets format, with the deciding set settled by a 10-point super tiebreak.
Some matches can last as long as two hours.
The most recent four-day tournament featured BT10 events from April 9 to 10 and BT50 events from April 11 to 12.
The event showcased a strong Asian field.
In the men’s division, Asia No. 2 Hiroyuki Tomioka and Japan No. 3 Kengo Masuda claimed the title.
In the women’s division, Asia No. 6 and Thailand No. 1 Prakaikan Sawisit emerged victorious, while Asia No. 8 and Japan No. 7 Miku Onishi finished runner-up.
As sports tourism continues to grow as a key pillar of the Philippine travel industry, Boracay’s emergence as an ITF-sanctioned beach tennis destination signals something larger.
The ITF Beach Tennis World Tour now includes more than 490 tournaments in 35 countries, placing Boracay within an expanding global circuit.
The country is no longer just a backdrop for world-class sport.
It is becoming the destination.
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