Special Olympics Camden athletes Olly Beadle and Lily Mills are jetting out to Australia later this month to compete in one of the world’s most prestigious tennis tournaments, the Australian Open Intellectual Disability Championships.
Staged from 24 to 26 January, 25-year-old Olly, who lives in Upminster in Essex, is currently ranked as the number two men’s learning disability player in the world, by Virtus Sport, and he will compete in the Grand Slam event for the third consecutive year, having reached the final in 2024.
Olly represented Team Special Olympics Great Britain (GB) at the Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles in 2015, winning gold medals in the men’s singles and doubles competitions.
As a regular competitor in the LTA’s national programme of Learning Disability competitions, Olly won the men’s singles and doubles competitions at the National Finals, at the Bolton Arena, in November, and was runner-up in the LTA’s Play Your Way to Wimbledon competition, which is played at the iconic British Grand Slam venue.
Twenty-four-year-old Lily, who lives in Islington and is a graduate of the Athlete Leadership Programme, returns to the Australian Open, having qualified for the first time in 2024.
Lily has competed in the last two Special Olympics World Games, winning two golds in Abu Dhabi 2019 and a gold and bronze in Berlin 2023. Ahead of the latter, Special Olympics GB Official Mobility Partner Toyota (GB) created a huge mural of Lily near to her home, which still stands today near to Arsenal Football Club’s Emirates Stadium.
Similar to Olly, Lily is a regular competitor on the LTA Learning Disability competition circuit and travels across the country to compete.
Chris Smith, Head of Sport for Development at Special Olympics GB, said: "We are incredibly proud of Olly and Lily's achievements in tennis and their journey to compete on the world stage at the Australian Open. They are incredibly committed to their sport, playing and training several times a week and their dedication and hard work is an inspiration to us all.
Through our relationship with the LTA, there is such a strong pathway for our athletes to compete regularly in tournaments across the country. Twelve tournaments were staged in 2024 and we’re looking forward to releasing more details on the 2025 dates shortly.
“The Australian Open is proving itself to be such an inclusive tennis event, by creating a competition for athletes with an intellectual disability. We hope that Olly and Lily inspire even more of our athletes to get involved in the sport and potentially participate in more tournaments like this in the future.”
Details of the 2025 programme of tennis competitions will be released soon in the Special Olympics GB competition calendar. Please click here for further details on getting involved in tennis through Special Olympics GB.