It's game, set and match - to everyone27/06/03: The story of the tennis, much like the story of the Special Olympics, is as much if not more about events away from the action. The athletes themselves, most obviously, the usual army of 300-plus volunteers, the camaraderie between them and competitors alike, the remarkable organisation. The tennis though, is a little bit different.
Much like everywhere else, from 6 a.m. the catering staff begin arriving at the David Lloyd Centre in Riverview. Between 7 a.m. and 7.30 a.m., virtually all the volunteers check in. Then, away from the madding crowds, the respective team buses pull in to the car park from 8 a.m. Each team arrival is announced on the p.a. system, and to the anthems which have been typical of these Games - Heroes, We Are The Champions, We Will Rock You etc. - each arrives into the athletes' hall between two long dancing, singing, high-fiving cordons of volunteers. They love it.
The same uptempo ritual is played out at the end of the day, when each team's departure is announced on foot of their bus pulling up outside, from around 5.30 p.m. Milking the moment in readiness of his team's departure, the USA's Matthew Lashley was doing his best Freddie Mercury impression, substituting a microphone with a blue Powerglade bottle.
Mary Davis, CEO of the Special Olympics of Ireland, paid her first visit to Riverview yesterday and was clearly bowled over. Briefly addressing the volunteers at the end of another long day, Davis praised the workload and the organisation, adding how moved she is by every event, before adding, "but I've never seen anything like the spirit here".
Long-standing foot soldiers from Tennis Ireland populate the place and one of them, Noel Murphy, who keeps the place tidy and gladly answers to his good-natured monicker of Rubbish One, put it best when commenting: "Everyone has left their egos at home, and that spirit has pervaded the whole week. But it emanates from the athletes."
Lashley is a prime example, his good spirits having been helped by his and Karen Guth's 6-1 win in the mixed doubles over Olga Michaelidou and Vassilis Malinis which was a classic example of the sheer joy and enthusiasm which radiates from court and stand alike.
All told, there are 110 players from 29 countries, who are divided into 24 singles divisions, while another 16 players compete in "skills coaching". "That's the magic of it. Anybody can compete because the skills competition is as hard fought as anything," says Steve Mehigan, the event co-ordinator.
The Georgians - strongly backed by their tennis federation - and the Australians are reckoned to be the strongest, though the divisional system and the "compass draw" means they won't necessarily harvest the most medals. The doubles showdown between the Georgian pair of Ekaterene Vepkhvadze and Levan Papukashvili, and the Australian duo of Kathryn Wilson and Shannon Walford, was thus a prime example of what Mehigan describes as the Class One standard this event can scale.
It's a long way from Wimbledon, though the 30-plus rally on the first point, incorporating a typical doubles rat-a-tat at the net, with Vepkhvadze serving to stay in the match at 5-6, wouldn't have been out of place there. The Georgians toughed it then, and in the ensuing tie-break by 7-5 on their fifth match point.
Both are products of the Tbilisi academy which is run by the President of the Georgian Tennis Federation, Lela Meski. It gained the 20-year-old Vepkhvadze revenge for a singles defeat to Wilson and prompted the 16-year-old Papukashvili to forecast: "Yes, we will win the gold medal. If we help each other together, we can win together."
The Aussies, though they'd practised together in their host town Armagh, had never played together, but maintained "it was a great match played in a good spirit". With other medals secured or still to play for, their assistant coach, Paulene Gillies, attributes their success to "the Aussie spirit".
"And the coaches," chips in Wilson, "for putting up with us, and especially me. I can be a pit of a pain in the pum," she says, feigning to squirt Powerglade at her coach.
Sadly, there are no Irish players competing, although it is hoped that these Games, and this event especially, will be the catalyst for Tennis Ireland to start up a programme for players with learning difficulties.
Riverview's smallish size also means only two of the eight courts in use are accessible to the public. A little more exclusive than other venues, Riverview also differs in that the indoor centre is searingly warm.
"It's warmer in here than the Bahamas," admits Paul McAuley, manager of the Temple Bar Hotel and catering co-ordinator here.
More typically, 50 of the 300 volunteers are also translators, but organisers still have to think on their feet. When the Erdu translator went missing, a Pakistani car park attendant was drafted in. All hands on deck.