Archie Graham: ‘The ref said it was out, I begged to differ’

As well as being the world’s highest ranked tennis player with an intellectual disability, Archie Graham is also renowned for speaking out against a controversial line call. He’s so glad he did.

Archie Graham, co-captain of the INAS Games. Picture; Mark Cranitch.

Y ou’re sweating. It’s one of the biggest games of your career.

Across the net, one of the strongest players you’ve faced.

He raises his racket, sends the tennis ball hurling like Haley’s Comet across the court.

You lunge for it, but miss.

“Out”, the ref calls from his chair.

Your eyes squint in the sunlight.

It would be so easy to let this go, just take the point and the game.

But it wouldn’t be right.

From your angle, things looked different.

You raise your hand.

“Actually”, you tell the referee, “I’m pretty sure it was in”.

This is the level of sportsmanship on show at the INAS (International Sports Federation for Persons with Intellectual Disability) Games, starting in Brisbane today.

More than 1000 elite athletes from 50 countries will gather at various sporting venues across the city to go for gold. And leading Australia into the Opening Ceremony will be Queensland’s Archie Graham, 26, the world’s highest ranked tennis player with an intellectual disability, and recently named captain of the national INAS team.

Graham, who has Asperger’s syndrome, is also the current World INAS Mens Singles Champion, current Australian Champion — and Ipswich’s other tennis legend, apart from Ash Barty.

Archie Graham. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

Last year, Graham was presented with Tennis Australia’s John Newcombe medal for people with a disability at an all-star event at Melbourne’s Crown Casino.

Beaming alongside him at the ceremony was Barty, the recipient of the John Newcombe medal, and clearly a fan of Graham, who is known for his killer serve, powerful stroke, and courteous on-court demeanour.

It was Graham who questioned the referee’s line call in the Mens Singles Final at the 2015 INAS Games in Guayaquil, Ecuador.

At the time, Graham was up against his fiercest rival, British national champion Fabrice Higgins, 23.

“Well, the ref called it “out”, but to me it really looked like it was in, so I asked for a replay”, Graham recalls.

“It was for a tie break, but it was the right thing to do to question it, because you can’t be happy with a win unless you’re happy with the way you played to get it.”

Graham went on to win the match, and is looking forward to facing Higgins across the net once more at this year’s Games.

The two players have become close friends on the circuit and it is indicative of the spirit of these Games that Graham does not know what intellectual disability his rival has.

“Actually, I’m not sure what anyone has”, he smiles.

“I guess they’ve all got something but that’s not important to any of us, what’s important to us is our sport.

“We all get on really well, I’ve made some really close friends through INAS.

“It’s pretty sweet seeing everyone again at the Games.”

Graham grins.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t want to beat them though.”

ON TOP OF THE WORLD

The spirit of these Games, Chief Executive Officer of The INAS Global Games Organising Committee, Robyn Smith, says, is “one of strength”.

“This is providing a platform for the growth of more inclusive sporting opportunities for people with intellectual impairment here in Queensland, Australia and overseas”, Smith says.

“But while it is important to conduct a quality international sporting event, it is also vital that we showcase the immense sporting ability of the athletes in a respectful way, demonstrating that sport is one of the most powerful mediums to include people with an intellectual impairment into the community.

The Games will focus on person first, or in this case athlete first, rather than focusing on the disability.”

All of the athletes competing at INAS are considered to be at an elite level in their chosen sports, each with specific times and standards to qualify for team selection. Each has an intellectual disability such as learning difficulties or brain damage, but this is incidental to what they do — and do very well.

For the 151 competitors in this year’s Australian team in athletics, basketball, cricket, cycling, futsal, rowing, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, and tennis, it’s also very much about keeping Australia’s spot at the top of the table.

Australia has done very well at these biannual Games; in Ecuador, our athletes took home 20 gold, 10 silver and seven bronze to edge Hong Kong out of the top spot.

In the 2011 INAS Games, held in Liguria, Italy, Australia once again dominated, winning 30 golds, 14 silvers and 11 bronze medals to take first place.

And in 2009 in Liberec in the Czech Republic, it was “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oi, Oi, Oi” singing through the stands with our team finishing first and by more than 18 medals than their closest competitor, Portugal.

Archie Graham is looking forward to a home Games. Picture: Mark Cranitch.

The first INAS Games took place in 2004 in the small town of Bollnas in Sweden and the global nature of the competition means its athletes travel the world, experiencing, Graham says, “things and places and people we might not usually get to see”.

But for Ipswich based Graham, it is these Games, held in his home state that will be the most special, with his older brother, Louis, 17, sister Annabelle, 23 and mother, Clare Hindle, cheering him on from the sidelines.

“The first three times I went overseas to play, which was Ecuador in 2015, Delaware (for the INAS World Tennis Championships) in 2016 and the INAS World Tennis Championships in Bolton in England in 2017, I didn’t have my mum with me, so it was pretty nerve wracking”, Grahams says.

“Mum is my number one supporter, she has been there every step of the way, all the sacrifices she has made, I just am so thankful for her, she is a really good person and mum.”

For her part, Hindle says watching her son lead the athletes down Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall at today’s Opening Ceremony, where they will be officially welcomed by Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, will be “probably a bit overwhelming”.

“I’m so proud of Archie because he has worked so hard to come this far”, Hindle, who works full time as a cleaner, says. “He trains six days a week for three to four hours a day, and he just puts his all into it.

“He’s incredibly focussed, but I’m more proud, I suppose, of who he is. Archie is a gentleman, on and off the court.

“People have said to me that he is such a polite and courteous player, and that he is the first person to help someone out. As a mother, you can’t really ask for more than that, can you?”

GOING FOR GOLD

They’ll be cheering Graham – and the rest of the Australian team on – at the Ipswich Junior Tennis Association where Graham trains under coach and long-time, local tennis identity Stan Cuthbert, 74.

Cuthbert, who has been coaching for more than 40 years and is based at the Association’s Queens Park courts says Graham both a “fine player and a fine lad”.

“In the 40 or so years I’ve been coaching I’ve had some really good kids over the time, but he’s up there with the best of them.

“He’s such a strong, and honest person, he’s had his difficulties that he’s had to overcome, and he’s overcome them.

“The discipline he has is exceptional. If you tell Archie to do something to improve his game, he does it, and yes, I’m really proud of him being named Captain.”

Alberto Campbell Staines

Alongside Graham, there are some stand-out, Queensland athletes in the Australian team, including runner Alberto Campbell-Staines and rower, Mac Russell.

Campbell-Staines, 25, who was adopted by his Brisbane based parents as an infant from his native Jamaica, is the current Australian champion in the 400m and 800m.

The runner, who suffered brain damage from severe malnutrition as a baby, is dedicating his INAS events to his mother, Julie-Anne, who is receiving treatment for a second bout of breast cancer.

Campbell-Staines will wear a pink headband during his events in honour of his mother, who he calls “The toughest, most amazing person I know”.

Another Queensland competitor to watch is Mac Russell, 21, making his Australian debut at the Games. The current single gold champion in PR3 Rowing, Russell, who has learning difficulties, is expected to shine in both individual and Coxed Four events.

For Graham, leading a team with members like Campbell-Staines and Russell, is “just an absolute honour”.

“I would love to see everyone get behind Australia and come along to events to cheer us on”, he says.

“Come on out and watch us, everyone is very welcome”.

The 2019 INAS Games are from October 12 — 19

Venues include: Qld Tennis Centre, Tennyson; The State Athletics Centre, Nathan; the Sleeman Sports Complex Chandler, and Downey Park, Windsor.

The Opening Ceremony is on Saturday from 4pm in the Queen Street Mall, hosted by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Lord Mayor Adrian Shrinner.

Tickets are both costed and free.

For event and ticketing information, go to www.gg2019.org