Suffolk Tennis Grand Prix announced as Competition of the Year at LTA Tennis Awards
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A tennis circuit in East Anglia, designed to boost accessible and competitive competition for players in the region, has been crowned a national winner at the prestigious LTA Tennis Awards.
The Suffolk Tennis Grand Prix was set up in 2021 as a collaboration between ten Suffolk tennis coaches and their clubs as a way to get junior players competing more regularly.
The coaches had noticed that their respective players were either only playing inter-club matches or put off by the level at LTA competitions, so set up the Grand Prix to combat both issues.
The scheme was announced as the winner by tennis official James Keothavong at a live-streamed awards ceremony presented by LTA President David Rawlinson and hosted by the LTA’s head of Men’s Tennis Leon Smith.
The LTA Tennis Awards are now in their seventh year and celebrate the achievements and contributions of outstanding tennis volunteers, coaches, officials, venues and players across the country.
Suffolk Tennis Grand Prix was hand-picked as one of 17 national winners recognised at the awards ceremony on Thursday, which honoured individuals involved in tennis at grassroots, county, regional and national level.
Nominations were drawn from over 25,000 volunteers, nearly 5,000 coaches and 1,000 officials, 22,000 schools, nearly 3,000 clubs and over 9,000 LTA approved tournaments, with the Grand Prix recognised for boosting friendly competition across all age groups.
From May to October 2021, one competition was held a month across six different junior age groups, providing a vital opportunity to compete against new players after disruption caused by lockdowns.
The quality and quantity of the nominations demonstrate outstanding work that has been done in tennis throughout the last year and David Rawlinson, LTA President, said: “The LTA Tennis Awards are a real celebration of the people that make our sport thrive.
“They acknowledge the achievements made by outstanding volunteers, coaches, officials, venues and players, who are all vital in helping us to grow the game.
“The outstanding contributions the nominees have made to the sport and to their communities has been tremendously uplifting and I would like to thank them for their fantastic work.”
Congratulations to all the Competition of the Year National Finalists:
- Defiant Sports (Sussex)
- Battle of Shropshire (Shropshire)
- Huddersfield Lawn Tennis and Squash Club (Yorkshire)
- The Nairn 90th Tournament (Scotland)
- East Gloucestershire Club (Gloucestershire)
- Rhiwbina Tennis Club ITF Welsh Open (Wales)
- Suffolk Tennis Grand Prix (Suffolk)
