Mike Crossley wins LTA Tennis Awards Official of the Year
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A Sussex tennis official who worked at some of the biggest tennis events in Britain last summer has won the LTA Official Award.
Mike Crossley worked over 60 umpiring days throughout 2021, featuring at both junior and senior events across the country and throughout all levels of the game.
Crossley umpired main draw matches at the Nottingham Open and also spent three weeks officiating across qualifying and main draw action at Wimbledon, spending that time in a bubble away from his family.
Crossley was announced as the winner by Wimbledon Chief Executive, Sally Bolton 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.
Crossley 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 Crossley recognised for his work across all levels.
Most notably, his performance as Line Umpire across Wimbledon meant he was selected to officiate at the Ladies’ Singles final between Ash Barty and Karolina Pliskova.
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 Official of the Year National Finalists:
- Geraldine Breed (Bedfordshire)
- Mike Crossley (Sussex)
- Tom Kinloch (Northumberland)
- Parul Patel (Somerset)
- Vikki Patterson (Scotland)
- Kelly Thomson (Lincolnshire)
- John Williams (Wales)
