Tennis Foundation Tournament Heading to Shrewsbury Club

Some of the players who took part in last year's successful Shrewsbury Open line up alongside family and friends plus the ball crew for the tournament.

 

Top wheelchair tennis players from across the country will compete at The Shrewsbury Open this weekend.

A record number of entries, 36, have already been received for the tournament, which is part of the Wheelchair Tennis Development Series for 2016, and will be held at The Shrewsbury Club from Friday through to Sunday.

The event grows in popularity each year and Nigel Hunter, the director of tennis for Tennis Shropshire, said it's always a date to look forward to.

He added: "We've won the British tournament of the year in two of the last three years, including last year, which is something we are very proud of.

"This is part of a number of tournaments, supported by the Tennis Foundation, that travels around the UK, to Belfast, to Scotland and a number of towns and cities in England.

"We're well on course for this to be our biggest tournament yet and we always have many more entries than other clubs who host tournaments."

Nigel stressed there was a big team effort behind the scenes responsible for making The Shrewsbury Open such a success, with the players, many of whom get together to play each week at The Shrewsbury Club, and their familes acting as the driving force.

He said: "It's the one real opportunity the group have each year to get together and work as a team. They always come up with ideas to make the tournaments better all the time.

"Every year they come up with new ideas and this time they will be providing all the players with special memorabilia, a china mug with the club's logo on, so they're always thinking of different ways to make it the best possible tournament."

The local challenge will be headed by the likes of Scott Smith, Val Fisher and Deena Webster, but GB international Josh Cooper is ruled out through injury.

Sponsorship opportunities are available to help fund the tournament, with pop up banners, which will be on court throughout the weekend, costing £125.

For more details, contact [email protected]