Tribute paid to Val Fisher as The Shrewsbury Club hosts the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis National Finals

Pictured: Harry Fisher presented the Val Fisher Novice of the Year Award to Mariam Ayeni at The Shrewsbury Club.

A warm tribute was paid to Shropshire’s Val Fisher as The Shrewsbury Club hosted the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis National Finals. Tennis Shropshire chair Simon Jones highlighted the huge contribution made by Val, who sadly passed away recently, during a speech to guests at Saturday night’s presentation dinner. Harry Fisher, one of Val’s sons, presented trophies to the winners of this year's LTA’s National Series, after tournaments were held in England, Scotland and Wales throughout the year. The trophies presented included the Val Fisher Novice of the Year Award, named in Val’s memory, which was won by Mariam Ayeni.

Simon said: “Val was a pioneer of wheelchair tennis and we celebrated all that Val, who was so popular with other players, contributed over many years.

“Val was an excellent player, playing in tournaments all over the UK and in Europe, and she also introduced so many people to wheelchair tennis with her infectious enthusiasm.

“The tournaments held in Shrewsbury have become so popular with players from all over the UK and that’s down to all the work that Val put in over the years in promoting them.

“Val’s family joined us at the dinner and very generously made a donation to the Tennis Shropshire Wheelchair Programme.”

The Shrewsbury Club has regularly hosted the LTA’s Wheelchair Tennis National Finals in recent years, a prestigious event which was held over four days.

The winners of the men’s and women’s wheelchair singles competitions were Andrew Penney and Martha Harris, who also teamed up with Ellie Robertson to win the women’s doubles. The men’s doubles champions were Tony Heslop and Kevin Lewis. Gary Cox won the quad wheelchair singles and he also partnered Dan Pennington-Bridges to victory in the quad doubles. Josh Pritchard won the novice singles and also won the novice doubles with Nathan Freeman. Oliver Cox was the winner of the under-18 junior singles and he also teamed up with Ruben Harris to win the doubles.

Tennis Shropshire chair Simon added: “It was a fabulous tournament with 47 players taking part, travelling from as far north as Edinburgh and as far south as Kent.

“It was particularly good to see so many youngsters entering.

“The standard of play throughout the four days was excellent and there was great feedback about the event from all the players and officials.

"The team at The Shrewsbury Club did a fantastic job once again hosting the tournament.”