Great Britain’s penultimate world ranking event on the 2013 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour will see Wrexham Tennis Centre host an international wheelchair tennis event for the first time this year from 11-13 October.
The ITF Futures event is open to players from across the world and with entries due to close in mid-September, some of the country’s leading players are expected to join up-and-coming players as Wales hosts an NEC Tour event for the tenth successive year.
While the Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis Tournament has had world ranking status since 2004, with the Welsh National Tennis Centre unavailable this year the tournament has been moved to Wrexham, giving North Wales the distinction of hosting its first international wheelchair tennis event, which is supported by the Tennis Foundation, Tennis Wales, and Clarke and Hartland Solicitors.
This year’s event will bring competitive wheelchair tennis back to Wrexham Tennis Centre for the first time in more than 10 years after the venue previously held a national Development Series event for several seasons.
The tournament has been won during its time at its previous home in Cardiff by the likes of London 2012 bronze medallists Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley and fellow Paralympians Louise Hunt, Gordon Reid, David Phillipson and Alex Jewitt. This year’s event is again set to attract a strong entry, with Hunt having won her third successive women’s singles title in Wales in 2012, when world No. 1 ranked junior Alfie Hewett also won the men’s singles.
‘’Being able to bring an international standard tournament to North Wales is a great opportunity to expose wheelchair tennis to an ever-growing audience and participation base,” said Tournament Director Simon Clarke. “It provides top quality competition as well as creating additional participation opportunities across the North Wales disability tennis network and it’s very exciting for Tennis Wales and, in particular, tennis in North Wales.”
Wrexham Tennis Centre Director Debbie King added, “Wrexham Tennis Centre is very excited to have been asked to host this prestigious event and we are looking forward to bringing top class wheelchair tennis back to Wrexham.”
The Wrexham tournament will give some players the chance to play for valuable ranking points and hone their preparations for the ITF 1 Series Nottingham Indoor, Britain’s last world ranking event of the year, which takes place at Nottingham Tennis Centre on 23-27 October, organised by the Tennis Foundation.