The National Wheelchair Tennis Association of Great Britain (NWTA) presented its annual awards on the second day of the 24th British Open Wheelchair Tennis Championships at Nottingham Tennis Centre.
Player awards were presented by President of the Tennis Foundation Sir Geoffrey Cass in recognition of performance in 2012, alongside merit awards in recognition of notable contributions to wheelchair tennis in Britain.
British No. 1 Gordon Reid received the Male Player of the Year award, as well as being voted Dan Maskell Players' Player of the Year by his fellow British players. Reid reached his first Super Series singles final at the British Open in 2012 before going on to become only the second British player to earn a top 10 men's singles ranking and only the second British men's players to qualify for the year-end NEC Masters.
The Female Player of the Year was presented to London 2012 women's doubles bronze medallists Lucy Shuker and Jordanne Whiley. As well as becoming the first British women's players to win a medal at a Paralympic Tennis Event, Shuker and Whiley also reached their first Grand Slam final together at Wimbledon in July 2012, aside from both producing some impressive individual performances in singles competition.
There was also a joint award for Junior Player of the Year, presented to Alfie Hewett and Lauren Jones, who were also named Most Improved Male Player of the Year and Most Improved Female Player of the Year respectively.
Hewett began 2012 with a tremendous performance against older and higher ranked opposition to win his first Junior Masters title. He went on to produce some great performances against senior players during the season and improved his men's singles ranking from 120 to what was then a career best of 56 by the end of the year, to put himself in a position to take over the world No. 1 junior ranking at the start of 2013.
Jones started 2012 with a women's singles world ranking of No. 80, having already qualified to make her debut at the Cruyff Foundation Junior Masters in Tarbes. Last summer she made her debut in the world's top 50 and made her debut for Great Britain in the World Team Cup in Seoui, Korea. At the World Team Cup Hewett and Jones won the bronze medal for Great Britain in the junior event. Jones ended 2012 world ranked No. 48, also a position that was to see her become the world No. 1 ranked junior girl at the start of 2013.
The NWTA award for Best Newcomer was presented to Londoner Paul Stewart, who started 2012 with a men's singles world ranking outside the world's top 450. After making continued improvements to his game throughout the year, Stewart's highlight of the year came when he won the men's second draw singles at the British Open last July. He also reached the men's singles and doubles finals at the ITF Futures Series Cardiff Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in October and joined the Tennis Foundation's Wheelchair Tennis Performance Programme before ending 2012 world ranked No. 95.
The two NWTA Merit Awards presented went to Tennis Foundation Lead Coach for Wheelchair Tennis Stuart Wilkinson and officials Ray and Kath Lovell.
Wilkinson has been coaching wheelchair tennis for almost 15 years, having started by coaching mixed ability groups in West London. As well as leading coaching at Tennis Foundation wheelchair tennis camps and being individual coach to some of Britain's leading players, Stuart is an integral part of the Tennis Foundation's Performance Team and most recently started working in deaf tennis.
Husband and wife Ray and Kath Lovell have been invaluable members of the team of officials at British wheelchair tennis tournaments for many years, from the National Championships though to the British Open and the Paralympic Games. They have acted as linespersons, umpires and, more recently, Ray has been Referee and Kath in change of Court Control at British Open and the Nottingham Indoor, two of Britain's most important awards on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour.
The Jim Cochrane award, presented annually in memory of the late former President of the LTA and former President of the Tennis Foundation, is awarded to an individual in recognition of their immense contribution to wheelchair tennis in Great Britain. This year's recipient, Noel McShane, has been Treasurer of the NWTA for many years.
As a pioneer of wheelchair tennis in London in the sport's early years in Great Britain in the 1980s, McShane helped promote wheelchair tennis through many exhibitions and demonstrations all over the country. His skills as an accountant have been extremely useful in his role as Treasurer of the NWTA.
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