Great Britain's future prospects in international tennis appear promising after home-grown players dominated the Junior International Tennis Tournament in Liverpool this month.
Over 700 young players from 45 different countries congregated at Liverpool Tennis Centre on November 8 for two weeks, competing in J4 (under 14) and J5 (under 18) tournaments, with valuable international ranking points up for grabs.
Ilias Harani Worthington took the J5 boys single title, beating fellow Brit Aaron Dawson 6-2, 6-2 in the final. Buckinghamshire's rising star Amelie Brooks was edged out 6-1, 4-6, 3-6 by American Kate Mansfield in the girls' final - the only overseas player to prevail in the J5 category.
Mansfield returned for the girl's doubles final, paired with GB's Maria Ustic, but they were beaten 7-6, 6-4 by the all-British pairing of Lucia Cassidy and Mia Wainwright. The boys' doubles final was contested exclusively by home-grown players, with Theo Coats and Sebastian Harrison edging out Tom Chapman and William Mottram 6-4, 7-6.
Liverpool has become a major hub for international junior tennis over the past few years, with organisers Northern Vision delivering five weeks of International Tennis Federation and Tennis Europe events - more than any other city in Europe. The junior events are in addition to the senior Liverpool International Tennis Tournament which has now been running as a warm-up event to Wimbledon for 20 years and has seen stars such as Novak Djokovic and John McEnroe grace its courts.
Tournament organiser Anders Borg, of Northern Vision, said: "It's a pretty fast surface [at Liverpool] and the British players are pretty good on fast services. Tennis is on the up in Britain. There are a lot of up-and-coming players and we feel that it's really important to give the kids the opportunity to play at an early age.
"As an organiser we are free to give out a couple of wild cards to anyone we think is up and coming. We get a lot of applications from around the world for wild cards, but we reserve them for the local players so that they have a chance to compete against the very best and earn ranking points. This can help make their dreams come true for those who want to go to America to study and play college tennis, with their whole education paid for."
One of those players who was afforded a wild card on this occasion was Joe Evans, who is a member of Liverpool Tennis Centre in Wavertree. Joe, who dreams of making the move to America, was able to acquire his first junior ranking points at under 18 level and is now looking forward to the next international tournament in Liverpool which will take place in February next year.
"For Joe to get onto that ranking list is just very important. His only goal I think is to reach a scholarship in America, which is a fantastic opportunity. To succeed as a professional, the odds are stacked against you, but I always recommend to even the best-ranked players to do the college bit if you can because the coaching over there is like being part of a professional team. To get your degree in addition to being part of a team with great coaching, it's nearly too good to be true."
Northern Vision's international junior event is now in its tenth year in Liverpool, expanding from one week to five weeks of action across the last decade. The events have previously been held with very little fanfare but the continued expansion and growth of Tennis in Britain has created a more expansive outlook.
Borg added: "For us, it's important to offer all of our partners and sponsors the opportunity to be part of this event. We've got a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme that we're running throughout the year, where we let companies in Liverpool engage with the local community to try and encourage kids to come and play and watch tennis and use the game as a vehicle to get a good education but also enjoy the game for the rest of their lives."
One of the young players in attendance at the tournament this week was Pavali Patel of India, who was accompanied by her coach, former Wimbledon singles champion Marion Bartoli. Patel was eliminated in the first round of the J4 category, but as Borg explained to the ECHO, the standards she is currently meeting relative to her age are nothing short of remarkable.
"It was a rather short visit, but to tell you something about her level, she won an equivalent event in Brussels, Belgium the week before. She actually played the final on the Sunday and then had to play the first round in Liverpool on the Monday (the next day). But she's only 12! She's definitely one for the future," he said.
When ask what advice he would give to Merseyside youngsters who fancy getting involved in tennis themselves, he added: "Join the local club, find out where they are. I can highly recommend the Liverpool Tennis Centre. David Hardman and his team there have done an incredible job to lift that centre from obscurity. It's a bit like what they are trying to do on the Wirral now [at Wirral Tennis Centre in Bidston]. There was talk that they were going to close down the whole centre which would have been a disaster for the sport in the whole of Merseyside. There are very few public indoor facilities in the region. We want to promote tennis in public places.
"It's also up to the parents. When the kids are 6, 7, 8 or 9 it's the parents who decide which sport their kids get into in those early years. I would guess nine out of ten end up on the football pitch, but I recommend that kids chose other sports [as well] and if tennis is not the first sport, definitely make it the second sport."
Tickets for the main Liverpool International Tennis tournament, next June, are on sale now. Visit: liverpooltennis.co.uk
