•  17 outstanding individuals and venues named LTA Tennis Award winners including British Tour Penarth
• Awards were hosted by LTA’s Head of Men’s Tennis & Davis Cup Captain Leon Smith and winners included British Wimbledon hopeful Cameron Norrie 
• Stars from the world of sport and entertainment, including England Netball’s Tracey Neville MBE and influencer Chessie King were among guest presenters

A Welsh tennis tournament has scooped an LTA Tennis Award for the success of their inaugural competition at the tennis governing body’s annual ceremony earlier today.

Taking place at The Championships, Wimbledon, British Tour Penarth were one of 17 winners on the day and were presented with their award by tennis coach and Apprentice star, Sabrina Stocker. 

The ceremony – which saw British tennis star Cameron Norrie awarded ‘LTA Men’s Player of the Year’, saw the likes of England Netball Head Coach Tracey Neville MBE, BBC presenter Kate Silverton and influencer Chessie King present accolades to 17 deserving winners.

British Tour Penarth, which was awarded Tennis Wales’ Competition of the Year, has won the double and become British Competition of the Year

The inaugural tournament, with took place in May this year, was the first British Tour Grade 1 event in Wales for many years. Finals day saw over 250 spectators watching at Penarth Windsor Tennis Club, with all members getting involved.

Now in its fourth year, the awards celebrate the outstanding achievements made by tennis volunteers, coaches, clubs and community programmes across the country.

This year saw more than 1,500 nominations across 10 different categories, including Young Person of the Year, Community Initiative and Disability Programme. Nominations were drawn from 25,000 volunteers, 4,400 coaches, 940 officials, 20,000 schools, 2,700 clubs and over 9,700 LTA approved tournaments, demonstrating the extraordinary contributions of individuals and venues to help to open up the sport and bring new fans and players to the game.

Anthony Phillips, Chairman and Tournament Director said:

“It’s absolutely incredible. We put on a tournament in South Wales, the first LTA British Tour tournament in Wales for many a year and to receive this it makes it all worthwhile.

“There’s only one massive problem, I was thinking of quitting because it was so much work and so much effort that I said’ never again’. But unfortunately I’ve just gone and won this blinking thing so I might have to do it all over again next year.”

 Scott Lloyd, CEO of the LTA said:  

“Congratulations to all of the nominees and winners of this year’s LTA Tennis Awards. As the governing body for tennis, we can’t achieve our vision of opening up the sport without their support, so I would like to extend my thanks to each and every one of them for all that they do.”

 Leon Smith, OBE and GB Davis Cup Captain, who hosted the event added:

“The LTA Tennis Awards are a real celebration of the people that work at all levels of our sport, including our inspirational coaches who are vital in growing the game and supporting those who play tennis across the country.”

Simon Johnson, CEO of Tennis Wales said:

“The Windsor Penarth Club, their incredible members and Chiltern Sports as sponsors have created a fantastic annual tournament in the British Tennis calendar. They’ve attracted some of the UKs top players to compete in Wales and have developed their club facilities as well, investing tens of thousands of pounds into tennis courts that are available all year round to local people and adjacent school children. We’re really proud of their achievements and seeing them recognised for all their work”.

To find out how you can get involved in volunteering for the LTA, visit www.lta.org.uk/volunteering.