Kilgraston tennis tournament

Kilgraston tennis tournament

Kilgraston tennis tournament shortlisted for a national award

A NEW junior tennis tournament held at Kilgraston has been nominated for a prestigious award after attracting nearly 200 keen players from across Scotland.

The North of Scotland Autumn Open was served up at the school in October, giving youngsters inspired by Andy Murray the chance to put their skills to the test against a wide field of opponents.

The five-day county level competition is one of three events to have been shortlisted for Tournament of the Year in the 2013 Tennis Scotland Awards.

Organiser Adam Brown praised Kilgraston staff for hosting the tournament, the biggest of its kind to take place in Scotland this year.

The 31-year-old tennis coach from Stirling, said: “Being nominated for an award is a huge achievement but wouldn’t have been possible without Kilgraston. I’d been struggling to find a venue and was about to cancel the tournament when staff at the school stepped in at the eleventh hour to allow us to use their courts.

“The tournament was a huge success with more than 190 players taking part and around 300 matches contested over the week. Some top Scottish juniors took part with players travelling from far and wide including Aberdeen, Inverness and the Borders. There was also a strong, local contingency playing the tournament including girls from Kilgraston and other neighbouring schools and clubs – some taking part in their first official ranking tournament.

“The tournament was visited by a lot of Tennis Scotland staff over the week who commented on the excellent venue, the school’s facilities and the wonderful atmosphere. With such a strong entry we would hope the tournament might be sanctioned as a higher level regional tournament next year, drawing players from not only Scotland but from other parts of the UK.”

Kilgraston’s Principal, Frank Thompson, added: “We were really pleased to be able to help Adam in putting on the tournament. He has been very supportive of tennis at Kilgraston and we felt that the event would also give players a chance to see the school and surrounding area, perhaps for the first time. With our developing tennis academy it was also a fantastic opportunity for a number of our girls to take part in a prestigious tournament on home soil. I hope the event has inspired them to take their tennis further and we’ve been delighted to hear from parents regarding our tennis scholarships as a result of the event.”

Tennis Scotland chief executive officer, David Marshall, said the North of Scotland Autumn Open had been shortlisted for an award along with the East Lothian Tennis Tournament and the Scottish Junior Open (Mini Events).

He explained: “Nominations were received online from across the Scottish tennis community and these nominations were then shortlisted by a team consisting of Tennis Scotland staff and representatives from the Tennis Scotland board.”

Winners will be announced during Tennis Scotland’s Annual General Meeting on December 19^th.