World class tennis returns to county

The biggest women’s tennis tournament in the UK outside of the grass court season is returning to Shropshire later this year.

The Shrewsbury Club has been chosen by the International Tennis Federation and Lawn Tennis Association to stage the prestigious Lexus W100 Shrewsbury event.

It means local tennis fans can again look forward to watching leading British and international stars competing on the indoor courts at the Sundorne Road venue between October 13-20.

Top seed Viktorija Golubic from Switzerland was the winner of last October's W100 event, following in the footsteps of current Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 12 months earlier.

Dave Courteen, The Shrewsbury Club’s managing director, said: "We are really excited that the tournament is coming back once again. It's fantastic for the town and the county that the LTA and ITF want to continue to bring an event of this stature to what is a relatively small town compared to others that host this level of event on the worldwide tennis circuit.”

Dave said The Shrewsbury Club team received excellent feedback for last year’s W100 tournament. Record crowds enjoyed the chance to watch world class tennis, while a host of hospitality events throughout the week also proved extremely popular.

"The LTA is delighted with the support this event gets, so it was all very positive feedback. Ticket sales were up about 60 per cent on the previous year. We increased the capacity and had more seats available.

“The DMOS People Arena was sold out for finals day and it was the biggest crowd we’ve ever had, so it was wonderful to see so many people here. The support proves there is a real demand in Shropshire from people wanting to watch high-quality tennis.  

"The players also really enjoyed playing here. Those that are used to playing at a higher level, at Grand Slams, like Viktorija Golubic, were hugely complimentary about how the event was staged. 

"From the LTA’s perspective, a couple of British players performing particularly well, with Amarni Banks reaching the final, and 14-year-old Hannah Klugman progressing to the quarter-finals, was wonderful.”

The Shrewsbury tournament is part of the LTA’s Performance Competitions Calendar. It’s designed to provide British players with the chance to develop on home soil through more meaningful playing opportunities, giving all players the widest possible number of competitive matches on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

This October’s event will be known as the Lexus W100 Shrewsbury under the terms of a partnership between the LTA and Lexus.

Pictured: A capacity crowd of nearly 600 watched Viktorija Golubic, the top seed, win the W100 Shrewsbury tournament at The Shrewsbury Club last October. (Picture by Richard Dawson Photography)