The International Junior Tennis Tournament Europe, that has featured some of the world’s best including Liverpool’s own Neal Skupski and global superstar Emma Raducanu, is thriving as it heads into its second of three weeks in Merseyside.
The current tournament kicked off on the February 3 and ends on the 16th. It has an Under-14 and two Under-18 events. There will be over 1,200 young players from 50 nations travelling to Liverpool over the three weeks to earn global rankings points.
Tournament organiser Anders Borg has proclaimed that “we can now firmly brand Liverpool as the home of International junior tennis in the UK.”
He went on to say “Who would have thought that this was possible some years ago in a sport that is normally thought of as slightly elitist and mostly played down south?”
The U14 qualifications took place at the Bidston Tennis Centre with the two international federation events taking place at the Liverpool Tennis Centre.
A potential superstar with a very famous brother competed this past week too.
Anders stated, “On Thursday we had the brother of Carlos Alcaraz who is number two in the world play in the u14 tournament. He is only twelve but he very much looked like his brother.”
The tournament is not just a great chance for the best young talents in the world to compete against each other, it also gives local players the opportunity to test themselves against the best. Something that fills the Norwegian with great pride.
He said, “It’s also a great chance for the local players from Liverpool, who get a chance to compete against the best as we allocate them a wildcard”
Due to the hard work by Anders and his fellow tournament organisers since the founding of the junior tournament in 2013 , the J30 event in Liverpool was awarded with a special recognition award in January.
Anders is immensely proud of the award and declared that , “Last year the players voted this as one of the best tournaments they have played in. I have a great team here, the official referee is Jill Mills. She has been the official referee since we started in 2013 and Tim Pearce is also an assistant referee. They create a very good ambiance among the players.”
He also declared “We’re in a public Tennis centre in Liverpool. It’s not an upmarket facility but it just proves that if everyone is positive and treated well then, these awards can come.”
With an award like this and hopefully many more to come in the future, Liverpool is well on its way to becoming the home of International Junior Tennis.