LTA chief officially opens new tennis facility

On Monday evening, Roger Draper, chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association, officially opened the new Legends Tennis facility at Haileybury.

He joined several of the Legends Tennis junior players on the indoor courts and took part in their coaching sessions. "This new Legends Tennis facility has a great feel to it, I’m sure it’s an environment that will be lots of fun for the children to play and train in," said Draper. "This type of indoor facility is a key part of our plan to bring winning back into British Tennis. Children need to be enjoying their tennis and playing all year round, uninterrupted by the weather."

After a formal cutting of the ribbon on the courts, Draper spoke to some of the new adult members of Legends tennis and fielded a number of questions on the future of the game in Britain. "We would obviously love to see Andy Murray get as far as the quarter finals at Wimbledon and we are excited about the prospects of some of the younger women doing well in their draw. Our British players are often criticised for lacking the hunger that exists in other nations. Some of our up and coming players have that and we can build the desire to win at a grass roots level in places like Legends Tennis. Juniors need to be competing from an early age and learning how rewarding and how much fun it can be."

Nicole Jones, Managing Director of Legends Tennis, said: "We are really pleased that Roger Draper was able to open our facility. We’ve worked hard to get this far. We raised the money to build this great tennis facility. We have four indoor and four outdoor courts which are of a Grand Slam quality and we are now looking forward to growing a thriving club with active adult membership and successful juniors."

Visit www.legendstennis.co.uk or ring 07798 852362 for more information.