The AEGON Awards for June have been presented to Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski, Eleanor Dean, and Barbara Awbery. The monthly Awards are given out in three separate categories: Player, Junior Player and Coach.
Colin Fleming & Ken Skupski – Player of the Month
Fleming and Skupski were awarded Player of the Month, the first time a doubles team have been recognised together, after an impressive grass court season.
The British pair began the month by finishing runner-up at the AEGON Trophy in Nottingham, beating Jamie Murray and Gilles Muller in the last four before losing to Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky in the final.
They followed this up by knocking out the Bryan brothers on their way to reaching the AEGON Championships quarter final at Queen’s Club and also reached the same stage at the AEGON International in Eastbourne.
At Wimbledon, the two Brits lost a hard fought five setter in the first round but both won their opening matches in the mixed doubles, playing with Sarah Borwell and Katie O’Brien respectively.
Following these successful few weeks on the court, along with many consistent performances during the last year, both players are currently ranked at career high doubles world rankings, Fleming at No.141 and Skupski at No.130.
Eleanor Dean – Junior Player of the Month
Having also won in May, Dean has become the first player to be recognised twice in the junior category of the AEGON Awards – Andy Murray has achieved the feat in the senior category.
This back-to-back success comes after lifting two singles trophies on the 14&U Tennis Europe circuit, beating Iva Banicevic to win in Hungary and Vladica Babic to win in Bosnia.
Dean, the reigning 12&U junior national champion, has risen to No.24 in the 14&U Tennis Europe rankings, an incredible increase of 68 places since she won the award in May.
Barbara Awbery – Coach of the Month
Awbery is an inspiring Head Coach working at Elstead Tennis Club in Surrey where she started in 2003 with around 40 children in the programme – there are now 240.
Starting from scratch, she has built up a team of coaches, introduced links with seven schools and two play groups, set up teams in various age groups and established four tournaments every year at the club.
In addition, Awbery has been instrumental in setting up Cardio Tennis sessions at the club and has brought in two fitness trainers to work with both junior and senior players.