LTA President David Rawlinson visits Nottingham

David Rawlinson, president of the LTA, visited Nottingham last weekend to present two LTA awards and visit a couple of tennis clubs in the city, and also watch county juniors in training, as well as getting involved on court at every opportunity.

First off were the two National LTA awards presented at the Nottingham Tennis Centre:

The University of Nottingham won the award for University of the Year. Matt Wildt accepted the award from David on behalf of all the coaches and players. The second award was to Rueben Newman-Billington for Young Person of the Year. Reuben is a student at Nottingham University, but hails from Sheffield.

Next stop was a visit to Wollaton Village TC, which, under the guidance of coach Izzy Bramhall, has increased membership by 132% despite the Covid pandemic. David and his wife Brenda joined in with over two hours of social play with the members of the village tennis club.

Sunday morning at West Bridgford TC, Andy Higham, the Notts County Training Coordinator arranged an exhibition match. David was paired with Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (Nokky), a 29-year-old Thailand former professional who won junior Wimbledon back in 2009. They were up against Andy Higham a 1.1 ranked player and Notts LTA Councillor Andy Bradley (not a 1.1 player). The first went to David and Nokky 6-2. The second set was much closer and it went to a tie-break. Both sides had set points, but it was finally decided by a close line call of out, 10-8 to the “Andys”. So, honours shared at 1 set all and no time for a decider.

Final visit of the weekend was back to the Nottingham TC to see the 14U and 18U county training session. 30 players going through their routines and having a fun time of it with coaches Andy Higham, Carl Saxby, and Sarah Wright. David joined in with the routines and later spoke to the parents about the tennis journey, the advantages of playing the game, and possible changes next year for the Nottingham Tennis Centre if the LTA take over the lease.

Andy Bradley

Notts LTA Councillor