Andy Lapthorne, Virginia Wade, Rod Thorpe and Jane Poynder recognised in 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List
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The 2025 King’s Birthday Honours have recognised the contribution of those involved across British tennis.
Andy Lapthorne, British No.1 quad wheelchair tennis player, 18-time Grand Slam champion and four-time Paralympic medallist, has been awarded an MBE for services to tennis.
He is joined by three-time Grand Slam singles champion and former British No.1 Virginia Wade, who receives a CBE for services to tennis and charity.
Meanwhile former Loughborough University lecturer and coach educator Rod Thorpe receives an MBE. Tennis coach and tutor Jane Poynder also receives a BEM for over 50 years of service to the sport.
Chief Executive of the LTA, Scott Lloyd said: “We are delighted that Andy, Virginia, Rod and Jane have been recognised for their contributions to tennis and beyond in the King’s Birthday Honours list.
“On behalf of the LTA and the wider British tennis community, we send them our warmest congratulations for these deserved awards, which are fitting recognition for what they have each achieved within our sport and more widely.”
Andy Lapthorne MBE – services to tennis
Born with cerebral palsy, Andy started playing wheelchair tennis aged 10, turning professional in 2008 and competing in the sport’s quad division.
Andy reached a career high of world No.1 in singles in January 2020, when he became only the third British quad wheelchair tennis player to attain this ranking, also achieving a career high of world No.1 in doubles in January 2011. In total as a professional player, since his first title in 2009, Andy has won 77 ITF titles including 27 singles titles and 50 doubles titles. He has been British No.1 since January 2013.
As a singles player he has won the US Open twice, in 2014 and 2019, and has reached the final of every Grand Slam. In doubles, he has 16 Grand Slam titles spanning all four Grand Slam tournaments, winning his first title in 2011.
Andy has represented Great Britain at four Paralympic Games, the only British quad wheelchair tennis player to contest four Games. He made his debut at London 2012, winning the quad doubles silver medal alongside Peter Norfolk OBE, whilst at Rio 2016 he won silver in singles, before playing alongside Jamie Burdekin to claim the bronze in doubles in the longest wheelchair tennis match in Paralympic history – lasting 4 hours and 25 minutes.
At Paris 2024 Andy won a further silver in doubles alongside Greg Slade, following which he confirmed that Paris 2024 would be his last Paralympics.
Andy has also represented the Great Britain quad team in the World Team Cup in 41 ties since his debut in 2009, helping his country win the quad title three times - in 2009, 2014 and 2018. This year’s bronze medal for the Lexus GB World Team Cup quad team was Lapthorne’s seventh World Team Cup medal.
Commenting on his honour, Andy Lapthorne MBE said “It’s amazing to receive an honour like this. For all the years of hard work and sacrifice to be recognised in this way is incredible not just for me, but for my family and friends as well.
“I'm hoping that this will inspire people from similar backgrounds to me to pick up tennis."
It’s amazing to receive an honour like this. For all the years of hard work and sacrifice to be recognised in this way is incredible not just for me, but for my family and friends as well.
Virginia Wade CBE – services to tennis and charity
Virginia remains the only British woman to win a title at all four grand slams, and is one of the most successful British players of the open era.
In a career of over 20 years spanning the end of the amateur era and the start of the open era Virgina won 55 professional singles titles and was ranked in the world top 10 continuously from 1967 to 1979. She achieved a career high of world No.2 in singles in 1975, and world No.1 in doubles in 1973.
Virgina is the last British woman to win the singles title at The Championships, Wimbledon, winning in 1977 by beating Betty Stove in a three set final. This was the 16th year in which she had played at Wimbledon, and she went on to play at the tournament on 26 occasions, including 24 entries to the women’s singles.
On top of her Wimbledon singles title, Virginia won two other Grand Slam singles titles at the US Open in 1968 and Australian Open in 1972. She also won doubles titles at the Australian Open, French Open and US Open in 1973, before returning to win a second US Open doubles title in 1975.
After retiring from tennis as a player, Virginia coached for a number of years, and went on to be a successful commentator and pundit. She was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1989.
2025 represents the third time Virginia has been included in a Birthday Honours list, having made the Queen's in both 1973 (MBE) and 1986 (OBE) for services to tennis.
Rod Thorpe MBE – services to Physical Education and sports
Prior to his retirement, Rod worked at Loughborough University and made a huge contribution to physical education, sport and tennis over a sustained period as a lecturer, and Director of Sport.
In 1982 Rod authored, with colleague David Bunker, a highly influential paper, ‘Teaching Games for Understanding’, which represented a significant change within the teaching approach within Physical Education, and influenced changes to tennis coach education.
Over a number of years, Rod acted as a consultant to the LTA on coach education, combining his practical experience and academic knowledge to support the design of coaching qualifications.
Rod played a key role in embedding tennis as one of the core sports at Loughborough, with a relentless focus on developing players, coaches and the tennis workforce. He was highly influential in the development of sports infrastructure at Loughborough, including the indoor courts as part of the Dan Maskell Tennis Centre. This facility now hosts the Loughborough University National Tennis Academy, as part of the LTA Player Pathway.
As well as supporting development of facilities, as an LTA qualified coach Rod coached the university tennis team for over 20 years, supporting and developing students, and also mentoring future coaches.
Rod also helped support the success of a number of Loughborough alumni into tennis-related employment, further contributing to the sport.
Jane Poynder BEM – services to sport
Jane has been involved in tennis coaching and coach education for more than 50 years. As an LTA Master Coach and Master Tutor, she has played a significant role in not only opening up opportunities for people to play the sport, but also developing coaches too.
A former player who represented England at both tennis and squash, Jane played at The Championships Wimbledon in the 1960s, and went on to represent Worcestershire for 25 years.
After qualifying as a coach in 1969, Jane set up her own coaching organisation, Poynder Tennis, which provided tennis coaching at schools and other venues across the Malvern area for well over three decades. Jane won the LTA’s Lifetime Achievement Award in Coaching in 2014, and continues to coach, dedicating much of her time to the Malvern Tennis Academy, which provides opportunities for young people to play.
She has also played a significant role in the development of tennis in the wider Worcestershire area over many years of involvement in the sport, including as Chair and Trustee of Manor Park Sports Club. She has held various roles within the county association, and is now an Honorary Life Vice President.
As a Master Tutor, Jane has acted as a tutor, assessor and internal verifier for the LTA, and also was one of the lead tutors on the LTA’s schools programme for a number of years, training up other tutors to deliver teacher training courses.
Jane also played a role at The Championships as master of ceremonies for the female competitors for 15 years until 2010, collecting players and leading them from the dressing rooms to court.
