The winners of the Tennis Scotland Awards 2022 have been announced, celebrating the outstanding individuals, clubs, programmes and competitions that made a significant contribution to tennis in 2021 by helping to create an accessible and welcoming environment which supported 8000 incoming club members across the nation.
Former ITF circuit player Karen Lamb has been named as Performance Coach of the Year, an award given to an individual that has delivered a successful coaching programme in an inclusive, diverse, and safe environment, acknowledging her contributions to East of Scotland tennis and the East Wee Aces programme.
Mary Byrne-Leitch (above) has earned the title of Senior Veteran Player of the Year as a result of her outstanding accomplishments as a member of Thistle Tennis Club, with honours including becoming a Scottish 65s ladies doubles champion.
Meanwhile, former Merchiston Castle School pupil Matt Rankin has been awarded the Junior Player of the Year after a breakthrough year on the Junior ITF tour which saw him climb to World No. 68 in the rankings and qualify for his first Junior Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open in January.
Elsewhere, Musselburgh Tennis Club has earned the Communities and Park award, having innovatively engaged local groups of players, both new and returning, to play tennis in a welcoming community venue setting.
Finally, Scotland’s nominee for the LTA President Award,reserved for individuals that have gone above and beyond the call of duty to serve the tennis community, is Graeme Soutar in recognition of his services to Craigmillar Tennis Club.
The category winners were announced on Friday (29 April), with an awards ceremony to be held for recent winners at the Davis Cup in September, as part of the celebrations marking the Emirates Arena’s role as a host of group stage matches.
Blane Dodds, Tennis Scotland Chief Executive, said: “I would like to congratulate each of the winners of this year’s Tennis Scotland Awards, alongside everyone who stepped up and played their part in continuing to grow our sport by facilitating welcoming tennis environments all over the country.”
“As the governing body, it gave us great pleasure to witness a plethora of Scottish success stories across the year, on a national and international level. I wish the very best of luck to our winners and LTA President Award nominee as they aim to pick up more accolades at the LTA Awards later this year.”
You can view the full list of winners here: https://www.lta.org.uk/about-us/in-your-area/tennis-scotland/news/tennis-scotland-awards-2022/
To learn more about the Tennis Scotland Awards, please visit www.tennisscotland.org or follow @TennisScotland on Twitter and Instagram.