JERSEY is gearing up for the biggest tennis tournament in its history.
Next month 32 top players – including Australia’s Chris Guccione, who is ranked 100 in the world, and played at Wimbledon this year – will be battling it out for prize money of £35,000 in the Caversham Association of Tennis Professionals Men’s Challenger series at the Les Ormes centre in St Brelade.
There will also be a $10,000 Ladies International tournament, again with 32 players from around the world, plus the AIB junior finals for youngsters from Jersey and Guernsey.
The ATP, which is based in Florida, has also awarded Jersey two of the four UK tournaments for next year which will be staged in March and again in November, this time with £50,000 at stake in each of the men’s competitions and £25,000 in the women’s. The increased prize money is sure to attract even higher-ranked players. The Channel Islands Lawn Tennis Association has staged several International Tennis Federation events in the past few years but this is the first time that an ATP match has been held here.
Pictured: Alex Bogdanovic, pictured in action against Rodger Federer at Wimbledon, is the top-ranked Brit
