Halesowen ace Scott Smith makes finals at wheelchair tennis event
The Black Country’s former national champion Scott Smith fared best of the Midlands players as 11 titles were decided over the weekend at the LTA Wheelchair Tennis National Finals in Shrewsbury.
The 34-year-old tournament director for the annual Shrewsbury Wheelchair Tennis Tournament reached the final of both the quad singles and men’s doubles as the sport’s National Series calendar came to a close at The Shrewsbury Club for the fifth time.
Smith, who lives in Halesowen, dropped just four games to reach the final of this year’s quad singles event, for players with a disability that affects three or more limbs, before finishing runner-up to Northamptonshire’s three-time champion Gary Cox.
“It was good to see a really competitive quad draw and it was great weekend, although I didn’t do too well in the final against Gary,” said Smith. “I was hoping to end the weekend having won both the men’s singles and quad singles titles during my career, but obviously it didn’t happen this time. But what stood out for me this year were the juniors and the grass roots players that are coming through. Whatever the LTA are doing with investing in the juniors it’s working.”
While Cox won the quad singles title, Hampshire’s Andrew Penney sealed his second successive men’s singles title, beating South Wales player Tony Heslop, winner of July’s Shrewsbury National Series tournament.
Cornwall’s Fay Dutfield-Horton added her name to the women’s singles roll of honour.
Simon Jones, LTA councillor for Shropshire, said: “It was an excellent tournament once again. There was a fantastic entry of 46 players, which was up from last year, and some of them travelled long distances to play.
“It was nice to see players from the Shropshire Wheelchair Tennis Group playing, with Scott reaching the quad singles final.
“The Shrewsbury Club were fantastic hosts once again, with the annual awards dinner for the LTA Wheelchair National Series on Saturday night.”
Warwickshire’s Vasileios Takis won the Val Fisher Award for Novice Player of the Year, named in memory of Shropshire’s Val Fisher, a hugely popular player and pioneer of wheelchair tennis in the county, who passed away in 2021.
