The event is now held at Liverpool Cricket Club having moved from Calderstones Park . When did you move and why ? We moved to Liverpool Cricket Club in 2014 after 11 great years at Calderstones . That was the year Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli and the legends that are Greg Rusedski and Virginia Wade joined us , so it was a big year for us . The club was chosen to treat the tennis competition as a warm-up for Wimbledon .
The cricket club ’ s last tennis competition – before us - had taken place 60 years after the Wimbledon legend Lottie Dod appeared there in 1892 . The world ’ s leading stars of the 1950 ’ s , Lew Hoad , Ken Rosewall and Pancho Gonzalez had played an exhibition on a court constructed in front of the pavilion .
It was a big decision to move . We had sort of grown out of Calderstones a little bit . With it being a public park , the ground was never completely flat , so we always had the challenge of dealing with the slope and the cricket club was in a confined area , which made it easier to manage the security of the event .
There ’ s a lot more to the International Tennis Tournament than just the exhibition event though isn ’ t there ? We are currently organising six International Junior Tournaments throughout the year and Liverpool has become a hub for international junior tournaments . That ’ s all happened off the back of the main exhibition event , so it really put Liverpool on the map for international tennis which is something we are really proud of .
We have added on six weeks of international tennis tournaments at the Liverpool Tennis Centre in Wavertree . They take place in November and February and see more than 750 players , coaches , parents , and officials from all over Europe and Britain arrive here .
We arrange events in Norway and England so I ’ m travelling back and forth a lot , but for the next six weeks I am an a official scouser .
How do you personally feel to have hit this milestone and be celebrating 20 years of the tournament ? I am honoured that we are still here , people still want to see the tournament every year and I take great pride in having created this event , it gives me great satisfaction and I ’ m so happy to have been part of it . I ’ ll be doing this for as long as people want it .
Back in 2002 , I didn ’ t know whether the first event was going to be a success . I was working in the City in London ; I was setting it up on the side and all my colleagues thought I was absolutely nuts . They were like why on earth would you organise a tennis tournament in Liverpool ?
I was researching public parks across England , and I had only been to Liverpool once in my life before . When I was studying in Paris , I met a friend from Wirral – he was a mad Everton supporter and he said – ‘ Anders , you must come and visit Liverpool when Everton are playing Arsenal ’ - which is my team . This was back in 1985 . So , I came to Goodison , and Everton beat Arsenal 6-1 . Gary Lineker scored about four goals or something , so it wasn ’ t the best day for me , but I had a great time in the city and came back in 2002 and we ’ ve been here ever since !
I ’ ve seen Liverpool develop into a magnificent city . I think it ’ s very underrated . Obviously , it ’ s great for tourists for the football and the Beatles , but I feel it deserves a lot more investment from big businesses moving into the city and setting up a base here . It ’ s a beautiful city with the most listed buildings outside of London , it ’ s on the river , it has great universities , great golf courses . It really has everything going for it . There ’ s so much potential .
The last couple of years must have been very hard on you ? Yes , COVID has been very hard on everyone . We had to cancel completely in 2020 as everyone did , and then last year , we moved it from June to August as the restrictions lifted somewhat . We managed to have a great two-day event . People were so happy to be out and back at an event again so I ’ m expecting it to be similar this year . I ’ m sure many people are looking forward to sitting in the sunshine at the tennis . Alessandro Giannessi is joining us this year to prepare for Wimbledon and is hoping to recreate his tournament win back in 2018 . I ’ ve ordered the annual heat wave to arrive for the 16-18 June , so hopefully everyone will have a fantastic day out watching grass court tennis at one of the oldest sports clubs in Liverpool .
Tickets are still available for the 2022 Liverpool International Tennis Tournament taking place between 16- 18 June at Liverpool Cricket Club – you can get yours here : https :// www . liverpooltennis . co . uk / event-guide / tickets /
merseylife . com 25