Glasgow Challenger honors Murray family, named Murray Trophy – Glasgow
In February 2015, Glasgow got a chance to host an indoor Challenger event, gathering a nice field of players and with Niels Desein who prevailed against Ruben Bemelmans after two and a half hours. After three years, the Scotstoun Leisure Centre staged another Glasgow Challenger, this time in the first week of May, as one of the steps in the Scottish tennis development that has not achieved the full potential after all great results from Murray brothers in the last ten years or so. Jamie Murray is one of the key persons behind this event and the organizers have announced the second edition between September 16-22, with Jamie to headline the doubles draw despite the fact he is ranked inside the top-10 on the ATP list.
LTA will host the tournament together with Glasgow Life, Glasgow City Council and Tennis Scotland and it has one of the leading roles in their efforts to stage tennis events outside the regular June swing and open the sport to more kids throughout the country. Glasgow has been the synonym for tennis in Great Britain in the last couple of years, staging Davis Cup semi-final ties in 2015 and 2016 that gathered one of the best crowds in this competition in recent years. Also, the organizers have announced on Thursday that the tournament will be named Murray Trophy – Glasgow, honoring Judy, Jamie and Andy Murray and everything they have done for tennis in Scotland and Great Britain in general in the last ten or 15 years.
The winners of 70 ATP titles in singles and doubles, Andy and Jamie have both been ranked at the top of men's tennis while their mother has been doing a fantastic job on promoting tennis throughout the country and opening the sport for as many kids as possible.
“It’s fantastic to be able to bring world class tennis back to Scotland and I’m delighted we are naming this event the Murray Trophy – Glasgow in tribute to the Murray family’s contribution to the game. We want to open tennis up to as many people across the country as we can and I hope events like this will enable tennis champions of the future to experience the thrill of live tennis and get out on a tennis court,” Scott Lloyd said.
“I’m excited to be working with the LTA and Glasgow Life on this event and honored to have it named in recognition of my family’s achievements in the sport. I really hope we can use the Murray Trophy – Glasgow to increase awareness of tennis and create opportunities for more boys and girls to play, both in Scotland and Britain as a whole,” Jamie Murray said.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2PMel2D
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