About the Open

The inspiration for an open event goes back 20 years to 1983 when Judy Hashman was Abingdon Coach and helped kick start the concept of an open competition for juniors.

It became know as the Abingdon and District tournament and was meant for children living within a 20 mile radius of Abingdon. This was all before the concept of LTA ratings were introduced and so it continued until 1991 when again Judy Hashman persuaded the club to become an LTA rated tournament. Rated events ran along side the non-rated Abingdon and District events for a few years but when the LTA ratings started to become really popular it was clear that players would only enter rated events for points.

In 1996 senior events were introduced and in 2002 our oldest event, the Preston Bowl Mixed Doubles (going back to 1933) was merged into the Open. Since last year the Preston Bowl competition has been held in June to reduce conflicts with the holiday period.

Participation levels remained steady in the ninety's, but since 1999 entries have increased significantly. Increasing the number of events, under 21's in 2001, veterans in 2002 have contributed to its broadening appeal. Also since 1999 the club has hired an LTA referee to supervise the tournament as well as umpires on finals day.

The growing success of the Open Tournament since 2000 and its expansion into senior tennis has owed much to the efforts over that period of the Tournament Director, Alex Wingent. In 2004, Alex stood down as tournament organiser, and the club committee decided to refocus on the junior part of the event.

ALTC have been fortunate to have had Julia Freeman as the Tournament Referee since 2003. Julia is very capable and experienced. She has officiated at tournaments in the UK and overseas, including the Wimbledon show courts last year. Julia, with the help of James Eastwood, again had a successful Open last year. Unfortunately, because of family commitments, Julia is unable to be referee this year. We are looking forward to welcoming Matt Hill as Tournament Referee for the 2008 Abingdon Open.

If you want to know more about the Open, have a look at the pages for previous years by selecting the appropriate button to the left.