Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club of Great Britain, Royal Leopold Club from Brussels, Kung. LTK Club of Stockholm, I CLTK of Prague, Hall of Fame Tennis Club of Newport, Wiener Park of Austria, Real Club de Tenis Barcelona-1899, Club de Tenis Barcino and Club Esportiu Laietá were the pioneers of the Clubs Tennis Weekend by CTC, a new initiative committed to solidarity through tennis.
With the aim of promoting tennis participation around the world and simultaneously joining forces for an act of solidarity, the contributing clubs organised the activities of their own ‘Clubs Tennis Weekend by CTC’ over two days from 8-9 October, also choosing the charity that they would support.
For example, at RCT Barcelona-1899, tennis training exercises were held with the invaluable collaboration of the coaches from the club’s School on Saturday morning, while on Sunday an exciting team competition took place. For their part, both CT Barcino and Cumberland Lawn Tennis Club organised tournaments. The Barcelona club opted for a tournament for junior players, the ‘torneo desesperados’, while the British club held the first Nations Cup, which brought together players from 8 countries in a clash between Europe and the Rest of the World.
This year’s beneficiaries include the Martin Luther King Community Centre in Newport, the Arapdis Association for people with mental illness, the NGO Mans Unides, Televie (an organisation that supports cancer research) in Belgium and Give it your Max, a British association that uses tennis as a vehicle to improve the lives of vulnerable and disadvantaged children aged 4 to 18.
Due to the needs of each club, this first edition of the initiative will be held on different weekends, although the aim is for the event to become a charity tennis festival from 2023. See the slideshow below for a selection of highlights from this first edition.
