Eden-based tennis player and coach Gary Payton has been selected to play for Great Britain at the forthcoming ITF Masters World Team Championships in Mexico City.
The selection of Gary — also a Cumbria county tennis development officer — followed a very successful 2023 season, during which he won both the singles and doubles titles at the British National Grass Court Championships at Wimbledon in August.
The ITF World Team Champion-ships are the pinnacle of the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour, and this year will take place in Mexico City from 28th April to 3rd May. An opening ceremony will be held on 27th April.
The GB team will fly out on 24th April to acclimatise to the high altitude location (a little under 7,500ft above sea level) and practise for three days on clay before their opening match.
Gary said: “I’m obviously really pleased to get the call again and looking forward to getting back on the clay and locking horns with the best players in the world.
“Mexico City is an exciting but pretty challenging venue given the altitude and the difference that makes to the speed and bounce of the ball.”
Gary is a four-time national singles champion; a winner of 12 major titles on the world stage; and a former GB number one and world number 12 in the ITF Masters rankings. He last played for Team GB in Turkey, where they finished in sixth place, narrowly missing out on a semi-final slot in a tight encounter with Ausralia.
The GB team for this year’s championships is a very strong one and hopes are high for a successful tournament.
Between now and the start of the championships, as well as performing his roles as coach and tennis development officer, Gary will be upping his training and considerably stepping up his practice schedule in preparation for the event. This could possibly include playing in tournaments at Liverpool, Welwyn and Sutton Coldfield to tune up his game.
He also intends to play in competitions at Bournemouth, Frinton-on-Sea, Wimbledon and Eastbourne later in the year.
Live streaming of a number of match courts will be provided during the event, as will live scoring from most courts.
