ILKLEY Lawn Tennis & Squash Club was formed in 1880, and is the oldest venue to stage an ATP Challenger in 2022.

But club director Mike Henley, who is in charge of sponsorship for the Ilkley Trophy - their big pre-Wimbledon tournament from June 12-19 (they are also staging a ITF Women’s World Tour event at the same time) - feels that ILT&SC is a bit of a secret.

The Stourton Road club has the scenic backdrop of Illkey Moor and the Cow and Calf, and Henley said of his club: “The players like the venue and it is a great spot.”

However, he feels that not enough people appreciate what they have got on their doorstep – what their tournament officials are calling ‘the Wimbledon of the North’.

Henley added: “When you come here and see the scale of the grass courts that we have got and the quality of those grass courts, because they have all been brought up to Wimbledon standard otherwise the players wouldn’t come, it is a great facility to have and is a little bit of a secret even in the North.

“We would like people to know more about it and enjoy it.”

And despite the tournament not being held in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19, Henley feels that the pandemic may even have helped the club in terms of gaining sponsorship for the tournament, despite having no overall backer this time around.

He revealed: “Sponsorship is going well, and unusually this year we have had the opportunity to offer people the chance to sponsor the tournament as a whole, whereas in previous years that was arranged by the LTA, with sponsors such as Aegon Insurance and Fuzion, the drinks company.

“This year we have the chance to bring in our own title sponsors and we are talking to a number of great brands to see if they want to do that.

“Also, what will be different this year is that we have themed all of the days of the tournament – the first Sunday is a family day and the Monday is Silver Day for the more mature members of the community.

“On the Tuesday we are having an Ilkley Day, and on the Wednesday we are having a Yorkshire Business Day, and a Ladies’ Day on the Thursday, while on the Friday Saturday and Sunday we have the quarter-finals, semi-finals and finals days and we are inviting people to sponsor each of those days.

“We are starting to get people lined up for each of those days so things are beginning to take shape.

“The pandemic has helped because when I talk to businesses who you would expect to be interested in sponsoring something like this, all of them have all been forced to work remotely for so long and, while that has helped the businesses with the lowering of costs, there is now quite a feeling that they want to get out and meet people.

“They can come along to the Ilkley Trophy and have a day out with great food, great drink and great tennis. It is nice for them to get that personal contact going again.”

However, Henley admits that putting the Ilkley Trophy in the spotlight is not all about money.

He explained: “We are trying to build a tournament which is important in terms of tennis, with great players here, but also that it is important for the local community and the region to be involved with it.

“We want to help those businesses and those concerns promote their brands. Yes, it is about getting more revenue into the club but it is also about making sure that people have a great day out and get some return on their investment.

“We are calling it ‘the Wimbledon of the North’, and Wimbledon needs tournaments like Ilkley because Wimbledon is a fantastic tennis event and is the only grass grand slam, but Wimbledon needs other tournaments for players to get used to grass before they turn up at Wimbledon.

“Ilkley plays an important role in helping players to prepare, and the North has been forgotten a little bit, and people don’t appreciate the facilities that we have got here.”