Alex Slabinsky Alex reached an ATP high singles ranking of 266. A career cut short by knee and foot injuries, he was part of the Davis Cup squad in 2009, and was voted ITF World Player of the Month in December 2007. Alex currently works at David Lloyd Raynes Park and is also a Director at Top Tennis Training, one of the webs most popular on-line tennis coaching websites.
Barry Cowan Barry is probably best known for extending Pete Sampras to 5 grueling sets at Wimbledon in 2001. He made his Davis Cup debut on clay against Ecuador, and represented GB in the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Since retiring, he has forged a fantastic broadcasting career as a studio pundit and commentator for Sky Sports.
Dan Lobb Dan is undoubtably more famous for his TV roles as opposed to his tennis skills, but he still achieved a lot within the sport. Graduating from the University of Tennessee, Dan was named as an all-american in tennis, and he played professionally for 3 years reaching a career high 18 in Great Britain. On retiring Dan took up a role as Sports presenter on Sky Sports and Sky News before moving on to GMTV, then becoming the main presenter on Daybreak. He was a participant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2011. With wins over Tim Henman, but losses to Danny Sapsford, Dan is a bit of an unknown quantity on the tennis court! But we thoroughly appreciate him turning out to support our charity here today.
Danny Sapsford Danny played on the ATP Tour from 1987-1999, reaching a career high ATP singles ranking of 170 and 83 in doubles. He represented Great Britain in the Davis Cup from 1990-95. Danny competed in all 4 Grand Slams with his best performance coming at Wimbledon 99 where he made the 3rd Round before losing to eventual champion, Pete Sampras. In 1998, Danny became the Men s National Singles Champion, and he also won the Doubles Event on 3 separate occasions. Wins during his career include Henman, Rusedski, Korda, Gilbert and Kuerten. After retiring Danny became an LTA National coach, overseeing a squad of boys who won European singles and doubles titles, Grand Slam and ITF World Doubles titles, and junior/senior National singles titles. He founded the charity, Bright Ideas for Tennis in 2013.
James Auckland James was a Davis Cup member during 2006, he is a doubles specialist, and was an occasional partner to Andy Murray. He reached the 3rd Round at Wimbledon and ranked in the ATP Top 60. James has doubles wins over the Bryan Bros and Nadal. James currently runs the coaching company Premier Tennis.
Jamie Delgado Current ATP Tour player and coach to former US Open Quarter Finalist Gilles Muller, Jamie has over 25 years experience of international level tennis and has played at all the Grand Slams throughout his career. Jamie is one of a select few British players to have represented his country in Davis Cup on numerous occasions. 2014 saw Jamie compete at Wimbledon for a record 23rd consecutive year.
Jeremy Bates Jeremy was a stalwart of the GB Davis Cup team from 1985-9 and a winner of 2 Grand Slam doubles titles. Jeremy was an ATP top 60 singles player and a top 30 doubles player and has wins over Agassi, Sampras and McEnroe. Currently, Jeremy mixes his time between playing on the ATP Masters Tour and as Head Ladies Coach with the LTA
Jonny Marray Jonny has played professionally on the ATP Tour since 1999 and in recent years has established himself as one of the most successful british doubles players of the open era. Jonny shot to fame in 2012 with wins over World #1 s, the Bryan brothers and world #3 s Lindstedt and Tecau en route to becoming the first British Men s Wimbledon Doubles Champion for 76 years, and followed this up with a SF showing at the year end ATP World Tour Finals at the O2. He is currently ranked 70 in the World and shows no sign of letting up, but Bright Ideas for Tennis looks forward to working more closely with him in his ambassadorial role for the charity when he does eventually decide to hang up his racquet.
Josh Goodall Josh is a former GB number 2, and played Davis Cup in 2009. A regular at Wimbledon since 2006. His highest singles ranking ATP 187, doubles ATP 114. Josh currently works at Downe House Girls school, and runs his own coaching company, Pro Star Training.
Stuart Rhodes Stuart Rhodes was a top nationally ranked junior tennis player and was a regular in the Surrey men s County team. He graduated from Bath University with a degree in business administration, and joined M&G as an equity analyst in 2004. In 2008 he was appointed manager of the M&G Global Dividend Fund and has very quickly built a reputation as one of the best up and coming fund managers in the UK. Keen to increase participation in sport for all abilities, he set up the Keep Playing charity in 2012 and currently funds Level Water, providing swimming lessons for children with disabilities, and Bright Ideas for Tennis, whose objectives are to increase participation and to improve tennis club facilities.
Luke Milligan Luke reached the 3rd round of Wimbledon in 1996 where he lost to Tim Henman. He played Davis Cup in the same year away vs Ghana. Since retiring, Luke worked for 7 years as a National Coach at the LTA, working with many of the up and coming professionals on Tour including Laura Robson and Johanna Konta. Luke currently resides and works in Eastbourne.
Martin Lee Martin is a former top 100 ranked player on the men s ATP tour. He was the World No 1 Junior player and Wimbledon Doubles Junior Champion in 1995. British No 3 & British Davis Cup Player. He has a vast experience of coaching top national and international players following 5 years working at the International High Performance Centre at Bisham Abbey, before setting up his own company, Living Tennis.
Mel South Mel is a former WTA top 100 player, Mel represented GB in the Fed Cup in 2008/9. She accumulated 6 singles and 24 doubles titles throughout her career and beat World number 15, Francesca Schiavone in Round 1 of Wimbledon in 2006. Since retiring, Mel divides her time between coaching at Bath High Performance Centre and Queen s Club.
Oliver Freelove Oliver, a doubles specialist, graduated from the University of Illinois in 1999 as an All American in both singles and doubles, as well as being voted University Athlete of the Year. In the same year he became GB National Men s Doubles champion (with James Davidson) and he was picked by Roger Taylor to represent GB in the Men s European Cup in 2000. He competed at Wimbledon in both 2000 and 2001 and his best wins include victories over ATP Top 50 players Andrei Pavel, David Sanguinetti and Vince Spadea. For the past 10 years Ollie has worked as a commodities broker in the City.
Josh Milton Josh is an up and coming GB player who is currently ranked 322 on the ATP World rankings. He has won 3 singles titles and 3 doubles titles on the ITF Tour. Hailing from Cardiff, Josh is the Welsh number 1 player and current GB number 8.
Joe Salisbury Joe graduated from the University of Memphis in 2014, finishing his course with a final USTA National Doubles ranking of 3. But the icing on the cake came at the World University Games in South Korea where Joe picked up a Gold medal in the men s doubles partnering fellow Brit Darren Walsh. Since then, he has made steady progress on the ATP Tour with his singles ranking climbing over 1000 places to a current high of 550 thanks to victory in an ITF Futures in Sweden last October. His doubles career is doing even better and his ranking currently sits at 250 ATP.
Dan Smethurst With a career best ATP singles ranking of 234, and 12 ITF singles titles to his name, Dan is one of a group of GB tennis players hoping to make the breakthrough in to the Davis Cup squad. In 2014 he lost in 3 tight sets to then world number 9, John Isner in Round 1 at Wimbledon. With a solid all-round game, Dan has also won many ITF and ATP doubles titles and boasts a career best of 159 in the ATP doubles rankings.
Neil Pauffley Neil was a top GB junior player with huge potential. Sadly, his senior career has been dogged by many injuries but he is now fully fit and ready to make his mark in the senior game. His current ATP singles ranking is 555, a great platform from which to build, and his recent tournament victory in an ITF Futures event in Birmingham certainly bodes well.
James Marsalek James enjoyed a fantastic junior career. He won the Road to Wimbledon, and was U16 and U18 GB National singles champion. He also represented GB in the Junior Davis Cup. Since turning pro, James has won several ITF Futures events and has reached a career high 520 in the ATP rankings.
Mark Whitehouse Mark is currently juggling a maths degree at Imperial College, London with a part-time professional tennis career. Ranked number 1 in the university rankings, he has been a regular GB representative in the University Masters, and World Student Games. And on top of this, he has still found time to gain an ATP ranking inside of 1000. A fantastic ball striker, Mark is also a regular hitter for the world s best players at the year end ATP World Tour Finals at the O2.
Jocelyn Rae Joss has been one of the best doubles players in GB for the past 5 years, winning over 20 WTA / ITF titles. With a WTA highest world ranking of 67, Joss made the 3rd round of the Australian Open (2016), and the QF of the Mixed Doubles at Wimbledon (2017). She was a permanent fixture in the GB Fed Cup Team from 2011-17, but the highlight of her career came at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi where she won a Gold medal in the Mixed Doubles with compatriot Colin Fleming.