Brilliant Birmingham: Networking with Rennae Stubbs
On the LTA’s second Friday Pride Day, our Network Development Lead, Eira Guest, and I were thrilled to attend on behalf of Pride in Tennis at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham, home of the WTA 250 Rothesay Classic, on 17 June 2022. The Birmingham event is one of the most prestigious, historic events on the WTA calendar - with past competitors including Wimbledon legends Martina Navratilova, Billie Jean King and Venus Williams.
Friday means quarter final-stages and with thanks to the LTA, Eira was welcomed onto court to tell the crowd about Friday Pride Days and Pride in Tennis through interviewer Mark Curry, who proceeded to name-check the occasion all day long - Proper ally behaviour right there! Eira then had the privilege of tossing the coin for the first match of the day between seasoned pros Sorana Cirstea and Donna Vekic.
A networking event afterwards saw openly-gay former doubles world number 1 Rennae Stubbs share her experience of LGBTQ+ inclusion at the Australian Open earlier this year. Hugely supportive of our approach, Rennae told crowds that inclusion should be felt everywhere in tennis and that grassroot clubs could better support young people through LGBTQ+ issues by being “warm and respectful (…) make their questions feel valued and always lead by example in your venue, whatever capacity you are in.” Exactly the sort of principles that Pride in Tennis wants to see put into practice.
Meanwhile, the event was also attended by Pride House Birmingham, representatives from the GLTA World Tour, local tennis clubs, Vicky Williams (LTA’s People Director), and Claire Brown (Regional LTA Head, Midlands), who outlined some of the strategies that were ahead in terms of inclusion and diversity.
As temperatures hit 30°C in the shade, Eira and I took one for the team and stepped out into the heat to network (and soak up the rainbow-flag-filled atmosphere). Every match was topped-and-tailed with mentions of Pride in Tennis and Friday Pride Day on a day when Britain’s Katie Boulter put in a valiant performance against former Wimbledon champion, Simona Halep.
All in all, it was a very productive (and spectacularly sunny) day in Birmingham. Read our next blog about the parallel Friday Pride Day event that happened in Queen’s Club, London.
About the author - Ben Stannard (he/him) is a volunteer for Pride in Tennis. He is also an Official (referee) for the LTA and plays for the Olympic Park Tennis Team in Stratford, London.