It’s exciting to look back on the last 18 months with you all and describe some of the wonderful activities that Middlesex Tennis delivers across North and West London.
The last time I wrote a report for you all was in anticipation of the March 2024 EGM, where you provided an overwhelming mandate for Middlesex Tennis to become a charity in May of the same year.
At the same time, we took the pragmatic decision to change our financial year to the fiscal year, beginning in April 2026. This allows us to budget with certainty as our fund-raising returns are typically known early in January of each year.
This AGM and this report is, therefore, unusual as it covers the 18 month period from 22 May 2024 to December 2025.
I am hoping that the Middlesex tennis family – our players, parents, officials, coaches, venue volunteers, and others – have seen this as a positive time of change and stability.
On the one hand, we have become a charity, passed our LTA governance assessment in style, turned up the volume on our inclusion work, and created our sustainability strategy, which I have shared for replication in a Tennis Europe Development Committee meeting.
On the other, we have continued to facilitate the ever-successful Middlesex leagues, and our aspirational annual awards evening.
The Summer League continues to be the envy of British Tennis with over 600 teams representing 112 venues and nearly 7000 players playing over 2000 matches – a competition to be fiercely proud of.
Perhaps the highlight of 2024 was our very own and Ealing’s Mika Stojsavljevic winning the US Open Girls event at the incredibly young age of just 15 years. And we are so pleased to see her taking impressive steps in the women’s elite game this autumn!
It was also pleasing to see a range of wonderful results for our children and young people across the junior age groups, and our men’s and women’s county cup teams too.
Our inclusion performance players continued to shine, with Naqi Rizvi excelling as the world’s top player in the B1 visually impaired category, and Lily Mills performing on the world stage in events for persons with intellectual impairments.
Our work, however, was not limited to the performance area and we ended 2024 by receiving the LTA Organisation of the Year Award for our all-round excellence including our inclusion endeavours and our approach to sustainability.
As an ambitious and aspirational charity – we haven’t rested on our laurels!
Some of our most progressive work in 2025 has been to support our young performance players.
On the back of inspiring on court performances from our children and young people we are proud to have launched the Middlesex Performance Foundation to provide financial support to our players who need it the most; entered into a 2 year agreement to set up the Middlesex Tennis Training Centre at Georgians Club; and made fabulous additions to the performance coaches team, notably Matt Little – the movement coach to no less than Andy Murray and Jack Draper!
Elsewhere, we continue to provide competitive tennis for over 10,000 players annually – young and old; and we staged our inaugural Coaches Conference with a world class presenter line up.
Our inclusion work has taken further positive strides with the innovative Hotspots Programme, developed in partnership with the Queen’s Club Foundation. I was quite literally shedding tears of joy and pride when Naqi helped launch our Visually Impaired Tennis Hotspot in July at Parsons Green, West London.
We have successfully relaunched our interest free loans programme with 10 loans, authorised in 2024/25, to venues who are now enhancing their facilities with our support
And finally … we have invested significantly in enhancing our professional team, and as ever we are backed by an impressive cohort of committed Trustees. Together we work in harmony to make a real difference across the sports of tennis and padel in Middlesex.
From time to time, we reach out for new trustees to join the team – please look out for these opportunities via social media and the Middlesex Memo.
We are indebted to all our partners for their continued support — providing the sponsorship and funding that make our work possible. Their backing helps us grow our reach, innovate in how we deliver the game, and inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to take part.
Across our Middlesex family, we’re breaking down barriers, opening up new opportunities, and creating lasting impact in north and west London. We now look to the year ahead with optimism and determination — continuing to grow participation, nurture talent, and deliver on our mission to make tennis and padel open to all.
Phil Veasey, Trustee & Chair, Middlesex Tennis
