ILKLEY Lawn Tennis & Squash Club chairman Rik Smith is proud that their big pre-Wimbledon tournament, the Ilkley Trophy, is the fifth biggest tournament in the UK.

However, he believes that the Trophy, which is being held this year from June 12-19 and is the major tournament in the North of England, ranks No 1 when it comes to popularity and friendliness.

A bullish Smith said: “We are top without a doubt. It is the one thing that we have built our reputation on.

“We have got one of the most spectacular and scenic locations around the world on the ATP and ITF tours.

“We have also built that reputation not just on the locality but on the friendliness of the Yorkshire people and volunteers.

“It might be second nature for us to do that but we have found it to be unique in its way on the UK tennis scene, and worldwide as well.”

Smith also revealed that the Ilkley Trophy ranks highly in terms of the number of spectators attending when put alongside other Wimbledon warm-up tournaments such as Surbiton and Manchester.

He said: “The feedback that we have had in the past, comparing us to Surbiton and Manchester in 2018 and 2019, is that we sold nearly double the amount of tickets that they did.

“We want to give everyone across Yorkshire and further afield the chance to come and watch world-class tennis in a festival atmosphere because it’s like having Wimbledon on our doorstep.”

The Ilkley Trophy wasn’t held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic, and Smith said: “After two years with no tournament, this is a real chance to celebrate that the Ilkley Trophy is back – bigger and better than ever.”

There were, however, Smith admits, times when he had his doubts about whether the $125,000 ATP Challenger and $100,000 Women’s World Tour event would return after its two-year absence.

‘The Wimbledon of the North’ is being staged just two weeks before Wimbledon, and Smith revealed: “It has been a long time coming. It is going to be three years since we hosted the last one and there was a little bit of concern whether the grass-court season would be reshaped.

“There was the potential, like they have done with Manchester (which isn’t being held this year), that the tournament wasn’t viable, but we have been working closely with the LTA to really assure them about how enthusiastic we were about hosting it once again."