YORKSHIRE Air Ambulance has been named as the official charity of this year’s LTA Ilkley Trophy tournament, which will be held at the Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club (ILTSC) from June 12-19.

The club have two big reasons to be grateful to the Yorkshire Air Ambulance (YAA) after medics flew in on two separate occasions earlier this year when members Kevin Johnson and Kirill Horoshenko were taken ill.

Both were treated successfully on the spot by the YAA after receiving immediate first aid – including CPR and defibrillation administered by quick-thinking, trained ILTSC staff - and made full recoveries.

“I am very grateful to Ilkley Tennis Club and Yorkshire Air Ambulance for saving my life. They did everything possible for me and I can’t thank them enough – they really are amazing people,” said Horoshenko.

Yorkshire Air Ambulance is an independent charity providing a life-saving rapid response emergency service to five million people across the whole of Yorkshire.

It costs £12,000 per day to keep both of Yorkshire’s air ambulances maintained and in the air, so public fund-raising and support is vital.

“We are delighted to be able to show our support for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance and their vital life-saving work,” said Rik Smith, chairman of ILTSC.

“We all feel a tremendous sense of gratitude for the incredible work they did in helping to save the lives of both Kirill and Kevin. We want to help them save more lives across Yorkshire.”

Yorkshire Air Ambulance volunteers will be raising funds and awareness throughout what promises to be a week of world-class tennis at the Ilkley Trophy, alongside receiving the proceeds from the daily prize draw, which will take place in the hospitality tent.

Top male and female players from around the world will compete on Ilkley’s excellent grass courts before they head south to Wimbledon, providing a treat to spectators at one of the most picturesque tennis venues in the world.

Three former world top-ten players in Fernando Verdasco, Jack Sock and Kristina Mladenovic have now been joined by a fourth – France’s Gilles Simon.

The 37-year-old, who reached the third round of this year’s French Open, was No 6 mon the ATP rankings in January 2009 and reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2015 and the last eight at the Australian Open in 2009.

Vickie Bowden, regional fund-raising manager for the YAA, added: “We’re so grateful to Ilkley Tennis Club for the opportunity to be involved with this year’s Ilkley Trophy tournament t– it’s going to be a great week and we’re looking forward to meeting everyone.

“As an independent charity, we rely heavily on the generosity of individuals, groups and organisations such as ILTSC to help raise vital donations.

“We’re also extremely grateful to Kirill for his kind words and glad we were able to come to his and Kevin’s aid when they needed it the most.”

Tickets and hospitality packages are still available for the Ilkley Trophy at www.ilkleytrophy.co.uk (tickets) and https://www.iltsc.co.uk/trophy/

However, fans will have to be quick, as half of the general admission tickets for this summer’s Ilkley Trophy tournament were already sold by April 24.