Put the first week of August in your diary and head to Framlingham Tennis Tournament. It's fantastic quality, it's a fun day out... and it's free
Back in 1883, the great and the good from east Suffolk gathered at Hurts Hall near Saxmundham to watch a new sporting attraction, lawn tennis. Four grass courts were prepared in the impressive grounds of the hall and 900 people paid to be admitted to watch men and women players do elegant battle. Framlingham Tennis Tournament was up and running.
The first week in August quickly became a popular fixture in the county calendar and in 1914 the tournament moved to a fabulous new venue at Framlingham College. Since that time, apart from a wartime break between 1940 and 1946, the tournament has been held each August on 'The Back', Framlingham College's cricket field at the heart of the school grounds, which is transformed into 17 grass courts.
Only Wimbledon has been going longer and perhaps what makes Framlingham so special is that it's not attached to tennis club. It's essentially a community event - since 2018 a registered charity - organised by a dedicated committee work hard to keep it going. It has a fine reputation for the high quality of the tennis played and has attracted some outstanding players.
In the 1920s Wimbledon stars like Bunny Austin and Roper Barrett made regular appearances. Also, Jean Bostock who was rated the most promising junior in Great Britain before the Second World War. She was ranked sixth in the world in 1948 and appeared at Framlingham during the next decade. Later, along came the Truman family, Christine, Nell and Humphrey. Christine was a regular from the age of 11 when she had one ambition, to be good enough to play mixed doubles with her brothers. She achieved rather more than that, rising to world number two in the women's game in 1959.
Now Christine is the tournament's president, actively promoting it whenever and wherever she can, always trying to encourage more people to get involved. "I always feel it's what sport's all about," she says. "It's like-minded people simply enjoying what they're doing." Something missing in many areas of sport, she feels.
"Many tournaments have lost that and they've gone as a result. But people are still supporting Framlingham, keeping it going and trying to keep up the standard of tennis - it's so nice for spectators to be able to watch such high quality players."
Generations of Suffolk tennis fans have played the tournament, some of them for almost their entire lives, like Jeremy Scowsill, current chair, who began playing at the age of seven. The tournament is, he says, very much alive and well after the pandemic but not resting on laurels. He and his fellow organisers are taking the tournament into a new ear.
"The standard of tennis has continued to go up," says Jeremy. "It's a grade three and for ambitious young players it's a stepping stone on the way to greater things. When you look back through history the tournament has hosted players who've gone on to play at Wimbledon. We want to make sure it remains a family tournament with a festival atmosphere, while still keeping up the quality of the players."
It's doing it in several ways - engaging more with the town of Framlingham itself, providing opportunities for people to play during the week without entering the formal competitions and holding limited handicap events, and opening up the tournament to players with disabilities - last year's programme included a demonstration game and it's hoped to showcase wheelchair tennis this year.
Sponsors are key to the event, of course, and the tournament is lucky to have strong local support (although it can always do with more) which enables the public to enjoy a week of great tennis completely free or charge. The aim is to raise the prize money for the open event, hoping it will attract players of the quality of Emma Raducanu, whose journey to the 2021 US Open began at Felixstowe Lawn Tennis Club. After all, the thought that you could see a future Wimbledon star right here in Framlingham is a big attraction.
Framlingham Tennis 2022
This year's Framlingham Tennis Tournament runs from Monday August 1 to Saturday August 6. With over 50 events, it is a jam packed schedule of tennis. Subject to the weather, play starts on the grass at 9.45am and continues until sunset. Weather dependent, all events are played on the grass except the U12, U10, U9 events which are held on the astro turf or the U8s which is played indoors. The finals of the Open events will be played on Saturday August 6. The Suffolk Closed finals will be played on Thursday August 4 .
Want to get involved? Information at framlinghamtennis.co.uk. Email info@framlinghamtennis.co.uk
