Back to the Liverpool Newsfeed

Emma Raducanu and Novak Djokovic among stars to grace Liverpool tennis tournament

The banks of the River Mersey are a long way from the lawns of SW19 but Liverpool's capacity to produce potential tennis stars remains strong.

In 2002, Anders Borg had a vision that he believed would see top players prepare for Wimbledon in a city more famous for football. The twist, for this ambitious Norwegian, was that he wanted the grass courts to be set up on a public park.

Plenty thought his plans were doomed to fail but Marat Safin won the inaugural Liverpool International Tournament 20 years ago – he was presented with the trophy by Steven Gerrard – and since then a raft of star names have honed their skills in the event.