British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Just wondering if Anna's dad had any information on this? https://virtus.sport/eventsvs/lexus-nottingham-open-lta#:~:text=We%20are%20pleased%20to%20sanction,Tour%20125%20event%20for%20men.

It says on the Virtus Facebook page that entries close on 19th April. Are Anna and the other GB players playing in it?

Also saw that the UK is hosting a para-standing international tournament called the Surbiton Trophy in June: competitions.lta.org.uk/tournament/02338a09-ae90-4e15-9b22-d4a4f6d8fb96

AnnaM wrote:

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There has been a lot going on in April. Anna's grandad passed away and we had the funeral last Friday.
The Nottingham Open is on
https://www.lta.org.uk/news/lexus-nottingham-open-makes-history-with-first-learning-disability-and-autism-tournament/

Anna is in for now, but there is a lot going on, so we will see what happens

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 Hi Annas Dad- first of all so sorry to hear about Annas grandad and please accept our thoughts and condolances. It is a tough time for all - and particularly for young people who maybe experiencing loss for the first time (we lost my Mum recently also and my daughter found it very difficult to cope with at the time). 

Good to hear re Nottingham and I hope Anna gets to play; is there a discussion around the category it is targeted at as I know youre mentioned before that is a debating point for some of the competition out there? 

Thank you for all your condolences. It has been a tough last six weeks. The funeral director being arrested just before the funeral was a bit of a disaster. The bang bang of things constantly going wrong have affected Anna a lot.

As for that other thing, we believe there is a connection to the jealous accuser and the person conducting the investigation, via NHS contact in London. The complaint broke their own rules, as they say complaints must go through the National Associations first. It went straight to Virtus who ran with it with aggression and unpleasantness. When they contacted Sports Excel (UK National Body) and the LTA, they reviewed the docs and said there was no case to answer. Sports Excel phoned us and we had a very long conversation about it all. They told us we have done nothing wrong and that Virtus contacted them last Aug and they told them it was nothing. Virtus then chose to inform us 10 days before the AO in Jan. This in itself is a bit suspect. They waited until then, so could have waited another two weeks. Also, the complaint was taking up in Aug at exactly the same time this person started their new eligibility role at Virtus.

We provided Virtus 50 docs from Anna's childhood and her support package at Uni, which is massive. This person ignored everything and focused on an autism assessment that states that Anna would not co-operate and was lying across the floor. This person then involved a so called independent person, who she has worked with closely in the past. This person is also not qualified. She told us that this person was qualified, but we found out that she is just a sports psychologist. It was clear that this person had already decided before the online meeting. This non independent person then tried to say this autism assessment suggested an IQ of 80-109. Which is more than ridiculous and non of the other documents say this and this autism assessment does not say this either. The other documents all say borderline LD, which is in keeping with Anna's assessed IQ score in the full test of 69. There are many more athletes who are far more capable than Anna, so I have told them straight that this is a case of victimisation and that this breaks the law. They are trying to hold Anna to a different standard to the other athletes. Some of whom have their own tennis coaching business, studying or have achieved level four LTA coaching and many who live on their own and drive. Others aree at Uni and we know of one who has graduated. While Anna needs our help to do everything. Including a couple of hours last night just to complete the Nottingham registration form. Anna has also taking a year out to regroup.

So it seems that we are fighting someone who has an agenda, and who is trying to manipulate the evidence to fit.

mdewey wrote:

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AnnaM wrote:

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Thank you for all your condolences. It has been a tough last six weeks. The funeral director being arrested just before the funeral was a bit of a disaster. The bang bang of things constantly going wrong have affected Anna a lot.

As for that other thing, we believe there is a connection to the jealous accuser and the person conducting the investigation, via NHS contact in London. The complaint broke their own rules, as they say complaints must go through the National Associations first. It went straight to Virtus who ran with it with aggression and unpleasantness. When they contacted Sports Excel (UK National Body) and the LTA, they reviewed the docs and said there was no case to answer. Sports Excel phoned us and we had a very long conversation about it all. They told us we have done nothing wrong and that Virtus contacted them last Aug and they told them it was nothing. Virtus then chose to inform us 10 days before the AO in Jan. This in itself is a bit suspect. They waited until then, so could have waited another two weeks. Also, the complaint was taking up in Aug at exactly the same time this person started their new eligibility role at Virtus.

We provided Virtus 50 docs from Anna's childhood and her support package at Uni, which is massive. This person ignored everything and focused on an autism assessment that states that Anna would not co-operate and was lying across the floor. This person then involved a so called independent person, who she has worked with closely in the past. This person is also not qualified. She told us that this person was qualified, but we found out that she is just a sports psychologist. It was clear that this person had already decided before the online meeting. This non independent person then tried to say this autism assessment suggested an IQ of 80-109. Which is more than ridiculous and non of the other documents say this and this autism assessment does not say this either. The other documents all say borderline LD, which is in keeping with Anna's assessed IQ score in the full test of 69. There are many more athletes who are far more capable than Anna, so I have told them straight that this is a case of victimisation and that this breaks the law. They are trying to hold Anna to a different standard to the other athletes. Some of whom have their own tennis coaching business, studying or have achieved level four LTA coaching and many who live on their own and drive. Others aree at Uni and we know of one who has graduated. While Anna needs our help to do everything. Including a couple of hours last night just to complete the Nottingham registration form. Anna has also taking a year out to regroup.

So it seems that we are fighting someone who has an agenda, and who is trying to manipulate the evidence to fit.

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 That all sounds very unpleasant. I (and I am sure others who have been following this thread) hope that truth and justice will prevail. In today's world that seems sadly rare.

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 Definitely and so hard to go through - I recall how Alfie Hewett went through a year or so of expecting to be told he could no longer play WC tennis, before they pulled back, and his relief was palpable. That - I believe - was without any opponent trying to impact him, to go through that with a known opponent who is trying to undermine you/Anna, must be so difficult. 

Let's hope truth and Anna prevail in this 

It looks like 75 is the relevant IQ level for Nottingham at least - surely someone with an IQ range of 80-109 (!) would be pretty obvious to all? And I am amazed the LTA isn't helping more in this to support a British World Champion such as Anna - or are they more interested in promoting Padel these days?

-- Edited by JonH on Thursday 7th of May 2026 12:46:01 PM

Thank you all.

Anna masks and covers up a lot, but her limitations have shown themselves in public many times and we have to live the day to day behind closed doors. We get worn down by having to make sure basic things get done. We try to force her to do things for herself, but we always end up having to go through things with her. Her health suffers when we are not around, as her sleep and diet go wrong. She then loses weight and starts getting ill. She had consultants reporting on her global developmental delays from the the age of 3 upwards and missed her milestones prior to that. She did not speak properly until she went to school.

Anna has competed in this for 8 years and she would have been found out by now if she was in the wrong category. She would not have spent her first 18 years receiving support from consultants and education. The Scottish government and her University would not be spending a lot of money on her support package, without which she would have already given up. We have an audio recording of the last online meeting, where made up scores were thrown in, which will demonstrate that it is not a fair process. She probably forgot that we said it would be recorded two weeks earlier.

Sports Excel told us that other athletes have been treated like this in the past. Anna is difficult for them as we have so much stuff to support her. Someone else without support, or parents who kept filing cabinets full of docs, would have already been out. We have requested all of her medical history as well and been in contact with the Fife autism team who did the original assessment for clarifications. Virtus think we are hiding scores from them. We never had scores, apart from the extensive test Anna undertook to get in, but I do remember them telling me Anna was borderline. And their borderline is different to Virtus numbers, as they work to a below 70 score for IQ. We have discovered that the eligibility officer has written papers using the below 70 threshold as well. So she is trying to hold Anna up to a standard that does not concur with the 75 and under currently in play.

We don't mind if Virtus create new categories, or changing the thresholds, but they have to apply that to everyone equally and fairly. Although, they have ii2, which the complainant fits into. Obviously, they won't do anything about putting her into the correct category, as I told them and got silence. Anna is affected by her conditions and she can be a different player within minutes and every training session she needs a lot of basics reinforcements. She recently played a match where she played an really bad first set, came out in set two and played amazing to go 5-0 up and then switched off again to scrape through 6-3, going on to lose the mtb 10-7. People were perplexed by the three different players that competed that day. But you are right, they probably think Anna is too good. But Anna is especially motivated to beat Eva. The problem is, if Anna does not play, Eva will win everything, as she is too good.

The LTA have paid for support through counselling and I think there have been a lot of secret meetings with Sports Excel and Virtus. I do not think they are happy about any of this, but are tied to a process that breaks the rules.

I followed the Alfie Hewitt case with interest and was glad when he was allowed to continue.

-- Edited by AnnaM on Thursday 7th of May 2026 06:10:57 PM

JonathanH wrote:

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With your knowledge of tennis for players with an intellectual impairment, do you think there is any chance that it could be included in the Paralympics from Brisbane 2032 onwards?

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 I have heard that they are trying, but it is a long shot. So it is possible.

I wonder if trying to pick on Anna is a way of showing how ruthless they are to the Paralympics committee.