Three wins out of three on GB tennis duty for Shropshire's Hugh Jaques

Shropshire’s Hugh Jaques impressed on international tennis duty for Great Britain at a prestigious tournament in America.

Shrewsbury-born Hugh helped Great Britain’s over-40s team finish sixth out of 21 nations in their category at the International Tennis Federation’s Young Seniors World Championships in Miami.

One of four players selected for the GB over-40s team, Hugh won all three of the matches he played.

Hugh’s team secured group victories over Australia and Estonia and, after losing to Netherlands in the quarter finals, GB beat USA and lost to Denmark in the play-offs to decide fifth to seventh place.

“Overall, it was a really great experience,” said Hugh. “The tournament was played in an excellent spirit.”

A member of the Shropshire side which gained promotion in the LTA’s annual over-35s at County Cup at Eastbourne in August, Hugh relished the opportunity to represent Great Britain and said it was a real honour.

He first picked up a racket at Baschurch Tennis Club, his local club, aged eight.

Hugh then played regularly at Shrewsbury Lawn Tennis Club and was men’s singles champion for three successive years before studying at Nottingham University. 

Having represented Shropshire from the age of 12, he won a combined total of 16 Shropshire County Closed titles in singles and doubles at junior and senior level.   

Hugh has been playing men's senior tennis since 2013, winning the British indoor and clay court doubles title in 2017, while he was runner-up in the grass court and clay court singles competitions a year earlier.

Hugh, who currently lives in South Warwickshire, has a senior world ranking high of three in over-35s doubles and 82 in over-35s singles.  

Pictured: Shropshire’s Hugh Jaques, third right, with his Great Britiain over-40s team mates, from left, Alan Macdonald, Philip Loose and Tom Wride in Miami.
 

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