After attracting almost 200 budding Andy Murrays, a new tennis tournament has been shortlisted for a major award.
Despite its popularity, however, the North of Scotland Autumn Open was almost cancelled at the last minute.
It was only thanks to the generosity of a Perthshire school that it was able to go ahead and showcase the talents of future sports stars.
Organiser Adam Brown revealed that the event’s success in reaching the finals of the 2013 Tennis Scotland Awards was down to his local heroes.
He said: “Being nominated for an award is a huge achievement but wouldn’t have been possible without Kilgraston.
“I’d been struggling to find a venue and was about to cancel the tournament when staff at the school stepped in at the 11th hour to allow us to use their courts.”
Over the course of the week-long competition, the Bridge of Earn girls’ school hosted around 300 matches.
Top-ranking junior tennis stars travelled from across Scotland to take part, joining local players from Kilgraston and other schools across Perthshire.
Mr Brown, a tennis coach from Stirling, revealed the venue also proved to be a hit with representatives from Tennis Scotland. The 31-year-old now hopes to take on a bigger challenge next year.
“With such a strong entry, we would hope the tournament might be sanctioned as a higher level regional tournament, drawing players from not only Scotland, but other parts of the UK,” he added.
Principal of Kilgraston Frank Thompson said the school was more than happy to host the competition and help Mr Brown out.
He said: “He has been very supportive of tennis here and we felt that the event would also give players a chance to see the school and surrounding area, perhaps for the first time.
“With our developing tennis academy, it was also a fantastic opportunity for a number of our girls to take part in a prestigious tournament on home soil.
“I hope the event has inspired them to take their tennis further and we’ve been delighted to hear from parents regarding our tennis scholarships as a result of the event.”
The North of Scotland Autumn Open is in the running for Tournament of the Year, alongside the East Lothian Tennis Tournament and the Scottish Junior Open.
Chief executive officer of Tennis Scotland David Marshall said: “Nominations were received online from across the Scottish tennis community and these nominations were then shortlisted by a team consisting of Tennis Scotland staff and representatives from the Tennis Scotland board.”
Winners will be announced during Tennis Scotland’s AGM on December 19.