A BOLTON tennis academy has been named one of the top 14 in the world on an influential sporting website.

Rob Cherry, a well-known coach based in Ireland, has included the International High Performance Tennis Academy at the USN Bolton Arena alongside top academies throughout America and Europe.

Suzi Riley, the Academy’s Director of Performance, commented: “A lot of people go onto this site worldwide for tennis information. It’s definitely well-followed so we are absolutely delighted to be included.”

In fact, the Arena – one of four International High Performance centres in the country – is the only UK academy to be listed in the guide, which is littered with famous names from the world of tennis.

The Arena listing is alongside academies run by champions like John McEnroe, Chris Evert and Justine Henin and includes one of the most famous names in American coaching, Nick Bollettieri, who coached stars like Andre Agassi and Boris Becker.

The website http://robcherrytennis.com/index.php/best-tennis-academies-in-the-world highlights the Arena academy’s “dedicated and professional coaches that have a track record of producing players in all age groups and from national, European, international and professional levels.”

It goes on to detail how players train to progress through the different levels.

The Arena academy currently has around 120 players aged from five to 20, with individuals competing nationally in every age-group and some internationally.

Added Suzi Riley, who played competitive college tennis in America and has coached high-ranking female players on the WTA tour: “Being named one of the top 14 tennis academies worldwide is recognition of what we have achieved in Bolton over the last five years. This goes back to looking at our mini tennis programme and then progressing.”

Paul Bartle, Arena managing director, stated: “It’s wonderful for the Arena academy to be given this accolade – the team deserves it.”