Grants Programme

Mark Laurence is the Chair of the Tennis First Grants Board. He began his career in 1988 as a transport sector investment analyst with stockbrokers Kitcat and Aitken, before moving to WI Carr and then Smith New Court plc. In 1997, he joined Collins Stewart plc and helped develop the group leading up to its MBO and IPO in 2000. Since 2001, Mark has pursued a career in fund management helping to found Fundsmith in 2010. Mark is also a Non-Executive Director of Jet2 PLC and Chairman of The Tim Henman Foundation.

Hollie Bambridge coached former Tennis First grantee Freya Christie for much of her early career and has been heavily involved in the development of her younger brother Luke, another former grantee. Both players are now on the professional tour. Hollie is passionate about developing young talent, especially young female players. She developed the NG7 programme providing support for girls, which has been recognised by Judy Murray. She has also been involved in Judy’s drive to attract more females into tennis and has organised a number of events. She is currently Head of U14 Tennis at the MyTennis Academy in Nottingham and is also involved in LTA regional training for the Midlands. Hollie was invited to participate in a pilot project organised by the LTA and the University of Northumbria to develop academic qualifications in tennis. Through distance learning, Hollie achieved a first class honours degree in Tennis Management, finishing top of the class!

Francesca began her coaching journey at Swansea nine years ago whilst also studying for a degree and continuing to play competitive tennis, achieving a WTA ranking of 1204. Francesca coached Tennis First Grantee Mimi Xu from age 6 until her National Academy transition and continues to work with Tennis First Grantee, Oliver Page. She is currently Head Coach at Swansea Regional Player Development Centre and has experience of leading U14, 16 & 18 GB teams at European Events & Winter Cups. Francesca holds a first-class honours degree in Sports Science as well as an MSC in Sports Psychology, which has led to her having research published by the ITF and various journals. She has a passion for fundraising to help support aspiring juniors achieve their potential.

Joint Head Coach, Head of Performance & Lead on the 10U Programme at Billericay Lawn Tennis Club. Former WTA ranked player and LTA Level 4 qualified coach working with junior players from county to international level. Produced eight players ranked in the top 10 in Great Britain (9U-14U) since 2020, and the current individual coach of three Great Britain ju

Suzi was Director of Sport at Bolton Arena and has coached tennis players at every stage of the performance pathway, from 10U through to WTA Top 100 players. As Director of the Suzi Riley Sport Consultancy Company, Suzi has worked with the LTA, Tennis Australia and UK performance tennis academies. Suzi is an EMCC accredited mentor and a member of the Sport England Women in Coaching Task Force. Suzi is the coach of WTA player Amarni banks. Suzi grew up in Melbourne Australia, played NCAA Division 1 College Tennis at San Jose State University and is the mother of two boys starting their tennis journey.

Ken Weatherley is the Director of Tennis First. He is a former international tennis player and spent 23 years on the committee of The All England Club, where he was Chair of the Membership, Courts and Ground sub committees. He founded a sports goods company which introduced brands such as Donnay, Sergio Tacchini, Prince and Lotto to the UK; and he was a founding director of Invicta Leisure (later merged into Esporta) where as Development Director he helped add more than 70 indoor courts to the UK stock. A lifetime working in tennis continues as Director of Tennis First where he is intent on helping young players fulfil their potential.

Chris was a former British No.1 and represented Great Britain in Davis Cup and at the 1992 Olympic games in Barcelona. On the main ATP Tour Chris played some of his best tennis at Wimbledon where he reached the 3rd round in Singles on 4 occasions and made the quarter finals of Doubles. Chris had the privilege of playing on Centre and No.1 court on many Occasions. He will probably be best remembered for his Centre Court battle in 1993 against Stefan Edberg. Wimbledon continues to be a special place and regularly gets invited to compete in the Gentleman’s Senior Invitational event. Chris also became the British and World over 35’s Champion in 2005. Through his professional career Chris reached a high ranking of 114 in singles and 78 in doubles and had many noteable wins against Ivanisevic, Rafter, Philippoussis and Bjorkman. Chris currently works for the LTA as the U14 Boys national age group Captain and also works in the media commentating on the ATP & WTA Tour and Grand Slam events.