Triangular tennis challenge for juniors launched in Dubai

This unique junior tennis event for budding stars aged 14 and under will bring together the tennis communities of London and Dubai as well as New York, with the American city also being added as a new host of the tournament this year.

The Dubai tournament will be held during September and October with the latter stages and finals being held at the Aviation Club on 24-25th October 2008.

The winners of the Dubai event (one boy and one girl) will be flown to London courtesy of Virgin Atlantic and will participate in grand finals against the London and New York winners. The international event will be hosted by the UK's governing body of tennis, the LTA, on 6th December 2009.

Each year the winners of the London tournament have won a fantastic prize of a trip courtesy of Dubai Duty Free to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships where they take part in the ball kid programme and attend coaching clinics with top coaches - a trip they will be making once again in February 2009. In Dubai they join the 150 locally-based children who are trained as ball kids every year.

'Will to Win is a great initiative that enables youngsters to compete in tennis tournaments and provides them with opportunities to travel. As owners and organisers of a major tournament, the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, we are happy to be involved with this project which promotes tennis at grassroots level,'

said Colm McLoughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free.

'Tennis is a great game played all over the world. We want to develop a community-themed tournament to be a worldwide experience for parks and public centre players,' said Steve Riley, Director of Will to Win.

'We plan to expand to more major venues for 2009 and will develop tennis opportunities for a wider cross section of the population than ever before. It is a fantastic opportunity for younger players from different countries to be brought together via sport,' he added.

This is the fourth year that the Dubai Duty Free Will to Win Grand Prix has been held at five public centres in London with the events attracting 200 participants.

The tournament is aimed at youngsters who play at schools, parks and public centres. It provides an opportunity for young people from all backgrounds to participate in an exciting and competitive tennis event which is fully supported by the International Tennis Federation.