Wrexham Ready

Join Rose as she attends the 2026 Lexus Wrexham Open Launch event. She chats to many of the guests on the panel about their roles within the tournament including Adam Venton from Little Monster Media - the man behind the music for the podcast, and Jim Dorrington from It's all About You Hospitality who will be distributing all the food for the tournament in October.Rose also hears from the event's sponsors - Amanda from Lanyon Bowdler and Debbie from Ramada Plaza Hotel Wrexham.Listen in to hear from just a few of the people getting excited for the 2026 Lexus Wrexham Open!

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a tennis commentator? Well school children across Wrexham are invited to do just that!The Lexus Wrexham Open is supporting a brand new Commentary Competition for school children in years 5-8. They can work individually or in groups up to 3 to recreate the commentary for the last game in the Wrexham Open 2025 Final in which Mimi Xu was crowned champion. Listen to this episode where Rose will be chatting to Vicki Lees and Phil Lord, two school improvement officers, to find out more about this exciting opportunity.Rose is also joined by renowned tennis commentator Jonathan Overend who has commentated for some of the most historic tennis matches, including Andy Murray winning Wimbledon for the first time,. He gives a real insight into the world of tennis commentary. Stuart Dunn, commentator for Shrewsbury Town football club is the last guest on this episode and chats through his advice on commentary and shares his excitement for this project.This Podcast is brought to you by The City of Culture Team who are bidding for Wrexham to become the UK City of Culture in 2029. Let's shape a brighter future for Wrexham - back the bid, get involved and be Wrexham Ready! Find out more here

Join Rose for this month's episode as she chats to 5 Live Commentator Abigail Johnson about her experience at Melbourne Park last month. Abigail gives her detailed insight into the highlights of the first Grand Slam of the year, including her unexpected excitement over the 1 Point Slam. She also tells us what up and coming players to look out for over the coming months. Next Rose catches up with Ella and Sophie at Evolve my Media and they discuss the plans in action for promoting Wrexham 2026. It's an all year round project and they are already getting sponsors involved in exciting projects ahead of October. Lastly, Adam from 7 Video joins Rose to discuss the work behind the scenes of some of the video footage from Wrexham, including the launch video from last year, and the Champion's video which is often shot, edited and produced on the same day! There's already so much to be excited for and keep up to date with everything Wrexham here

Join Rose at Bolton Arena where the Lexus Junior International U14's, a Tennis Europe Event, is taking place. To start, she chats to Sandi Procter about her role on the Committee for Tennis Europe and why she loves coming to watch the future stars of the sport in action. Next we discover just how much tennis will take place within Wales over the next 12 months as Rose chats to Jamie Clewer and Mark Lewis, both from Tennis Wales.Jamie takes us through the participation within the sport across the country and the many goals they hope to achieve this year. While Mark chats competitions and looks ahead to a busy April with Tennis Europe coming back to Wrexham. We also hear a few Australian Open predictions which may or may not age well so be sure to listen in!

Listen in as Rose chats to a few players as they reflect on their 2025 season and look ahead to 2026. With Christmas just less than a week away we will also find out how tennis players spend Christmas. The players answer a set of quick fire Christmas questions so have a listen to discover what the Lexus Wrexham Champion 2025, Mimi Xu, bakes at Christmas!We also chat to Kirsty Sawyer, from Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre to hear what happens at the centre at Christmas and her new role as Operations Manager. Abigail Johnson, commentator for BBC Sport and The Tennis Channel, gives us an insight into her life as she prepares to fly to Australia and also reveals her favourite Christmas food, which may surprise you...Find out some incredible statistics from the week in Wrexham and how the tournament ranks among other W100s worldwide.Finally, we give you a little taste for what you can expect from the 2026 Lexus Wrexham Open which is happening 18th - 27th October 2026! Be sure to put it in your diaries!Thank you for all the support this year and Merry Christmas!

It's been a few weeks since the incredible Lexus Wrexham Open but we are still buzzing from it! Rose is joined by Tournament Director, Richard Joyner and Tournament Promoter, Dave Courteen as they recap their favourite moments and highlights from Wrexham 2025. They look ahead to changes and adaptations and chat through some new and exciting ideas for the 2026 Wrexham Open which has been confirmed for the 18th - 25th October.It's 338 days until the next tournament but don't worry, the Wrexham Ready Podcast will keep you entertained until then with monthly episodes, released every second Friday of the month. Keep up to date on everything happening hereLet us know your favourite moments from the Lexus Wrexham Open 2025!

The Lexus Wrexham Open 2025 ended with a Welsh Fairytale as Mimi Xu took home both the Single's and Double's titles. It was an incredible week displaying some of the top women's tennis and the finals were no different. Join Rose as she wraps up the week by chatting to Mimi and Ella after the Double's Final to hear their thoughts on the week and as they look ahead to next week in Glasgow. Beth Heath, from Shropshire Festivals, chats through the week's events and describes the success of the tournament and how the community of Wrexham have shown so much passion towards it.Lastly, commentator Alex Hyman delves deeper into both finals and analyses how Mimi was able to win the double at the Lexus Wrexham Open 2025.

The final day of the Lexus Wrexham Open is upon us and we have what many would describe as the perfect final - Mika Stojsavljovic vs Mimi Xu. The two teenagers will take to the stage at the Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre this afternoon and battle for the trophy. We spoke to both players to hear their thoughts following their semifinals and looking ahead to their final today.We also chat to commentator Alex Hyman to get his views ahead of today's match and to get some analysis from the two semifinals he commentated for. First, we chat to Rebecca from Meet Me in the Morning coffee horsebox as she joins the Lexus Wrexham Open team and keeps everyone caffeinated!

After a busy day at the Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre yesterday with five matches on the Show Court, the final four at the Lexus Wrexham Open have been decided and who would have thought at the start of the week that three British players would be playing in the semifinals!Mimi Xu was triumphant over the last remaining seeded player Harmony Tan and will take on fellow Brit Lily Miyazaki who won a fought hard from a set down to Jana Otzipka. The second semifinal is between the sixteen year old Mika Stojsavljevic and Elena Malygina which is set to be a match filled with power strikes and extended rallies. But before all this, listen to yesterday's recap with many guests involved at the Lexus Wrexham Event including an exciting visit from Jack Sargeant who is from Welsh Government and is the Minister for Culture, Skills, and Social Partnership.

The quarter finals have been decided following a packed day at the Lexus Wrexham Open with four British players making it through. They aren't playing each other meaning that we could have an all British semi final line up too!In the second round, Lily Miyazaki had a dominant win over the top seed Jessika Ponchet in straight sets, so we chatted to her later on in the podcast to hear how she is feeling this week. Mimi Xu came back from a 5-1 deficit in the first set and showed determination in the second to progress through to the final eight 7-5, 7-5. Over the day, Rose caught up with different people throughout the day including Kirsty, supervisor at the Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre and Katie O'Brien who is supporting all of the British players but particularly Mimi Xu and is so excited about how well she is playing this week.

The first round is now completed and we're down to the final sixteen competing for the Lexus Wrexham Open title. There are still five Brits left in the draw. Tuesday saw big comeback wins for Mimi Xu and Lily Miyazaki and Rose caught up with Elle McDonald after her straight sets victory against the in form Alicia Dudeney.Yesterday evening was The Tennis Podcast Live at the Grove Park Theatre so we spoke to Matt Roberts and David Law straight after they walked off the stage following a near sell out performance. We caught up with a volunteer too to hear a different perspective of the tournament and there's the usual analysis from the onsite commentary team working for BBC iPlayer and the Tennis Channel.

The main draw kicked off today with many Brits taking the stage at the Lexus Wrexham Open. But before all of the tennis started, Rose went along to the Business Leaders Breakfast at the Ramada Plaza Wrexham to hear some of the inspiring speeches. This included Oli Patrick, host of the Energy Equation Podcast - part of the High Performance Podcast Group - who gave an engaging speech about improving our wellbeing.A full packed day at the Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre followed so we chatted to commentator Alex Hyman to hear his thoughts on the first day of the main draw. Lastly, we spoke to Mimi Xu following her first round doubles match win and she showed her appreciation of playing in front of a home crowd.

Wrexham Ready now goes out daily as the Lexus Wrexham Open tournament is underway.Join Rose as we head to Net World Sports Sponsors and Players Party which was kindly sponsored by Ramada Plaza Wrexham and Lanyon Bowdler.We get the first reaction to the draw and chat to many of the different guests who attended, including Iain Bates, Baroness Amanda Sayter president of Tennis Wales, and Sandi Procter LTA President.

Join Rose for a different style podcast featuring a round table style conversation with BBC 5 Live commentator, Abigail Johnson, and tournament promoter, Dave Courteen.There is a reflection on previous versions of the Lexus Wrexham Open before we elicit Abigail's expert knowledge to discuss the British players who will be gracing the courts at the Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre. There is some analysis of the other stand out players on the acceptance list. There are some great stories as gracing the courts at Wrexham, in just nine days time, will be the player who ended Serena Williams career at Wimbledon, and an Italian who has beaten current world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, at the US open.Tune in to get really excited about the biggest Women’s tennis event in Wales! We really are Wrexham Ready!Last remaining tickets still available here

Episode ten and with just two weeks until the Lexus Wrexham Open starts we focus on why Finals Day will be arguably one of the best days of the week. Listen along to hear from key sponsor Steven Hesketh of Hotel Wrexham as he reminisces on how much he loved tennis growing up and thinks that the Lexus Wrexham Open will reignite that passion.  Beth Heath is the Director of Fun at Shropshire Festivals (who wouldn’t want that job title?!) leads the team who do all the incredible behind the scenes work at the Lexus Wrexham Open and are responsible for the sell-out VIP lunch on Finals Day. Stuart Thomas is the Managing Partner at Berry’s who sponsor the VIP lunch and he looks back on his favourite VIP lunch memories and why Berrys have continued to sponsor the event. Finally we delve behind the scenes to find out how the programme is put together as we talk to Paul Jones from WPG who print the programmes and have done for many years whilst photographer James Baylis talks about his job as a sports photographer, how he captures the story of the Lexus Wrexham Open and how he has taken on a new role to design the programme to take it up a notch and make it even more memorable.  Just 15 more sleeps until we start, so make sure you have got your tickets by clicking here 

The Wrexham Ready Podcast meets The Tennis Podcast! Host Rose Courteen chats to Catherine Whitaker and hears the story of the Tennis Podcast before Catherine and co - presenters David Law and Matt Roberts come to The Grove Park Theatre on Wednesday 22nd October during the Lexus Wrexham Open week.The Tennis Podcast tackles hot topics and discusses the big issues within the tennis world and so Rose and Catherine’s discuss some of the inequalities in tennis currently.They debate the scheduling at the French Open in the last few years; the big names in the men’s versus the women’s game; and more.Catherine also reveals how excited she and Billie Jean, the cavapoo, are to come to Wrexham. Make sure to grab the last few tickets here! 

Like all sports events, sponsors are a core part of ensuring the viability of bringing world class sport to the region. According to research from Sport England, events like the Lexus Wrexham Open will bring £400,000 of benefit to the local economy so there is a mutual benefit for both sponsors and the event. Host Rose Courteen went to the iconic offices of Moneypenny and sat in their treehouse interviewing a number of the thirty odd sponsors who are helping to bring the ITF World Tennis Tour to the city.First, Rose met Sarah Morris who works at Moneypenny, although unfortunately her desk is not in the treehouse! She talks about the community that is felt when being a part of the Moneypenny team and how excited she is that they are sponsoring the pop-up padel event at Eagle Meadows during the Lexus Wrexham Open week.Steve Pike from Lexus Chester chatting about the involvements at Lexus and Steve's previous career in tennis, while Mark Davies, partner at Aaron and Partners talks about why they are entering their 4th year of supporting the event how much he is looking forward to sponsoring the Business Networking Lunch with Baroness Tanni Grey Thompson and Joanna Rowsell. Lastly, we heard about Mark Briegal's passion for sport and his amazing places he has visited whilst watching sport. Mark's firm, Bennett Briegal LLP, sponsors the Double's Trophy at the Lexus Wrexham Open and he can't wait to see who lifts it this year.This is another fascinating insight on what goes on behind the scenes to put on a world class event in Wrexham and why we should be proud that Wrexham is one of just thirty cities worldwide to host a tennis event at this level.Click ⁠here⁠ to buy you tickets to the tennis and also to check out the other events on during the week!

As we head into the last five weeks before the Lexus Wrexham Open we decided that it would be great to chat to some of the players who will hopefully be gracing the courts at Wrexham in just over a months time. We chat to four different players including our defending champion Sonay Kartal just as she heads over to China to take part in the Billie Jean King Cup team and up and coming Welsh junior Mimi Xu. We also talk to Iain Bates, the head of British Women's tennis about the excitement in British Women's tennis with a huge number of players currently competing on the circuit and future prospects for the women's game. Lastly, we chat to Laurent from the tennis apparel and elegant jewellery company Tenez and find out the story behind what created such a unique and desirable brand. Tenez is a sponsor of the Lexus Wrexham Open and will have a stand at the event where you can see some of their products but also design something of your own to keep as a souvenir.Tickets are still available to purchase here

Tennis is a sport that is played competitively at elite level for almost 11 months of the year and requires high levels of conditioning. The work put in off court and in the gym is of paramount importance to professional tennis players and in this episode, we look into what that involves especially during a tournament week such as the Lexus Wrexham Open. We head to Total Fitness, Wrexham’s leading health club, which will act as the official player gym throughout the tournament week. We meet with the team at the Club to find out how they will be involved with the Lexus Wrexham Open and we talk to one of the leading British coaches about how important a good gym is for players who are competing at the highest level. We talk to Matrix who will be providing the warm up and cool down equipment, such a vital part of providing players with the best experience when they come to Wrexham. We also talk to Adrenaline Sporting Events, who are encouraging everyone to get active during Lexus Wrexham Open week and are organising a friendly, family 3K fun run on Sunday 19th October to launch the week. It is a great way to start the week and the tournament and you can sign up to join in here – it is for all ages and all those entering get free tickets to watch the tennis. Don't forget to check out the latest news and get your tickets from the tournament website ⁠here

Excitement is building at the Wrexham Tennis and Padel Centre, as we are just a few weeks away from hosting the ITF World Tennis Tour and the biggest tennis event to ever be hosted in North Wales.In this episode of Wrexham Ready, we meet the team on site and a Trustee of the centre to hear about how this event is perfectly timed coming just months after a major refurbishment programme.We will also learn about what happens behind the scenes to make sure that the infrastructure is in place to livestream the tennis around the globe with a TV crew and BBC commentators attending to tell the story of the event to a worldwide audience.Plus there is the chance to learn about the history of the event from someone who has written the stories for the local press over the last twelve years. Some of the former winners and players are now at the very top of the tennis world.The Lexus Wrexham open truly does promise to provide the foundation for tomorrow's Grand Slam champions to be built.Don't forget to check out the latest news and get your tickets from the tournament website here

Join your host, Rose Courteen, at the wonderful Humble and Whole coffee shop and bakery in Rossett, just outside Wrexham where she will be discovering all about volunteering.The Lexus Wrexham Open couldn't be staged without the support of an army of around 80 volunteers who work in a variety of roles including court stewarding, accreditation, and driving the player transport vehicles. Rose talks to Chris Hinks who has volunteered as Transport Manager for many years at this event looking after the players and getting them around town as well as running them to the airports. We'll find out why tennis volunteers from Cheshire are getting involved this year and Rose talks to Amanda Davies from the Wrecsam City of Culture Bid to learn why the Lexus Wrexham Open is such a key part of that project.This is a fascinating insight into what goes on behind the scenes at an ITF World Tour Tennis event and why a small, social enterprise coffee shop and bakery have committed to be a sponsor.So, get yourself a coffee and join in the conversation as we get Wrexham Ready!To get involved and buy tickets don't forget to head to our website at https://wrexhamopentennis.com/

The Lexus Wrexham Open is proud to be based in Wales and hopes to be part of the country's sporting culture. The Wrexham Ready Podcast team spent the day at the Eisteddfod Festival, soaking up the atmosphere and speaking to people about the event and their pride in being Welsh. To honour the culture and spirit of the Eisteddfod, part of this podcast is spoken in Welsh. To find out more about the Lexus Wrexham Open click here

The Lexus Wrexham Open is coming to the city in October and there are so many opportunities for young people to get involved. In this episode, we will explore how the event will need ball crew and what training will be involved. We talk to Wrexham University about their Sports Discovery Day, held in the tournament week, aimed at sixth form students to understand how they can build a career in sports. There are also conversations about apprenticeships and schools events that will happen while the Lexus Wrexham Open is in the city.Find out more about the event and book your tickets here

In this first episode, Wrexham Ready host, Rose Courteen, meets the Lexus Wrexham Open Tournament Director, Richard Joyner, and Chief of Officials, Phil Evans, to learn all about what the ITF World Tennis Tour will bring to Wrexham. Recorded just after they had both finished working at Wimbledon, Rose also investigates what it is like to work behind the scenes at one of the world's greatest tennis tournaments.There is also time to chat to Simon Johnson, CEO of Tennis Wales, about what this event means to the Welsh sporting community.This is the perfect start to our Wrexham Ready podcast and a great way to ensure you are up to date with the biggest indoor womens tennis event in the UK, which will be happening in Wrexham in October 2025.Find out more and book your tickets here

The Wrexham Ready Podcast is the official podcast of the Lexus Wrexham Open. The tennis event, taking place from October 19th- October 26th 2025 is the biggest indoor women's tennis event in the UK and is coming to Wrexham for the first time. This trailer will give you an insight into what you can expect to hear from the rest of the series in the build up to the tournament week.So follow along to keep up to date with the biggest and most exciting tennis event in North Wales!