Shropshire tennis player Rob Rue enjoys captaining Wales for the first time

Shropshire tennis player Rob Rue enjoyed the “terrific honour” of captaining Wales for the first time at a prestigious international competition.

Rob, who lives in Shrewsbury, captained the Wales over-70s men's team in the LTA Four Nations Senior Championships at Bolton Arena, competing against England, Ireland and Scotland.

The doubles event, organised for over-70s and over-75s teams, proved a huge success, with Rob, a proud Welshman, greatly enjoying the experience.

Originally from Neath in South Wales, Rob has lived in Shrewsbury for 32 years and was first called up to represent Wales when he was selected to play for his country's over-65s team in 2020.

Reflecting on being chosen to play for Wales again, Rob said: “As this was the first time they have had men's and ladies playing mixed doubles together, and there were two age groups, 70s and 75s, each team had a men's captain and a ladies captain, so there were actually four captains.

“But they asked me to also act as the overall organiser, so I arranged practices beforehand and sorted out where we were going to eat in the evenings.

“It was a terrific honour to be captain of your country. It was just brilliant and I loved it.”

Rob helped Wales finish second in the over-70s category, playing in all three mixed doubles fixtures against England, who were the eventual winners, Ireland and Scotland.

Rob added: “Wales is the smallest nation with the smallest pool of players to choose from. "Our 70s team, which I was involved with, finished second in the group to England.

“We lost the match to England 2-1, but we beat both Scotland and Ireland 2-1.

“I played the mixed doubles against all three nations, which was always the final match, the deciding rubber.

“Now that the LTA has introduced this competition for 70s and 75s, I hope it's going to become an annual event.

"That's certainly the objective - we would really love this to happen every year.”

Rob is a member of The Shrewsbury Club, which was recently acquired by David Lloyd Clubs, and plays tennis at the Sundorne Road venue three times a week.

He has represented Shropshire's county teams at a number of different age groups and has also enjoyed notable success playing in a number of International Tennis Federation tournaments.

Pictured: Shropshire tennis player Rob Rue with his Wales international colleagues Kim Vaughan, Val Alder and Ann Brown at the Bolton Arena. Rob won the deciding mixed doubles match against Scotland with Kim, and the deciding mixed doubles match against Ireland with Ann. Val and Ann won all three of their ladies doubles matches.