THE TENNIS WORLD UNITES @RALLY FOR BALLY , #RALLY4BALLY , ELENA BALTACHA SPIRIT LIVES ON , THE MURRAY CLAN IN FULL FORCE

Written by: Staff on 15th June 2014

THE TENNIS WORLD UNITES @RALLY FOR BALLY , #RALLY4BALLY , ELENA BALTACHA SPIRIT LIVES ON , THE MURRAY CLAN IN FULL FORCE |

Tennis World Unites at Rally for Bally

The international tennis family joined together today for Rally for Bally to celebrate the life of Elena Baltacha, one of Britain’s most successful ever female players.

Baltacha, who was known as Bally, passed away on 4th May after battling liver cancer. Rally for Bally is the national fundraising effort which has been established in her memory and today saw three star-studded mixed doubles exhibition matches take place at The Queen’s Club in London, at the Edgbaston Priory Club in Birmingham and at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne.

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray, multi Grand Slam champions Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis and Victoria Azarenka, and former British numbers ones Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Anne Keothavong along with Heather Watson amongst others, all joined forces to raise money for the Elena Baltacha Foundation, the charity attached to Baltacha’s tennis academy, as well as the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity. To date, over £55,000 in public donations has already been raised.

Players involved in the Rally For Bally across all three venues were:

The Queen’s Club, London:

· Andy Murray

· Ross Hutchins

· Martina Hingis

· Jamie Murray

· Victoria Azarenka

· Heather Watson

· Laura Robson

Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham:

· Martina Navratilova

· Tim Henman

· James Ward

· Anne Keothavong

Devonshire Park, Eastbourne:

· Petra Kvitova

· Agnieszka Radwanksa

· Greg Rusedski

· Colin Fleming

The exhibition matches at The Queen’s Club and in Birmingham ran alongside the finals of the Aegon Championships and the Aegon Classic, with both final days being sell-outs. In Eastbourne, the exhibition match took place alongside the final round of qualifying for the Aegon International with over 3,500 people in attendance.

Players from the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis (EBAT) attended the events as special guests and walked on court with players as mascots. EBAT is the Ipswich-based academy which Bally and her husband Nino started from scratch to give children from disadvantaged backgrounds the chance to learn tennis. The Elena Baltacha Foundation, the charity which is attached to the Academy, currently supports more than 70 children, ranging from 5 to 13-years-old, and many of the players who have been coached at the Academy have gone from having no tennis skills at all, to competing at, and winning tournaments in their age groups at county level.

Quotes

Andy Murray:

“Unfortunately I think we (Team Andy) lost it at the end but it was good fun. The kids from the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis were great and I hope they enjoyed it. I’m sure we’ll be seeing lots more of them in the future.”

Jamie Murray:

“I hope everyone enjoyed watching today and I hope we’ve gone some way to showing how much Bally meant to us and how much she was appreciated for everything she did for her family and for tennis in general.”

Heather Watson:

“I practised three hours this morning to get ready for the match today as I knew how important it was. Thank you to everyone who came out to watch. It was so much fun playing. We were all here today for Bally and I hope we’ve done her proud and raised a lot of money for the fight against cancer and the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis.”

Laura Robson:

“It was really, really fun and it was for such a great cause. I’m just so glad that all these girls could be here today (from EBAT) and they were able to be a part of it.”

Judy Murray:

“It’s a very special day. Having one event at three venues in her honour is a big thing. The calibre and number of players who’ve come to support it is quite remarkable and I think that’s just a sign of how highly she was regarded across the tennis world. Everybody remembers her spirit, maybe not everybody knew her quite so well as a person, how humble and kind and generous and funny she was. But as a competitor everybody respected her incredible fighting spirit.”

Anne Keothavong:

“We grew up together, we trained together as teenagers, we went on tours together. There were times when our friendship wasn’t always perfect but one of the special moments we both shared together was representing Britain in the Olympics. We got to play doubles together there and it was incredibly special to us to be part of that in London. It’s one of many things I’ll never forget.”

Martina Navratilova:

“This match is a bittersweet experience. We love this sport so much, which is why we came together, but life really stinks sometimes. It’s not fair. It stinks that this is why we’re getting together to play but the legacy will live on and that’s the main thing. There’ll be plenty of kids that will benefit from this much premature death of Elena. But amazing that Elena did this academy while she was

still playing, that really is an amazing effort, and we’ll keep it going.”

Greg Rusedski:

“It was a shock to everybody when Bally announced publicly that she had liver cancer. It was very very fast. It was just very sad as she had the rest of her life to enjoy, and to start a family and do whatever she wanted to do with her life. It just shows we have to live each day and not take life for granted.”

Colin Fleming:

“It was a pleasure to come out and play and to share a court with Greg, and two girls – phenomenal players in Radwanska and Kvitova. I was proud to be a part of it. Bally touched so many people, I know she had a great following whenever she played here.”

Victoria Azarenka:

“Elena was one of us. I will always remember our matches, what a fighter she was and how much she loved tennis. We will always miss her. The whole of the tennis world is together in the Rally For Bally, to try to raise as much money as possible for the Academy that she was so passionate about, and to fund the on-going fight against cancer.”

A Rally For Bally JustGiving page has been set up, and donations can be made quickly and easily here: www.justgiving.com/RallyForBally. Or, text “EBAL60 £10″ to 70070, to make, for example, a £10 donation via your mobile phone. We would be very grateful if you are able to tweet the link above, using the hashtag #Rally4Bally.

Thank you to everybody who has supported Rally for Bally and donated to this incredible cause.

For more information go to www.LTA.org.uk.

About The Royal Marsden

The Royal Marsden is a world-leading cancer centre specialising in diagnosis, treatment, care, education and research. The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity raises money to help The Royal Marsden provide world-class care for cancer patients, to support the hospital’s pioneering work in cancer research. The charity enables the hospital to continue its groundbreaking work for the benefit of cancer patients worldwide.

About the Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis

The Elena Baltacha Academy of Tennis is a charity set up in 2012 by Elena Baltacha and her husband Nino Severino to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds and deprived areas to learn to play tennis. The charity funds free and subsidised coaching and also supports free tennis taster sessions in schools in all sections of the community. The charity is based in Ipswich, UK.

Topics: Andy Murray, Elena Baltacha, Heather Watson, Jamie Murray, Judy Murray, Laura Robson, Martina Hingis, Martina Navratilova, Queen's Club, Rally For Bally, Tennis, Tennis News, Victoria Azarenka

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June 15, 2014 at 6:15 pm

THE TENNIS WORLD UNITES @RALLY FOR BALLY , #RALLY4BALLY , ELENA BALTACHA SPIRIT LIVES ON…- http://t.co/FhH1COBNX1 #Rally4Bally #tennis