Hit Me Up

Tina Bianchi and Sandy Lutersz share why they have embraced pickleball as their favourite sport, explain how you can play pickleball with little prior experience, seeing smiles on young and old alike from the moment they pick up a pickleball paddle, their own personal successes on the pickleball court, and following their dreams of setting up their own pickleball centre. The post Pickleball v Tennis appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Kate Robinson shares with us her favourite tennis fashions of the recent past, Serena Williams iconic outfits, and casts her discerning eye over the hits and misses in the players’s kits at the 2025 Australian Open. The post Kate Robinson, artist and tennis fan talks tennis fashion appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Soupy JOY presenter delights us with a variety of racquet and tennis themed sports that you never knew existed. Anyone for racquetlon? The post Soupy brings us racquet sports you didn’t know you needed to know about appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos speaks with writer and director Annette Baumeister, about her documentary Playing to Survive: Hitler vs von Cramm about the true story of Baron Gottfried von Cramm, a gay German tennis champion of the 1930s and 1940s. Annette’s film provides a detailed and enthralling account using a combination of archive footage, narration by Pierce Brosnan, animation, and interviews with tennis legends including Stefan Edberg and Billie Jean King. The documentary reveals how von Cramm refused to join the Nazis, was imprisoned for being gay, was rejected by the tennis establishment including being banned from Wimbledon and the US Open, and yet supported by his rivals on the tennis tour. The post Playing to Survive: Hitler vs Von Cramm – the incredible true story of a German tennis champion appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Rowen D’Souza is the President of the GLTA, and a global LGBT sanctioning body for tennis tournaments for the LGBT community. The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) recently reviewed its policy about trans inclusion in British tennis. Rowen and host Demetra reflect of what are the wider implications for this decision, how does it compare to Tennis Australia’s policy and what other options are possible beyond the binary structure of sport. The post Rowen D’Souza President of the GLTA explains the Lawn Tennis Associations review of trans inclusion in British tennis appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Lowana Williams joins host Demetra Giannakopoulos to discuss whether women should play 5-set matches in Grand Slams. This question is often raised to be critical of equal pay between men and women at Grand Slams where women play best of 3-sets and men play best of 5-sets. You will be surprised what wider issues of discrimination this simple question actually reflects about women’s sports. The post Should women play best of 5-set matches in Grand Slams; another perspective appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos speaks with TJ, the President of Hobart Hotties, and Brendon Oliver-Ewen, about creating a safe and welcoming space for LGBTIQ tennis players in Tasmania, Australia. They talk about how both experienced and beginner tennis players show the love of the game and TJ and Bredon tell us what they learn from playing tennis that helps them deal with life. The post Hobart Out Tennis Club aka Hobart Hotties and their special space for tennis and inclusion appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Soupy, JOY presenter, challenges Demetra on her tennis trivia knowledge. The post Did you know THIS about tennis? appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Dr Catriona Nguyen-Robertson from Science Queeries explains the science of tennis racquets, ball flight and how this knowledge will improve your tennis.   The post The science of tennis appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Dr Sally Ride was the first American woman astronaut. But did you know that her initial career path was to be a professional tennis player? Dr Cartriona Nguyen-Robertson from JOY show Science Queeries tells us about this remarkable woman and her legacy. And yep, she was a science “queerie” too. The post Dr Sally Ride: From aspiring professional tennis player to astronaut appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Demetra speaks with Caroline Maes, a journalist, and tennis fan about meeting the French LGBT community, her involvement with the 2018 Paris Gay Games, and why Rafael Nadal is her favourite player. The post Caroline Maes, journalist, shares with us the French LGBT tennis scene appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos interviews Rowen D’Souza, CEO and President of GLTA, which is the international LGBTIQA+ tennis organisation.  Rowen is also the Founder of the Glam Slam, a tennis tournament celebrating the LGBTIQ community at the Australian Open. Rowen explains why the GLTA is important for queer participation in tennis and how it continues to make it inclusive for women and all genders in our community. TRANSCRIPT Uptempo dance song under a voiceover: Anyone for tennis? You’re with Demetra Giannakopoulos on Hit Me Up on JOY 94.9. Host Demetra Giannakopoulos (DG): Our special guest today is Rowen D’Souza, who is the CEO and president of the GLTA, which is a worldwide LGBTIQA+ tennis organization. And Rowen is also the founder of the Glam Slam, which is played at the Australian Open each year. Rowen, welcome to Hit Me Up. Guest Rowen D’Souza (RD): Oh, it’s great to be here. Thank you for hitting me up. DG: (laughter) Any time. Now Rowen tell us about the GLTA. What do they do? Who are they? RD: So the GLTA is a worldwide organization made up of nearly 100 LGBTQIA+ run tennis clubs around the world. And our function and our rationale is to organize events for LGBTIQA+ community around the world to play tennis. So it’s a very simple thing that brings people together using the glue of tennis, but creates social networks and people get to make friends, and people get to experience the joy of a sport in an environment that is tailored to our community. So the rainbow community plays sport just like everyone else, and it’s really nice that we give them that opportunity to do so. Whether it be in countries where it’s very much legal and very much accepted, or even countries where it’s maybe a little bit hidden still, or it’s new or it’s different. The GLTA aims to bring people together through tennis. DG: Tennis or sport is a competitive endeavor and I like to compete, but also the thing I love and I’m, I’m, I’m talking about tennis because that’s my sport. But I’m sure it’s the same for every other sport that the community of the sport whether you’re in a club or you turn up in a tournament. How does that fit in with the GLTA? And is that something that is part and parcel of the GLTA, or do you have to, you know, constantly have a conversation about that with people who turn up for the tournament? RD: The clubs actually form the voting members of the GLTA. So there are like a there are foundation and what it what was there were actually clubs, LGBTI people playing tennis and they organize themselves into clubs and then they’ve organized themselves further. The beautiful thing about GLTA events is no matter where you go in the world with one of the events that we sanction, there’s going to be a level of consistency. We have a, we have a ranking system. We have a set of rules and bylaws. We have a set of norms that we have. So, you know, Iif you travel to America, if you travel to Japan, having a new tournament in Japan in March, if you travel to Majorca, if you travel to Oslo, if you travel to these places, you as an LGBTI person, if you are by yourself, you can actually know you’re going to find community because you have that foundation of the tournament. So the tennis is the thing that grounds us and the clubs have started, you know, organizing these amazing events around the world. And then other, you know, smaller groups organize that as well. But I think it’s something that it’s it’s about connecting us all up. It’s creating a network that we can find a safe space wherever we go. DG: How does it work? Is it like search a website to find like when tournaments are on? RD: So I website, the GLTA.net has a list of all our tournaments, plus all the information about new events, existing events. You know it’s a it’s a it’s a website where we promote, the efforts of clubs around the world. Plus we have the tournament software where you can enter the the tournament itself. And it’s a great way. And I know people watch this website very closely because anytime there’s a change, you know, we get messages and all this is exciting. [Okay.] Tell me more about this. So I know that there is a real hunger for, opportunities out there in our community. When we look at the Glam Slam, which we just opened a couple of weeks ago, we had over 200 players in the first two minutes entering our event. We have more women than ever who have entered on the day of entry, and most of our events were full in 90 seconds. So what this says to me is that our community is really keen not just to go to pride with flags  you know, those celebrations are but also participate and also compete in tennis. So, you know, it’s giving us this added element for engagement for our community, which is amazing, which is the thing that inspires me the most. DG: Something that, you know, I really want to explore with, Hit Me Up is the community of tennis around the world, in the LGBTIQA+ community. And it’s like, you know, it’s communities within communities, isn’t it? And does the GLTA, interact with country bodies that, you know, I mean, beyond just the LGBTIQA community and what are those interactions like? RD: Well, one of the main things that the GLTA really needs to do as an overall organization is to actually engage with the community on a wider scale. So our clubs don’t necessarily do that, particularly in countries where it’s still illegal, where, you know, there are countries where, it’s jailable and worse to be a part of our community. But the GLTA overall is about engaging with the community because, I mean, were you there last year, you and I watched that. We at the event where we watched the wheelchair tennis? [YES] Was that you? That’s you know, that’s a great example about how diversity changes tennis. DG: But the Australian Open is, you know, it’s so wonderful. It has, wheelchair tennis. And I think blind tennis as well, which is, super. RD: So I’m going to use this example. People in wheelchairs were very much excluded from society for a whole range of reasons. Then when we came out to play tennis, people were playing tennis. And the game is developed to such a level that now when we watch, we think, this is amazing. I didn’t realize that the people in wheelchairs could play tennis. Now, when you watch the wheelchair game, it’s a modified version of tennis, but it’s awesome. Absolutely awesome. So it gives you a different view of this community. And that’s the same thing with that community as well. A lot of people have a very fixed view of our community. But then, you know, when they see us play tennis, when they see us, engage in all sorts of elements of life.   It’s another way in which we grow our community. We foster what our community should be. We don’t need more division. We don’t need more people in little pockets and hiding away what we need is we need everyone to interact with each other and celebrate each other. And that’s what we’re trying to do, with tennis and certainly the national bodies. Tennis Australia is a little bit ahead of the other bodies. Not because, I think it’s just because – the will is there and we get access at the Australian Open like it’s the only event, in the world where you play a tournament at a, at a Grand Slam and, you know, we get courts at a Grand Slam. So, you know, there are allocated courts for us and our community and they’re not easy to get. So the international organizations, we have to engage with them. And the ones who, see our value will be including us because that’s part of community. We are part of community. You can you can’t deny that. DG: Now let’s talk about, inclusive of all genders, because tennis is very gendered sport. But I say that with a qualification that we have had mixed doubles since the beginning of tennis, which has always been an opportunity of all of us playing together, literally. Yeah. RD: Yeah, absolutely. DG: How does the GLTA or your experience of the tournament set form part of the GLTA tour embrace gender diversity in the events and how is that dealt with? RD: Well, one thing, before I answer that with tennis, I always remind people yes to mixed doubles. Absolutely. Also, women actually having, playing, tennis is it goes back a long, long way as well, like AFL(W) only started a few years ago. Also, we do have experience with, trans inclusion at tennis. So there was a player in the 70s who was, and I’m using this example as an inclusive example. There was a player called Renee Richards who, you know, went to the courts and was allowed to play as a trans woman in at the US open. And played a number of times, in fact tennis, has had this experience tennis is it’s one of those sports with excellent examples of inclusion and it’s actually fantastic what we do. Sport is very gendered because that’s how it was set up. Organizations such as the GLTA pushing to make it less gendered or to find better nuances and to find better ways of actually, involving people who can play, who are, gender diverse. So in the GLTA, of course, we started off with men’s and women’s divisions as well. And the women’s divisions are always, have always unfortunately been smaller because participation of women does lag behind the participation of men. So what we decided to do, in the last couple of years, is actually change the name of our men’s division. We get rid of the men’s divisions and what we’ve called that is all gender. So no matter what gender you are, you can play in these divisions. So everyone can play in the division. Now because women are underrepresented in sport. We felt it was very important that we that we have a space for women to play, and we we create an environment where women, still have their space. So women’s divisions, we still have. So at the Glam Slam what you’ll see is an all gender event. And that’s for everyone that singles doubles. And we have grades open today. And then you’ll also see the women’s events as well. And this is, this is a way in which

Conrad, Gina and Alaisdair of Out Takes, Joy Radio’s own LGBTIQA+ film and tv review show, share their favourite tennis films. The post Tennis and culture: Out Takes share their favourite tennis films appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos speaks with Karolina Czyż from Poland who is on a mission to encourage Polish lesbians to play more tennis and enter tournaments in Poland and through Europe and how through tennis you can meet the love of your life. Gaybledon Championship Tour “morewomen@GLTAtournaments”   FULL TRANSCRIPT: Host: Demetra Giannakopoulos (DG):   We have a very special guest on Hit Me Up! We have an international guest and her name is Karolina Czyż and Karolina is from Poland. Absolutely loves her tennis. Karolina welcome to Hit me Up on Joy 94.9. Guest:   Karolina Czyż (KC): Hello. Hello, everybody. Thank you for inviting me. Yeah, my name is Karolina Czyż and I live in Warsaw, the capital of Poland. I was born here in 1977. I was attending, tennis academy, as a kid being eight and 13 years old, and then stopped playing and returned to tennis in 2021. So having 44 years. So I had, around 30 years of break, and I was studying psychology. But I work, for a corporation in financial reporting. DG:   Why we’re talking to you is because you are really getting involved in encouraging people to take part in the GLTA tour. So, what tournaments have you played in the GLTA tour? KC:   I played already, ten GLTA tournaments. My first one, was in Poland in June 2023. It was in Poznan Summer vibes. That’s the name of the tournament. AND last one, was in August this year in Zurich in Switzerland. And on my first, tournament in Poznan, I played together with guys because there were not enough woman to create a separate woman draws. And I came there with my rainbow tennis friends from my hometown Warsaw. And she took her wife and a dog, and I took my girlfriend, and we all came very curious to check how is it to play on the biggest rainbow tour in the world with all these guys from abroad? Is it all worth so much money to pay? And turns out the atmosphere was great. Guys were very welcoming. It was super funny. And finally, I could feel it’s my kind of space where I can fully relax and meet others from my favourite rainbow and tennis bubbles. And it was really worth every dollar spent there. I admit, that before, I never paid so much for any tennis tournament. As usually I played only on our tournaments in my hometown, which, costs, like, 1 or 2 [word]. So that was, something a big leap for me. It was really great. DG:   Tell us which tournaments you’ve play because you’ve played quite a lot of tournaments. KC:   Yeah. So all of them were, were in Europe because of the costs. And I’ve chosen the ones, where I could play in separate woman draws. Okay. Because we have tournaments, like, almost every weekend, I think. But, not all of them offer separate draws for woman. Last year, in 2023, when I started with GLTA, there were three tournaments, two of them in Poland, because I decided I would play in every tournament in Poland. That was Poznan Summer Vibes and in Katowice. DG:   That’s a great name for a tournament, summer vibes. So in Australia we’re just coming into summer and we’re starting to feel the summer vibes. KC:   Yeah. And I can tell you that guys, created even a song. Summer Vibes. So we, had, our own, anthem for, for this particular tournament because of artificial intelligence. Now you can just ask it to create a song, you know, from over give, tennis, LGBT, summer vibes and so on. So we had this song playing all the time during the tournament. It was really nice. Guys are very creative.   DG:   Oh, that is fantastic, I love it.   KC:   And, first tournament, last, last year was in Bern in Switzerland. That was my first tournament abroad. That was Euro games. So European Championships. And this year I decided that I will take part in as many as possible. I will set seven tournaments. So first I started with the biggest lesbian tournament in Netherlands, in Amstelveen, Dutch lesbian open. Yeah. Then the second one only for, lesbians it was in Spain on Gran Canaria. Woman. Sunshine Open Gran Canaria. Later I visited Amsterdam in Netherlands on the oldest, LGBT tournament in Europe, Pinkster. Later I came again to Poznan Summer Vibes. Then I went to Eurogames in Vienna, Austria. Later to London. In the UK to play on the grass. My first, no, my second time playing on grass, because in Poland it’s not popular. Yeah. Yeah. Playing on grass on Wimbledon related courts. It was something very special. DG:   Oh, how amazing was that? The practise courts for Wimbledon? KC:   Yeah, I and I think some, matches, normal matches also were played over there. DG:   How incredible . How did you find playing on grass? Because in Poland. Is it is it clay in Poland? KC:   Yeah. Mostly we use clay. We have like maybe two venues in Poland. We have grass. It’s very rare. Yes. Very expensive. And I think playing on grass is really special. I like it, it’s so. Quiet. Soft. DG:   Compared to, compared to clay. It’s very quick. KC:   Yeah, it’s also. Quick but I like it. It. Well yeah. If I could choose I would play on grass most time. DG:   That’s amazing because Iga Światek of course Polish champion, amazing player, hates grass. KC:   Yeah, exactly. Yeah. But hopefully someday she will gain something. DG:   Let’s see. Yeah. KC:   So after, grass in London, my last was in Zurich on clay. DG:   Wonderful. And, so I’m in the GLTA is the Rainbow Tour, world tour. How did you find out about it? KC:   Maybe I give you a longer story here. Interesting for everybody. When I restarted playing tennis after my very long break, I signed up to play, matches in the biggest amateur tennis league in Warsaw. And then I decided to wear, rainbow sweatbands on my head, on my, hands and head, because I wanted to normalize the fact that LGBT people are, all around. And I wanted to let, my opponents or double partners know that they play with a lesbian. Because I believed in the power of social campaigns. And we had such campaign, run by our LGBT organization here in Poland under the name. “Let them see us.” DG:   Wow. That’s powerful. KC:   Yeah. There were posters all around, the town with, queer persons holding hands. So all the passers by, can see that we exist, and we look like normal people. DG:   (laughter) And what? We’re normal? We’re actually normal? KC:   And not some monster or clowns. Yeah.   So I wanted to do the same on the tennis courts and, in, 2022, I met, a pair of girls, on the court who started chatting with me about this rainbow sweatbands and they told me that they have a friend who is traveling around Europe, and he’s playing on GLTA tournaments. That’s the first time I heard about GLTA. And I asked, them, to meet him so he can tell me everything about it. And, talking with him, I learned that, unfortunately, are very, little women, not too many women playing, and that costs are very high comparing to the average Polish salary. So when I decided that, okay, I will just focus on finding other woman rainbow players here in Poland, and I will try to gather them and organize rainbow tournaments here. And I kind of forgot about all this GLTA and I set up a Facebook page for Polish Rainbow Players and started advertising, our group within our Polish tennis community and, very soon, one club suddenly offered to host Rainbow Tournament in Warsaw. And to be honest, it was the first time ever that it was propositioned to have open, public, LGBT tournaments. DG:   Amazing. That’s amazing. Karolina. That’s incredible KC:   because we had before such tournaments, but they were like, hidden. You know, we were telling just friends to friends. No. Public advertisement, it’s rainbow or LGBT. So guys were hiding, for their own safety, right? DG:   So, yeah, I mean, this has been the situation in Australia as well in the past, for sure. KC:   Yeah, exactly. So, yeah, I think we all can understand. Yeah. Why and how it is. So I was super excited that suddenly one club is happy to give space, for openly LGBT tournaments and is not afraid of any repercussions. And we started to organize it. And in the meantime, some other, colleague who also was playing on GLTA tour, he posted on, my group an article from GLTA website about first tournament for lesbians taking place in Amstelveen, the Dutch Lesbian Open. Yeah. And of course, I immediately, read the article, and I, stirred and, and the photo in this article, there was a bunch of lesbians. And later I learned it was from Zurich Rainbow Open, from the previous year. And I stared and I immediately knew, I want to join them as soon as possible. There were so many of them, and I could relate so well, but I was just too shy to to go on my own, knowing nobody. And I calculated all costs involved in going there. And unfortunately, it was very expensive comparing to the costs of playing in any normal tennis tournament in Warsaw. Because normally we pay just around $25 and we have the whole day of playing with other girls and going to Amsterdam. Mean paying, around $1,000, because all the flight tickets, accommodation, tournaments, players party, local transport, food, drinks, etcetera. So, I didn’t find anybody willing to go there, with me, but I promised to myself that I will go there and next time, I just need to start, slowly. And first, I will play some GLTA tournaments in Poland. So I get to know, people and everything how it’s going before I invest more in some big trip abroad just to play some, some hours of tennis. Right. DG:   That’s fair enough. And, I’m glad that you’re raising the cost of attending tournaments, especially if they’re, overseas or for Australia, I mean, interstate, it’s kind of the same thing in a way that it is a very expensive to travel by, by plane, interstate and accommodation, etc. all the things that you said. I think that’s an important thing to raise. I’m not sure we’re going to get into social political issues here now, Karolina or I’m sorry about this.   Yeah, I think I think we’ll in Australia for sure. And I think worldwide women are not paid as much as men. I don’t think t

Joel King-Mayne shares the goss about who are the loved-up couples of tennis. The post Tennis and culture – The Couples of Tennis appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos talks with Luke from Checkpoint about tennis video games, the difference with e-sports and remembering Wii Tennis. The post Tennis and culture – Tennis video games with Luke from Checkpoint appeared first on Hit Me Up.

Host Demetra Giannakopoulos talks with Ian Pearson-Brown founder of Pride In Tennis, an organisation dedicated to LGBTQ+ inclusion in British Tennis. Ian who is a tennis coach and played tennis from when he was a child, speaks about starting the inclusion road via football (soccer) and how he has come full circle from joining in homophobic chants as a younger man, to standing on a tennis court with top ten players and talking to packed crowds about the importance of inclusion of LGBTQ+ community in tennis. Socials: @prideintennis FULL TRANSCRIPT General: (Over fast paced dance music with a strong beat) Anyone for tennis? You’re listening to Hit Me Up with Demetra Giannakopoulos on Joy 94.9. Host Demetra Giannakopoulos (DG): Our guest today is Ian Pearson-Brown, who is the founder and currently the Clubs and Venues Network officer for Pride in Tennis, which promotes LGBTQ plus participation in British tennis and is the 2024 winner of the LTA President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement and Innovation in Diversity and Inclusion. Ian, welcome to Hit Me Up. IPB: Good morning. DG: Now you’re good morning because you’re calling from London. Is that correct? IPB: Close enough. I’m from Newcastle which is in the north of the UK. So yes, I’m aware it’s evening for you at the moment over there isn’t it? DG: It is indeed. Please tell us about Pride in Tennis. IPB: So, I’ve worked, in tennis as a tennis coach for, my most of my adult life. I was, a very sport smart kid. Loves my football with my tennis, and I was I realized when I was 13 that I was gay. I had huge issues with that. I found it very difficult to get into my head that I didn’t believe you could play sport and be gay, for a multitude of reasons. Partly the lack of role models, partly the internal barriers inside my head because I felt I had to choose between the two. I developed a lot of mental health problems, including, depression, anxiety. It led on to some attempts to take my own life, and it also linked to the fact that I couldn’t accept that I was gay because I was heavily into sport. So if I had to choose between the two, I chose sport. I threw myself into a career as a tennis coach. I was, 30 when I finally came out in the sports space. When I did come out, all of the things that I thought might go wrong, I thought parents might take the kids away from my coaching sessions. I thought my teammates might stop talking to me. None of those things happened of course. And then I realized that tennis is not a homophobic sport. However, we never seem to talk about this subject. We never seem to talk about the lack of representation in, tennis, but particularly in men’s tennis, for LGBTQ plus people. I wanted to do something, as a volunteer to be able to change the narrative, namely to make sure that no young LGBT person would go through the experiences that I went through as a young queer athlete. So I approached the LTA about ten years ago, and I’m going to be kind to them and say they were not ready for the conversation (laughter). So I did a bit of voluntary work in football instead, in soccer. I’m a dedicated Newcastle United fan and helped to found the LGBT fans group United with Pride. And I became a United as One ambassador for the club, and still work as a diversity and inclusion consultant for the club, which of course, is a major Premier League club. And I learned a lot about, LGBTQ plus inclusion in sport. And I took that experience back to tennis at a time more recently, when the LTA were ready for that conversation, and we launched together Pride in Tennis out of the LTA National Tennis Centre in February 2022. I’ve been doing a lot of prep work for it. From there it just exploded. So tennis in the UK was a long way behind this conversation compared to other sports. And I would say in the last two and a half years, we’ve really pushed ahead as an industry leader. Now we’ve got regular visibility days in most major events, as during the grass court season, like Queens ad Eastbourne, we went something called Friday Pride Day. We do the same when we host a Davis Cup or a Billie-Jean King Cup event. So we’ve done that, wheelchair National championships as well. So on a Friday Pride Day, we get a lot of visibility going, a lot of conversation around the subject. LGBTQ plus people in tennis. And, we also launched something, which we believe is quite groundbreaking, called the Rally Allies Training program, which gives all grassroots tennis venues access to, free LGBTQ plus awareness training, and also free resources pack, which allows their venue to then do some activation around the topic. And brings us to where we are today. DG: Yeah, I mean, that’s a lot of initiatives that Pride in Tennis is undertaking that you have helped to found. Can I come back to the Friday Pride Day? Can you describe what that is and what happens on that day? Because it’s part of significant lead up tournaments to Wimbledon. IPB: Every Friday of major events. We make sure that everybody who’s attending knows it’s Friday Pride Day. So we encourage them to wear bright colours or do a rainbow themed dress when they when they come and people do it. It’s it’s wonderful to see how many people in the crowd to actually, notice that and engage in that. Pride in Tennis would usually have a stall of some description where we’ll be able to give out information, but also, give out rainbow laces, rainbow sweatbands, we sell them, to raise money for the LTA’s Charitable Foundation. We do some on court activity as well. We’ve got that progress flag flying above every, sort of centre court. We do a bit of media on court, we do a coin toss, we talk about the theme of the day and why it’s important. Some of the, the ball kids will wear the rainbow sweatbands as well. Hoardings around the site will have a rainbow theme to them to use the umpire’s chair sponsor will get involved. So there’s something visible on camera and, we’ll get some media coverage around that as well. So there’s, there’s quite a few different things going on during the day, both in terms of interacting with the crowd, but also, getting the, the exposure for the rainbow colours to a national audience. DG: Wonderful. And you mentioned Rally Allies-Rally alleys (laughter) IPB: That’s a tough one. Yeah, I know with the name… DG: (laughter) I love it. But how does that work? Because it does sound like an amazing initiative. IPB: So it’s a in its current form we do live sort of zoom workshops where any tennis volunteer, any coach, any official, anyone who helps to run grassroots tennis, at any level, whether it be a small club or a park court or whether it’s like a major national centre, anyone who’s involved in that can come on to the, the workshop, get some some basic ideas on why LGBTQ plus visibility is important. We talk about inclusive language. We talk about how to deal with homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia. We talk about what the barriers are. In tennis, which at times can be quite subtle but doesn’t make them any less impactful. And we talk about, the simple solutions to the complex issues. So for example, I know you asked me what my pronouns were before, which are he/him, I talk about, you know, people who are willing to put their pronouns at the end of their email signature in the social media bios, and it doesn’t do any harm. It doesn’t make any difference to the first hundred people who you email. However, that 101st person who happens to be questioning their gender identity will find it much more comfortable to deal with you. If they’ve seen that you’re willing to share your pronouns with them. And that’s what an ally is. It’s just somebody who’s willing to, show outwardly their support of as the LGBTQ plus community. And then you could immediately feel more comfortable when you’re dealing with them in that official capacity. And we apply those, principles to grassroots tennis. And, we’ve had around 140 grassroots venues so far, with representatives coming through the program at all of those venues, then receive a resources pack. And that includes something, some things to address the venue. So that includes a rainbow flag, some rainbow bunting and a charter for the notice board with the inclusive values and rules. Something that the professionals of the club can wear, whether that be the team captain or, the coach or the receptionist at the staff at the entrance to the place. There’s things like rainbow sweatbands, or rainbow places and things. If they want to do an event where they can have giveaways, we’ve got stickers and we’ve, we’ve actually managed to make a rainbow, dampener, shock absorber for racquets, which, believe it or not, don’t currently exist and you can’t buy them on the internet. We have to make bespoke so give all the, think of all the different types of shock absorbers, of dampers in the world. You’ve got so many different types and colours and shapes and sizes, and nobody has ever thought to make a rainbow one before. DG: I’m surprised by that. IPB: Yeah, we’ve got something that money can’t buy. So. Yeah. Quite proud of that one. (laughter). So, Yeah, it’s, like I say, they all get the packs and then they’ll do some activation on the back of it, whether that be a rainbow tournament to celebrate their existing LGBTQ plus members. They’re all dressed up in different colours, or whether that be doing an open day, which target markets people from their local pride or their local LGBT social group. DG: Can I come back to you talking about you first became involved with Newcastle United Pride supporter group and then you approached the LTA. I’m quite surprised that a team sport would be ahead of tennis for some reason. I can’t even explain to you why. Why was a team sport, ahead of a sport such as tennis that has had prominent LGBT or particular lesbian, tennis players for a long part of its history? IPB: Yes. So it’s a fairly simple answer that one. There is are a lot more problems with homo