Sarah Hawkshaw and Olwyn Ryan-Bovey have been selected for the Irish women’s Tennis team for the first time as they compete at the Billie Jean Cup in Moldova in June.
Sarah and Olwyn will join Celine Simunyu, Sinéad Lohan and Shauna Heffernan as the Irish attempt to avenge last year’s relegation from Group II of the competition.
Gaining promotion will be no easy task however, as only one team from 11 competing will move into Group II. The other countries involved in the event, which will be played from 17th – 22nd June in Chisinau, are Moldova, Cyprus, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, San Marino, Iceland, Montenegro, Luxembourg, Finland and Ireland.
Ireland Captain John McGahon said “We are looking forward to competing in Moldova. We have a good team of players that have plenty of experience playing Billie Jean King Cup along with some new players that have been selected for this year’s team. There is nothing better than competing for your country and we are aiming for promotion with the tough task of potentially facing Armenia (promotional runners up 2023), Finland or Cyprus”.
Assisting John is Coach Paul Casey who also brings a wealth of experience to the team again in 2024 as Assistant Coach for the team.
In 2023 Ireland lost to some top European countries including Lithuania (Group winners in 2021) and Estonia which featured world former no.2 Anett Kontaveit. Their fate was sealed however by the defeats against Kosovo and South Africa.
This year’s team is a mixture of youth and experience. Sinead Lohan, who, along with Celine Simunyu, played last year, has been representing Ireland since 2011, while both Simunyu and Heffernan made their debuts in 2021.
Shauna Heffernan speaks about the team’s motivation this year “I am delighted to be representing Ireland in the Billie Jean King Cup this year. We have a great team full of all the tools we need to get promoted so I am really excited. I know that we are going to do everything in our power to move up to Group II and make our country proud”.
The newcomers meanwhile come into the team after good runs of form. Hawkshaw has had an impressive few months winning competitive matches on tour against WTA ranked players and had a good run at the National Indoors, bowing out to Sinead Lohan in the semis. Ad Ryan-Bovey has had a stellar year at Appalachian State University. She won 12 singles matches while competing at the #2, #3 and #4 spots. This puts her as the second highest ranked Irish player of those who are currently competing at the US collegiate level.
Tennis Ireland wishes the team the very best of luck in June.
The team selected team for 2024 is as follows:
Celine Simunyu (Real Club de Tennis Barcelona)
Sinéad Lohan (Tramore Tennis Club and Carrickmines Croquet & Lawn Tennis Club)
Sarah Hawkshaw (Carrickmines Croquet & Lawn Tennis Club and Trinity College Dublin)
Olwyn Ryan-Bovey (Carrigaline and App State University)
Shauna Heffernan (Claremorris and Boise State University)
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