International tennis could be returning to Portsmouth in 2022

A general overview during the Southsea Trophy final between Irina-Cameliaon Begu of Romania and Tatjana Maria of Germany in June 2017. Photo by Harry Murphy/Getty Images.

Canoe Lake Leisure CEO John Cooke says things are 'sounding positive' for a return of the Southsea Trophy.

The redeveloped seafront site hosted two ITF women's circuit warm-up Wimbledon events across successive summers after the inaugural event in 2017.

But, due to the loss of a main LTA sponsor, the competition has not been held since 2018.

Kirsten Flipkins of Belgium after her victory over Katie Boulter in the 2018 Southsea Trophy at Canoe Lake Leisure. Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images for LTA.

However, Cooke revealed Canoe Lake Leisure are in the 'very initial stages' of trying to stage the Southsea tournament next year.

CEO Cooke said: ‘It definitely won’t be this summer (the tournament returning) because of the current situation, but we’re at the very initial stages trying to organise something for 2022.

'We’re looking at something involving highly ranked female and male players.

‘It sounds positive for 2022. It would be us, Canoe Lake Leisure, the LTA and the appropriate players’ federation.

Canoe Lake Leisure courts bathed in sunshine during the Southsea Trophy tournament in 2018. Picture: Neil Marshall

‘A major sponsor was lost, it costs a lot of money to put these events on, but they’re always looking for new sponsors (the LTA).'

German Tatjana Maria, who has reached a high ranking of 46, beat Romanian Irina-Camelia Begu to lift the inaugural title in 2017.

Former world number 13 Kirsten Flipkens was crowned champion the following summer, overcoming Briton Katie Boulter in the final.

Both of those events were women's events but men could be involved if a competition is rubber-stamped for 2022.

Cooke feels the eight international tournament-quality grass courts at the site, and Portsmouth's distance to London, makes it a perfect venue to host a tournament.

He added: ‘It’s the same time as Eastbourne so our criteria was if they’d already pre-qualified for Wimbledon but probably weren’t good enough to get into the Eastbourne draw and need grass court practice, they’d come to us.

‘It’s within a close proximity to London as well so they could play in the tournament on Saturday and be in London by Monday night ready for the start of Wimbledon.

'The LTA approached us because grass courts of this quality are very rare in the whole of the UK.

‘Players and tournaments are always looking for decent grass courts to play on, especially leading up to grass court tournaments.'