Shropshire's Rob Rue relishing chance to captain Wales in top tennis tournament
Shropshire's Rob Rue is relishing the chance to return to the international tennis stage as he prepares to captain Wales for the first time in his home country.
A proud Welshman, Rob, who was born in Neath and later lived in Swansea, moved to Shrewsbury from Hertfordshire in 1990 and has since represented Shropshire's county tennis teams at a number of different age groups.
He's also attracted the attention of the Welsh national team selectors and has regularly played at international level since being called up for the first time, to the Wales over-65s team, in 2020.
Rob captained Wales - the over-70s men's team - for the first time in 2024, and he's now looking forward to leading his country on home soil next month.
Rob has been chosen to captain Wales over-70s men's side at the Masters Senior Four Nations 2026, an LTA event which will take place in Newport between May 5-7.
The event, to be played on the indoor courts at Newport International Sports Village, will feature both men's and ladies teams from Wales, England, Ireland and Scotland in the over-70s and 75s age groups.
"It's even more of an honour to be playing on home soil with Wales the hosts this time," said Rob, who captained his country for the first time when the tournament was hosted by England and played at Bolton Arena. "I've never represented Wales in Wales before, so it will be tremendous and hopefully we'll have plenty of support.
“I'm very fortunate that Jane, my wife, is a terrific supporter. She drives me all over the country and is always there court side cheering me on, so I feel very fortunate to have that sort of support when I'm playing my matches.
"I managed to fortunately arrange a practise session for us last week at the venue in Newport where we're going to be playing the Four Nations tournament, so that was useful."
Rob knows his team mates in the Wales men's over-70s side, Nick Lee and Myles Collett, well and he's looking forward to teaming up with them.
Rob, who is a member at David Lloyd Shrewsbury, has been spending plenty of time on court stepping up his preparations ahead of his latest taste of international action.
He also regularly takes part in events that are part of the ITF World Tennis Masters Tour calendar, recently partnering Lancashire's Mike Webster to victory in the men's over-70s doubles at the MT200 Wirral tournament.
Rob will next compete in the MT400 Leicester tournament later this month ahead of reporting for international duty.
Rob's call up to play for Wales is more good news for Shropshire tennis following Karen Sullivan's first call up to represent England at next month's Masters Senior Four Nations.
While Rob is heading to South Wales to play, Karen, from Prees, north Shropshire, faces a longer trip north to Glasgow a few days earlier to play for the England ladies over-45s team between May 2-4.
