Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club are to hold a satellite tennis tournament again next summer.

And that means that players from all over the globe will be battling away at the scenic Wharfedale club in a bid to rise up the men's and women's world rankings.

Their $10,000 International Tennis Federation Futures event on July 23-31 will be the first of a four-week linked series of tournaments in Great Britain.

However, Ilkley will be the only one of the quartet to be played on grass, as the other three will be hard-court tournaments. But Ilkley will continue to host their British Tour tournament, also for men and women, in the same week.

Ilkley previously held satellite tournaments for four years between 1995 and 1998, with the men's winners being Britons Luke Milligan and Chris Wilkinson, New Zealander Alistair Hunt and Switzerland's Lorenzo Manta, all of whom have played in the Davis Cup.

The women's champions were South Africans Surina de Beer (twice) and Marise Joubert and Britain's Kate Warne-Holland.

Ilkley Lawn Tennis and Squash Club's general manager Billy Kerr said: "It is great news for the club and hopefully we will have some players ranked about 300 in the world, including some top Britons."

Explaining how the decision had come about to hold a satellite event, Kerr added: "We had our usual post-tournament meeting this year, and British Tour manager Peter Greatorex explained to our members how tournaments work these days.

"They have noticed how generally quiet things had become in the evenings over the past few years during Ilkley tournament week.

"Going back ten years, matches were still on court at 9pm at weekends and during weekdays. But recently most of them have been tending to wrap up by 6pm.

"However, by running the Tier Two British Tour tournament alongside the satellite, it should ensure some high-quality tennis deep into the evenings."

The grass-court satellite that Ilkley was previously part of was disbanded after 1998 primarily because of a Lawn Tennis Association directive prompted because grass is not a recognised world surface.

But a satellite has been re-instated at the scenic Wharfedale club because the first week of the circuit has fallen at exactly the same time as Ilkley hold their tournament.

The men's qualifying for the satellite would be held on the first Saturday and Sunday (July 23-24), with the women's qualifying on Sunday and Monday (July 24-25). The men's final, and the British Tour finals, would be held on Saturday, July 30 and the women's satellite final would be on Sunday, July 31.

Kerr is now looking for a sponsor to help with the general running of the tournament alongside OHS. He can be contacted on 01943-607182.