Organisers of a prestigious international tennis tournament in Ilkley are worried a group of gipsies could ruin the competition.

The £10,000 JM Glendinning Group Ilkley International Tournament started on Sunday and features some of the country’s top men’s players as well as competitors from across the world including entries from the United States, Australia, Sweden, France and New Zealand.

But at 7pm on Sunday, a group of gipsies with a total of 13 caravans moved on to the site and have taken up an area of the grass car park.

Organisers are concerned they could disrupt the Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club’s annual showpiece event.

And they admit they cannot do anything about the presence of the caravans and their owners unless the law is broken.

They claim some of the gipsies were racing motorcycles and quad bikes on the car park while two or three were spotted on the pristine grass courts on Sunday night, sparking fears the surface may be destroyed leaving the competition ruined – costing organisers huge sums of money.

The club’s general manager Nicole Demot said security had been stepped up at the event, particularly overnight.

“They know their rights,” she said. “The police arrived and were very helpful but can’t do a thing.”

She admitted another big worry was the lack of sanitation facilities and clean drinking water and the chance it would put competitors and spectators off the event and leave a big clean-up operation.

The gipsies’ plans are not known, but pupils at the nearby All Saints Primary School are expecting to use the field later this week to host a sports day, which could now be in doubt if the travellers have not moved on.

The gipsies are thought to have moved to the site from another area of the town. They were staying near to the Lido at the start of the weekend, but a music concert at the swimming pool is believed to have disturbed them and made them move.

No-one from the group was willing to speak yesterday.