Gina Niland's plans to make a return to the international tennis circuit have to be put on the long finger as she is due to have her tonsils removed within the next few days. Ireland's number one player has quit her teaching job at Millfield School in England to resume her professional tennis career.
Niland's Federaton Cup colleagues Yvonne Doyle and Karen Nugent will be figuring on the UK circuit over the next few weeks. Doyle, the recent winner of the Irish indoor championship, is already campaigning on the Giro Bank tour in England.
Nugent has almost fully recovered from the back injury that ruled her out of the indoors final in the final set and will be returning to practice next week before moving to Birmingham and Sheffield for $10,000 events.
Trials may be necessary to fill the final place on the Ireland Federation Cup side due to compete in Murcia, Spain on April 26th-30th.
An eight-strong Irish team of juniors is set for a three-week tour in Europe, starting on January 25th. The squad includes Stephen Nugent, ranked 86th in the world, Cork's Elsa O'Riain (160), Catherine Lynch, the reigning under-18 champion, James Colhoun, Timo Barry, Richard Martin, Mark Finnegan and Derek Fluskey. The tour finishes up in Bisham Abbey.
