Meet Vicky Collins… the tournament director of Boodles Tennis

After a decade in the events industry Vicky Collins decided on a change of path so signed up to become an airline pilot.

At the eleventh hour though, she instead chose to combine her entrepreneurial spirit, business acumen and sporting passion to launch the popular Boodles Tennis at The Mere.

The 41-year-old, who employs elite legends of tennis and works with major brands, reveals what drives her ahead of this year’s three day gathering at The Mere.

Becoming tournament director of what is now Boodles Tennis at The Mere didn’t happen without a couple of sliding doors moments for Vicky Collins.

She fell into the world of tennis events just hours after graduating – during a chance friendly match at her local tennis club in Liverpool. And she stumbled into a former professional tennis player at Wimbledon who asked her why Cheshire no longer hosted an annual elite luxury tennis event.

Following the latter, Vicky worked tirelessly to bring Boodles Tennis at The Mere back to Cheshire.

Now in its sixth year at The Mere Golf Resort & Spa in Knutsford, Boodles Tennis is a thriving operation that attracts big names from both tennis and business.

“It’s hard to believe that Boodles Tennis at The Mere is now in its sixth year,” said Vicky.

“It’s true that after more than 10 years in events I was gearing up to take to the sky, and begin my pilot training with easyJet. But it didn’t happen, and I’m more than fine with it as I’m pursuing my two biggest passions – tennis and business.”

This year – during an event running from June 21 to June 23 – there will be a ‘genuine Ladies Day’ for the first time, with former World No.1 Kim Clijsters and ex-Wimbledon Champion Marion Bartoli set to compete in front of hundreds of guests.

Vicky, who now lives in Hale, said: “It’s the first time I’ve had female tennis players at Boodles Tennis.

“Kim and Marion are genuine idols of mine and I’m looking forward to them joining the male legends at Boodles Tennis in June. I think they are aware that they are joining a family atmosphere at The Mere, and I know that guests and sponsors will take to all the players once again.”

As a tennis tournament director Vicky is a seasoned pro. Goran Ivanisevic, the only tennis player to have won Wimbledon on a wild card entry, calls her ‘Big Boss’.

“That makes me laugh,” she adds. “But I suppose I am their (the players) boss. With the players who regularly appear, we don’t contact them through agents now. We’ve almost developed a tennis network in the North West as well as an event that I think is unrivalled in regards to access guests attending get to legends of tennis.”

“It is a business though,” says Vicky. “And it’s a tough sector in which I operate for 12 months a year to put on a three-day event.”

Vicky, who founded White Events and also launched Tennis at the Palace in Abu Dhabi under the registered business name of Strawberries and Cream, grew up on tennis and also completed a degree in sports science.

The game-changing moment for her current business was securing Boodles – a British fine jeweller founded in 1798 – as title sponsor.

“To get Boodles, a genuine family business with great integrity, to be the title sponsor was a big thing for me,” said Vicky.

“That helped us attract other names like Oman Air, Aspall, Brown Shipley and Rolls Royce.

“It was quite a journey getting to where we are now though.”

After eight years at Finch, a Liverpool-based advertising agency, Vicky set up White Events.

It was during her time at Finch though that she became heavily involved in the running of a tennis event which the agency owned.

“Getting involved in the tennis event after graduating was a real thrill as I’d grown up playing club tennis in Liverpool.

“At the start I was sorting out towels and clearing grass courts, but I soon got more involved and started to learn about sponsorship and how to run events.

“After three years running White Events much further down the line I then got an opportunity to set up what was to become Boodles Tennis.”

She added: “I knew there was a chance to once again run a big luxury tennis event involving big name players from the sport in the North West.

“And after bumping into a former professional player at Wimbledon one year I decided to go for it and not stop until it became a success.”

During the first three years Vicky worked “exceptionally” hard to grow the event.

She also managed to launch Abu Dhabi tournament Tennis at the Palace in 2014.

“I took a unique tennis event to Abu Dhabi as Etihad were a sponsor of Boodles Tennis at the time,” said Vicky.

“We had to make a grass court from scratch and I had Tim Henman helping me put the lines out on the last day
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“It was an interesting time as a lot of people thought I’d struggle to do business in the Middle East as a woman. But not once did I have any discrimination for being British or female. If anything, it was the opposite.”

While Boodles Tennis still features high on her priorities list, Vicky is also an entrepreneur with numerous interests in the tech sector.

“The atmosphere at Boodles Tennis isn’t Wimbledon,” said Vicky. “Last year it chucked it down with rain. Ultimately the bad weather brought the guests and the players closer and everyone had a great time, with players even playing for the crowds while holding umbrellas.”

She added: “Tennis event organising is a 12-month operation and brings its difficulties, as managing cash flow is different. I’ve always remembered what someone said when I was starting out, and that was that ‘it’s a lumpy cash flow’.

“My business model is sponsorship and corporate hospitality and The Seashell Trust is our nominated charity this year.”
And what about the future, and your plans for Boodles Tennis.

“I’m very lucky,” she said. “Boodles Chairman Nicholas Wainwright is very supportive and does business on a gentleman’s handshake – we’ve never had a contract. He is Mr Boodles essentially, is enthusiastic, brilliant at what he does and is an inspiration to me.

“In regards to the three-day event, I’ve got no ambition to grow it any bigger. It would completely dilute what I do. I’d rather have a waiting list for 2018 than put another day on in 2017 for example.”

And what about your choice not to pursue life in the cockpit as an airline pilot?

“It’s an interesting one,” she said. “I was convinced I was going to be a professional tennis player, but unfortunately it didn’t quite pan out that way.

“I also think I made the right choice not to become a pilot. I think my friends would say that, especially if I was the one flying them down to Malaga. So, it’s a good thing, as I’ve ended up with the next best thing to being a tennis player – running Boodles Tennis.

“We have some mega sponsors, luxury sponsors that are all very accommodating to each other – and attract 350 people a day to the event.

“We now have the right balance of guests, independent business, professional services and family run businesses.”