AN UXBRIDGE man has been named coach of the month for February in the Aegon Awards announced by the Lawn Tennis Association.

Stuart Wilkinson, who is based at Tripletts Community Tennis Centre as part of the Hillingdon Academy of Tennis, has helped a number of young wheelchair players achieve national and world rankings.

The 30-year-old has introduced a wheelchair tennis programme which caters for around 20 players including Ickenham's new British men's number one Marc McCarroll, who recently won the North West Challenge men's doubles title in Preston with Gordon Reid.

Wilkinson has successfully got wheelchair and able-bodied players training and playing together at Tripletts, aided by the rules for wheelchair tennis which allow players two bounces of the ball.

"I enjoy getting players to a competitive level so that they can really enjoy the sport, increase their world rankings and earn prize money," said Wilkinson. "Having wheelchair players playing tennis with able-bodied players at Tripletts has enriched everyone's playing experience.

"Back in 2004 we had a few wheelchair players who wanted to have some coaching and it was cheaper if we ran sessions together with the mainstream players.

"The club was open to letting everyone play against each other and more and more people started to come along."

Wilkinson has also worked with Paralympic quad singles gold medallist Peter Norfolk whom he travelled with to Melbourne in January to see the world number one retain his Australian Open quad singles title.

Former Great Britain wheelchair basketball medallist Ade Adepitan has also joined

Wilkinson's group as he bids to become a two-sport Paralympian in London in 2012, having retired from basketball. [25a0] McCarroll won the Consolation Singles title at the International Tennis Federation Three Series Alpi Del Mare Wheelchair Tournament in Cuneo, Italy.

The 24-year-old from Ickenham had the mis-fortune of drawing Austria's world number eight Marting Legner in the first round of the main draw.

He went down 6-1, 6-4, but the world number 39 hit back to justify his top seeding for the consolation event by defeating Sebastien Rozier of France and Germany's Guido Nespethal, 6-3, 7-5, in the final.

McCarroll plays back-to-back tournaments in South Africa in the coming weeks.