THE founder and organiser of the popular Liverpool International Tennis Tournament is quitting his day job as a London city trader to concentrate on the event full-time.

Norwegian Anders Borg said he wanted to focus solely on his company and the series of tournaments that now stretch across Europe.

The first ball was served at Liverpool’s International Tennis Tournament, staged at Calderstones Park, in 2002.

The week-long competition was the only grass court warm-up in the north of England ahead of Wimbledon.

It is now the largest exhibition event in Europe and has become the inspiration for four further events that now take place each summer in Manchester, Nottingham, Oslo and Marbella.

Mr Borg, who is managing director of event and sports management company Northern Vision, said he was giving up his lucrative job as a city trader to concentrate on his first love, and to maintain the growth in popularity of the principal Liverpool tournament.

He added: “We’ve expanded from humble beginnings in Liverpool into quickly becoming a pan-European wide event that is already a highlight in each city’s corporate calendar.

“This has largely been due to the success of the Liverpool tournament because others have looked on enviously at what the city has created and wanted their own.”