Cian Blake Appointed National Performance Development Director as Tennis Ireland confirms National Performance Development team for 2025.
Tennis Ireland are delighted to announce the appointment of Cian Blake as National Performance Development Director. Cian brings over 15 years of successful tennis coaching experience and a proven track record of delivering top results for performance tennis players across Ireland.
Cian will be responsible for the management and delivery of Tennis Ireland’s evolving Performance Development strategy, leading a Performance Team that includes Provincial Directors, John McGahon and Sinead Dunne and ably supported by Tennis Ireland’s, National Performance and Coaching Executive, Lisa Murphy.
Most recently Cian served as Tennis Ireland’s Interim National Performance Coordinator. During the past 12 months he has been instrumental in building and leading out Tennis Ireland’s new National Performance Development Programme (NPDP). Following a successful pilot in 2024, an improved and expanded 2024-2025 NPDP re-started in September for twenty of Ireland’s top tennis players at the National Tennis Centre.
“I am delighted to take on the role of Performance Development Director for Tennis Ireland. I believe this is an exciting time for Irish tennis and I look forward to working with our dedicated performance team and stakeholders as we strive to take performance tennis in Ireland to the next level”, Blake said in a statement.
Independent Tennis Ireland Board Director with responsibility for Performance Development, Jerry Sheehan, said:
“We are delighted to be able to confirm Cian as our National Performance Development Director for 2025 and beyond. Cian has been doing some great work over the last year and proved through a competitive interview process that he is the right person for the role.
I look forward to working with Cian to advance our ambitions for Performance Tennis and provide more opportunities for Irish performance tennis players to grow and improve over the coming years.”
Tennis Ireland CEO, Kevin Quinn, added:
“We have implemented an ambitious Performance Development Strategy for the next 5 years. Key to this strategy is getting the right personnel in place and I look forward to working with Cian and our Performance Team to further the positive steps taken over the last year.
The new and expanded National Performance Development Programme is the cornerstone of our ambition to build Ireland’s first High Performance programme for tennis.”
