Sporting siblings the Macintosh brothers are continuing to benefit from sponsorship by Black & Lizars in their bid for tennis stardom.
The contact lens wearing brothers are both moving onwards and upwards adding to their substantial on-court success helped by three years of backing by the Scottish optical retail group.
Eighteen-year-old Douglas has been accepted on a scholarship to Davidson College in North Carolina, USA to play tennis and study economics and mathematics. Lachie, (14), is following in his brother’s footsteps after being awarded a place in Merchiston’s Tennis Academy for the next four years.
Douglas’ scholarship follows a successful year for the former Merchiston team captain. The team took second place at the International Schools Sport Federation Tennis World School championships in Recife, Brazil this March. He also holds two junior International Tennis Federation doubles titles.
‘The American college system has a fantastic set up to help me develop and improve my game, and ultimately make it on to the professional circuit, so I’m very excited to be going,’ he said.
Lachie was awarded the Tennis Scotland Miquel Award for outstanding achievement in 2016 and is keen to start at Merchiston. ‘I would love to do as well as Douglas there, go to an American college and one day make it professionally, but that’s a while away for me,’ he added.
Douglas stressed the importance of vision in sport. ‘When playing tennis, you need to be completely focused with quick reactions and good hand-eye coordination. Black & Lizars have been great at ensuring I always have the correct prescription, that I can look after my lenses when travelling all over the world to play and keeping my eyes hydrated on the court.’
