The parents, captains and coaches all did a brilliant job in getting the 32 x 9 year olds to us early, and I believe they all had a great day of tennis. Certainly from the large number of compliments about how the day ran indicated they had enjoyed themselves. In the end, we played 82 matches, with every child getting 5 singles matches as a minimum, and over 50% of those went to 3 sets!
To give you an indication of the strength of the event, there were 4 Counties that consisted of only Orange 1* rated players. Four players were undefeated all day – they were: Essex No1 Varun Degun, Cambs No2 Arnas Simkus, Bucks No3 Maisie Seedel, and Cambs No4 Bibiana Krall.
At the conclusion of Stage 1, we had Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire as the top 2 Counties in the Kyle Edmund group, and Hertfordshire and Essex as the top 2 counties in the Johanna Konta group. This meant that Hereford & Worcestershire played Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire played Buckinghamshire in the Play-off knockout draw. Notts and Yorks won those matches so played out for 5/6th place, which Yorkshire won. In the Semi Finals of the Main Event, Hertfordshire beat Northants and Cambs beat Essex both by a 3/1 score line. We then had Essex beat Northants in the 3/4th place play off, while a thrilling final took place between title holders Cambs and Herts. After the 4 matches, it was a dead heat, on 2/2 and 5/5 in sets won. This meant we had to play a doubles championship tie-break to decide. Herts got off to a good start and never looked back, coming out 10/4 winners.
It was a really good day, heped by the scorers. I have expressed my thanks to Justin , Neil and Luke who all gave up a day from their coaching duties here to help make the day a success. The captains were all a terrific help as well, which makes such a difference to what happens on court. The parents and children were all very well behaved, with very few tears or tantrums, so was a good educational experience for all of them.
Congratulations to Captain Andre and the Herts team on their successful day.