Millfield Tennis Progress Tour 2018 came to a close yesterday with Millfield resident and 4th seed, Pierce Widdecombe scooping the title with a workmanlike performance in the final, hustling a 7-6 6-3 win over 2nd seed Sam Bossem. GB international, Esther Adeshina claimed the Female Bonus Title having won through to the Quarter-finals with two tight matches, notably saving 4 consecutive match points in her first round victory over Sam Harris and then defeating 3rd seed Seb Harris in two tight sets.

Despite snow hampering (cancelling!) the Qualifying event last weekend, we pressed ahead with Qualifying Draw bright and breezy on Friday morning for the loss of just six players from the original draw. A big thanks to those players who made the effort to travel down a week after originally planned to take part in the Qualifying. A revised scoring format enabled us to get through a packed schedule on the Friday, and start the Main Draw on time on Friday afternoon. 

All in all, 42 players took part in 77 matches over the course of the three day event, each player playing at least three matches... 

A big thanks to our hosts at Millfield School - a fantastic venue where players were afforded luxury treatment with housing and food provided to all competitors, and a great team of coaches who helped to support the event. A special thanks to the Sports Science team at Millfield who delivered two specialist workshops for players and parents as part of The Progress & Learn element of the Tour. Also, a thank you Taunton Tennis Centre who provided us with three indoor courts to help complete a packed schedule on the Saturday.

Once again, I loved talking to players and parents about the current ‘tennis climate’ in this Country - feedback from participants/players has been very positive (I’m open to constructive also!) - The UTR system, it seems, is starting to be embraced and understood by far more players and parents - a system which allows cross-age and cross-gender competition - the benefits of which were evident across the course of the weekend. 

In my view, UTR is most certainly the way forward for tennis in the U.K - it is a means of structuring and enabling improved competitive opportunities for all and a system that encourages players to compete more often. UTR is also a true representation of level; increasingly accurate; and a system that can’t be ‘played’.

Barry Fulcher- Tournament Director