There were a total of 14 players representing Lancashire at the Play Your Way to Wimbledon National Finals 2024 held at the All England Lawn Tennis Club from 11-18th August.
Neil Balmforth who trains at Liverpool Tennis Centre along with Lucas Mcclay both competed in the Mens Visually Impaired B3 event. Neil and lucas both won their semi finals and had a great battle in the final with Neil winning 6-4.
Fabrice Higgins from Chorley followed in Neil's footsteps winning the Mixed Learning Disability Event with the final score a 6-4,6-4 battle against second seed Oliver Beadle.
In the Mens Doubles Petar Gyurchev & Siddarth Mahala from Fallowfield Bowling & Lawn Tennis Club lost both their round robin matches one on a match tie break so therefore didn't qualify for the main draw. In the Womens Doubles Christine Baron & Lara Pilling from Lytham Tennis Club also lost both their group matches.
In the junior events, Sam Tyrer from Robin Park, Wigan played in the 14 & Under Boys event wining a tight 7-6, 7-6 round robin match and losing the other two. On the girls side both our County winner and runner up were invited to the Finals with Willow Danks also from Lytham Tennis Club winning 1 round robin match and losing the other 2. Another Robin Park player Ruby Williams had a similar experience losing her singles matches.
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In 18 & Under Girls doubles Temilayo Adeyemi & Alisa Vilciu from Manchester Tennis Centre lost their round robin matches but great news in the Boys Doubles, Oliver Hinks and Harry Jackson from Markland Hill won both their qualifying matches to progress to the main draw where the boys won their first match 6-0,6-1. Their semi final match was a lot tougher but the Lancashire boys came out on top winning 10-7 in the match tie break to qualify for the final!!The boys played Dimitar Lalov and Luke Ogden from Kent losing out in 3 tight sets 7-6(3)5-710-8.
Well done to all the players who had a great experience, got shown around the All England Club and treated like royalty along with their family members.