After 10 qualifying rounds at venues right across Somerset and featuring 24 different players, we staged the Grand Prix Final of the U8 Red Dragon Tour on Sunday at the Highbridge YMCA.

The finals featured the top 10 players on our U8 RDT Leaderboard.

After some hard fought battles by all the players in their pool matches, the top 4 players of Austin, Edward S, Monty and Zach went into the semi finals from which brothers Monty and Austin progressed to the final.

The Final, the 237th match of the series, was a very high level match that saw both players pushed to their limits with Austin prevailing in a very tight final with a 10-7 win against Monty.

Austin has been crowned our 2024/25 U8 Red Dragon Tour Champion with Monty as Runner Up.

Our thanks go to all the players who have taken part in the series and to the parents for supporting them on their journey.

The improvement in the standard of the players over the last few months has been incredible to witness.

Most importantly it’s been so good to see the fun and enjoyment the players have had competing. New friendships have been formed and a passion for playing tennis has been ignited. Well done to all of you!

Finally my thanks also to all those who’ve assisted with the Tour over the last few months and to Megan and Joseph who helped umpire our finals yesterday.

Tim Seymour
U8 Red Dragon Tour Organiser