Team
Tom Sutheran (captain)
• Samuel Atcheson
• James Lea
• Ben Stevenson
• Arnau Garcia
• Tin Ching Jeremy Man
Vs East of Scotland 1 – 5
Vs Hertfordshire 3 – 3
Vs Devon 0 - 6
To veiw the full results please click here
Captains Report
Friday drive down to Devon was a challenging one, some of us got caught in traffic and
nearly 6hours drive time in the end, so we missed the practise…. Luckily James and Ben
managed to have a hit and use of the court! All the team were eventually in the hotel and
checked in by 10:10pm Friday evening!
Saturday we weren’t playing until 1pm, so late breakfast and a team meeting with the boys
and they seemed up for the challenge of a tough group. We went to the centre and
practised from 11am to get used to the courts and get a longer hit in due not being able to
practise the night before…
We are in a box with East of Scotland, Hertfordshire and Devon. East of Scotland up first.
I decided to go with ranking and so Ben and Jeremy went on as 4&3 together due to the rain
forecast for the afternoon: the organiser started the matches an hour early as we had no
indoor courts due to the LTA not sanctioning the use of indoors courts – it was play or
concede (I personally think this is really poor from the LTA).
Ben starts off so well, going 2-0 up in the first set in no time at all…his opponents then wins
two points on sudden death deuces to make it 2-2. Ben loses a little focus and loses the set
4-2. Jeremy playing a very competitive player, loses the first set 4-1. Both players up their
tennis level, but East of Scotland were just too strong, and both lose the second sets, so
Warwickshire 2-0 down.
On come James and Sam:
James starts so well and wins the first set 4-0; playing some really aggressive tennis in the
right moments. Sam start a little slow and loses the first set v a competitive baseliner.
Second set unfortunately Sam didn’t manage to turn it around and loses, so Warwickshire 3-
0 down….over to James: he is fighting hard but his opponents starts to play really intelligent
tennis and takes the second set 4-2. CTB here we go…. 7-4 down, James crawls it back to 8-
8: his opponent slips on the now very wet hard courts…. Long delay… 9-8 Warwickshire, 9-9,
10-9 East Scotland, 10 all! Great level of tennis been played…unfortunately East of Scotland
win 13-11. Warwickshire 4-0 down after the singles…
Onto the doubles indoors:
We have a little team chat and talk about energy and being a solid pair and trying to be a
team – fighting for every ball and playing positive tennis. Ben/Sam as number 1 pair and
James/Arnau as second pair…
Both pairs played some great tennis and really brought the energy and fighting spirit we
talked about before the doubles. Sam/Ben just lose narrowly in two tight sets.
Arnau/James lose the first set and are 2 match points down and manage to turn the match
around and win 10-5 in the CTB. Warwickshire lose 5-1 but at least we finish the tie on a
positive and I really saw great fight and desire from the boys Saturday afternoon.
Straight into the Hertfordshire match…. Still indoors as its pouring outside!
Arnau goes on as singles 4 for Warwickshire, straight off the high of winning the doubles
with James…
Arnau is fighting and working hard for the points but the Hertfordshire player is just too
strong for him. 1-0 Hertfordshire.
Ben is then on at 3….a fresh attitude going into this match for Ben and he is focussed on his
game plans… his opponent plays well and wins the first set 4-2, Ben battles back adnd win 4-
3 second and so into a CTB: Ben is always chasing his opponents score and nearly fights back
but eventually goes down 10-8… much better performance and attitude from Ben.
Warwickshire 2-0 down.
James comes on as number 2 and is playing a very tricky opponent but flies into the match
and wins 4-1 first set. Second set his is leading 3-1 but the opponents fights back and
tiebreak second set… James finds a second wind and blasts his opponent off court to take
the tiebreak and the victory! Warwickshire 2-1 down…. Up next is Sam…
Sam starts really well, and the first set is neck and neck: both players playing some fantastic
points… really great quality of tennis. Sam loses a tight tiebreak first set. His opponent then
keeps the pressure on and wins the second set 4-1. Warwickshire 3-1 down after the singles.
Doubles:
We wanted to give ourselves every opportunity to get to the shootout as we felt our
doubles play could drag us back into the tie…so we went with Ben/James as number 2 pair
and Jeremy/Sam as number 1 pair…
Ben/James start slow and lose the first set 4-2, slight change of tactic and then they take the
second set on a tiebreak, into a CTB: playing some fantastic doubles they take the victory
10-8. Warwickshire 3-2 down.
Sam/Jeremy start so well and take the first set 4-2: playing some quality tennis and Sam
really stepping up and taking the game to their opponents. Second set, our quality drops a
little and lets them back in and they take the second set on a tiebreak. CTB we go again….
(it’s now 9:30pm…!!) Sam and Jeremy take control early on and win the CTB 10-7: playing
the best tennis I’ve seen from boys’ doubles in a long time…. We are all buzzing 3-3:
shootout time!!!
Shootout, the team decide James/Sam and what a decision that was…. They didn’t give their
opponents a sniff and won 10-2; the level of tennis played by both our boys in that situation
was amazing! Warwickshire win on a shootout! It is now 10:30pm and we are all hungry and
tired, straight to bed as we are back at the tennis centre for 8am!
Sunday: all to play for still…. we play a very strong Devon side who narrowly lost to East of
Scotland on a shootout on Saturday…(did finish an hour or so earlier than us though!).
Rain is forecast for 9am and it came down, so we were outside and played all 4 singles to
get the matches played as quickly as possible…
We went with ranking again: Ben at 4, Jeremy at 3, James at 2 and Sam at 1…
Ben and Jeremy started off slowly losing first sets. Sam races through the first set 4-1, James
is 3-3 tiebreak…. Unfortunately loses a tight tiebreak first set. James and Sam are fighting
hard in the second sets, Ben and Jeremy lose second sets, so Warwickshire 2-0 down…
James loses 4-2 (again so close, fought so hard). Warwickshire 3-0 down... over to Sam…
Sam loses the second set on a tiebreak, into a CTB: its so tight and both players playing
some fantastic tennis, Devon number one just stays too consistent and beats Sam 13-11.
Sam played so well, it was a shame to lose that one… tough to take as I’m not sure he really
deserved to lose it but that’s tennis. Warwickshire 4-0 down.
Into the doubles: we go with James/Arnau and Sam/Jeremy for the finals round of doubles:
Both start incredibly well on the front foot, playing positive tennis despite the scoreline:
Sam/Jeremy 3-0 up and serving for the set. James/Arnau winning the first set 4-2.
Sam/Jeremy get caught by their opponents 3-3 into a first set tiebreak…. They lose that
tiebreak, but energy is good, and they are remaining positive and playing some great tennis.
James/Arnau are trailing in the second set as their opponents step up a level and we drop
ours a little, one set all. CTB: Its wasn’t to be, we lose the CTB 10-5…tough as they played
positive doubles. Warwickshire 5-0 down. Jeremy/Sam also lose a tight second set, so
overall Warwickshire lose 6-0 to Devon. We finished 3 rd overall.
The whole weekend was a long one with all the delays both on Friday and Sunday and
playing from 11am to 10:30pm on the Saturday. I would like to thank the boys for all their
efforts. The highlight was the fighting spirit they really did show on the Saturday evening to
dig deep and fought back from 3-1 down in the doubles and in the shootout…. Their tennis
was incredible, and it was amazing to see their confidence and belief just grow and grow!
Thank you to the parents, firstly for taking the boys, their support; both watching as well as
paying for the indoor courts on the Saturday. Thanks also for supporting me with the little
rules of ‘healthier options’ for the boys during the weekend and resisting that late-night
fast-food option on the Saturday evening!!
I hope the boys enjoyed the experience but also learned from it, because it could have been
an even better result if the team made ‘better choices’ in different stages of the matches.
Player of the weekend: James Lea
Tom Sutheran