Corby British Tour – Feb 2022

We had a fantastic week of tennis, which saw 105 players taking part. The level of tennis in qualifying was extraordinarily good, and both the mens and ladies draws were full of 32 players. Finals Day saw over 40+ people come in to watch, and what a treat they had. The Mens final winner was Michael Shaw, who won 6-4 6-2, after having beaten Jakob Bonnett in a great 3 set semi final and our other Corby player, Kyle Rae in the ¼ finals. The ladies winner was Hannah Gutman. She had celebrated her 13th birthday by winning the semi final and then played a terrific match to win the final 6-1 6-2 against Lydia Osadova. It was an extra-ordinary display of maturity, and quite brilliant defensive skills. A large number of the spectators were our young children that have recently embarked on their own tennis journeys, and it was brilliant for them to see someone so close to their age, play in such a manner. Hannah is by far the youngest winner of our British Tour event, and we have been staging this for over 20 years. As you know, I have been involved at a high end of tennis for 45 years, and this young lady is the best I have seen at this age , since I watched Martina Hingis aged 11. Hannah Gutman is definitely a name to keep an eye on in the future.

Craig

The photograph is of the 4 finalists, along with  Craig Haworth