Last weekend saw York Tennis Club host the first round of the ‘Road to Wimbledon’ competition for junior players aged 14 years and under. The event takes place across the country with players progressing from club to regional rounds of the tournament eventually accumulating to the winners gracing the lush green grass of Wimbledon itself! The format for the day was round robin groups playing champions tiebreaks to 10 points, followed by semi-finals and finals to crown our winners. We held two separate events that ran simultaneously giving us a boys’ champion and a girls’ champion!
In keeping with the Wimbledon theme for the day, the boys’ singles competition was split into two groups entitled ‘Strawberries’ and ‘Cream’. The ‘Strawberries’ group saw battling performances from Joe Morton putting in some respectable scores against some more experienced players. Oisin Papadopoulos put his new improved serve to good use to power past his opponents. Long rallies were had by Teddy Hunt who showed good control on his way to picking up a couple of group wins. The top of the group was decided by just one point with both Will Brunton and Harry Hall showing great consistency progressing through to the semi-finals dropping just one point and no points respectively.
The ‘Cream’ group saw Charlie Fricker perform admirably in his first ever competition. This group also saw the youngest entrant Ben McWalter show some of the older boys that he we be a force to be reckoned with over the coming years. Thomas Johnson who has become somewhat a tournament regular was unlucky not to progress with a couple of wins and a loss on a sudden death point against an eventual finalist. Likewise Finlay Morton registered 3 big wins playing some great tennis along the way, just missing out on a place in the semi-finals. Those places went to Henry Budgen who got better as the matches went on and George Hunt who moved around the court with great fluency and determination dropping just the solitary point in topping the group.
This set up two closely matched and well fought semi-finals. The quality of tennis played went up a level with Henry Budgen edging out Harry Hall 10-8 and Will Brunton sliding past George Hunt 10-7. In a final that wouldn’t have looked out of place at Wimbledon, the battling baseline play from Will Brunton broke down the power of Henry Budgen to claim a shock but very well deserved 10-8 victory to progress through to the regional round of the tournament in July!
The girls’ singles saw some brilliant tennis on display and it was great to see the girls down at the club enjoying their tennis. All the girls recorded at least one victory meaning the places in the final were wide open. Lucy Frazer fired her forehand up on numerous occasions as she picked up good points throughout the group. Maddie Lindley showed great movement around the court which helped her to pick up a couple of good wins. Alice McWalter played with a smile on her face no matter what the score was and her relaxed style helped her accumulate a number of points. The top of the group was a close affair with Olivia Ford playing some lovely tennis and showing great consistency to earn her place in the final. She was joined by Alex Amston who powered past all challengers scoring the full 40 points on route to the final.
Played in glorious sunshine the final saw both girls play some lovely tennis but like when the pair met in the group Alex Amston had too much and although battling to the end defeated Olivia Ford 10-4 to claim her place in the regional round in July!
Thank you to everyone that played and helped to make this a successful event. It was great to see 5 courts full of juniors playing some great tennis. I look forward to hearing how both Will Brunton and Alex Amston get on in their quest to reach Wimbledon!