Whilst Andy Murray was winning in temperatures of 30+ degrees at the Australian Open in Melbourne, 24 boys and 7 girls all from Oxfordshire and aged between 5 and 8 competed in a Mini Red tennis event at St Hugh’s school in Faringdon.
The event took place on Saturday 21st January in the Sportshall at the school. Mini Tennis red is played on a court the size of a badminton court, with special foam tennis balls to encourage longer rallies. This event shows that there are lots of children across the County training and competing every week, some of whom hope to become the next Andy Murray or Elena Baltacha.
The tournament, sanctioned by Oxfordshire LTA and run by a team of LTA trained Referees and Tennis Leaders, is the eighth that has been run at St Hugh’s who generously provide the facility without charge to encourage tennis playing in the County. The event has grown in popularity and this was the largest so far.
The boys were divided into two groups based upon their current rating, which is a measure of their experience. Sixteen of the less experienced players, some competing for the first time, competed in the ‘Challenger’ event. The tournament was organised in fun way with the matches taking only 10 minutes each, and there was a tennis leader (an experienced county junior player) helping on each court to keep score and encourage the players to understand how to compete. This event was won by Angus Grinstead from Oxford who beat Rafe Llewellyn from Botley 10-7 in a close final.
In the girls event, Scarlett Paton from Bampton won all her matches to win the girls gold medal with Grace Manson from Oxford receiving silver.
The higher rated (more experienced boys) competed in the ‘Masters’ event. After tough group stages, two of the youngest competitors battled through with Bobby Hornby (aged 6 from Bicester) beating Arthur Manson (aged 5 from Oxford) in one semi-final and Benjamin Crofts (aged 8 from Wytham) beating Edward Alder (aged 7 from Clanfield) in the other. In the final, the extra years made a difference as Benjamin became the Masters winner beating Bobby 10-2 to get the gold medal.
Find out more about LTA Mini Tennis