Plymouth’s David Jones and York’s Laura Wells won two gold medals apiece, while Folkestone brothers Adam and Tom Brownsword clinched two gold medals and a silver medal between them as 22 players from across the country vied for honours at the Tennis Foundation’s first Learning Disability Regional Series tournament at Gosling High Performance Tennis Centre, Welwyn Garden City.
Jones and Wells won both their round-robin matches in the men’s Division 6 singles event and the ladies singles, respectively, with Jones having the toughest task as he clinched the vital breaks of serve to beat Nottinghamshire players Steven Uttley and Alex Hopkinson.
Wells defeated fellow York player Emma Lindsay 6-3 and Folkestone’s Jane Weatherhead 6-0 to win the gold medal in the ladies singles and then partnered Jones to also win both of their round-robin matches in the mixed doubles against Hopkinson and Lindsay and Uttlley and Weatherhead by a score of 6-2.
Adam Brownsword dropped just three games in the course of his two matches in the men’s Division 3 singles event to claim the first of his gold medals, while brother Tom had a closely contested match against Nottinghamshire’s Scott Brown to decide the gold medal in the men’s Division 4 singles, but Brown clinched the match 6-4 to win the gold medal.
Adam and Tom Brownsword then paired up to win the men’s Division 1 doubles, beating two pairs of Nottinghamshire players to the gold medal. The Folkestone duo swept past silver medallists Joseph Eccles and Alex Eustace 6-1, but maintained their unbeaten record in a much closer match, eventually edging out bronze medallists Luke East and Peter Norton 7-5 en route to winning all three of their matches.
There was another gold medal for a Folkestone player when Connor Power dropped just three games in his two matches in the men’s Division 5 singles, while Brown’s gold medal in the Division 4 singles was one of three gold medals for Nottinghamshire players as Eccles and Eustace each made it two wins from two matches in the Division 1 and Division 2 singles respectively.
The remaining gold medal during the weekend went to Gloucester duo Robert Fisher and Alex Hume. Fisher, a silver medallist in the men’s Division 5 singles, and Hume, a bronze medallist in the Division 4 singles, teamed up with great effect to win the men’s Division 2 doubles. In doing so they clinched the only tie-break of the weekend, defeating Folkestone’s Mark Cooper and Michael Goggins 7-6(3).
The Tennis Foundation’s Learning Disability Tennis Regional Series South was the first of four tournaments in 2014 that will lead up to the 11th National Learning Disability Tennis Event in Nottingham at the end of October.
Additional regional tournaments will be held in Nottingham in May, Wrexham in July and Glasgow in September, with players at each competing in groups against others of like tennis ability.
“We had a great tournament in Welwyn to launch the new Tennis Foundation Learning Disability Tennis Regional Series and are delighted by the tremendous entry,” said Tennis Foundation Coach Lesley Whitehead.
There’s now plenty of anticipation for the remaining three Regional Series tournament as the Tennis Foundation continues to work to increase the number of playing opportunities for learning disability players across the country and show that tennis is a fun sport for players of all abilities, with multitude of health and social benefits, too.”
The remaining Tennis Foundation Learning Disability Regional Series tournaments will be in Nottingham (10th - 11th May), Wrexham (19th - 20th July) and Glasgow (13th - 14th September),