Gerrards Cross LTC Junior and Senior Open Tournament LTA Grade 3 August 12th to 17th 2013
The 34th Annual Tournament was a great success with all players enjoying their tennis and benefitting from extra matches caused by a lower entry (230) due to many late withdrawals. Without doubt Holly Horsfall (16) from Thongsbridge was the star of the tournament. This was her third appearance at the tournament and she brought other squad players down from Yorkshire with their two travelling coaches. She beat Lindsay Young (Berks) in the Ladies singles final 6-1 6-1, in the under 18 singles she beat Alice Johns from Bedfordshire 6-3 6-4 in a closely fought match full of powerful hitting. Danielle Daly from Moor Park put up a great fight on the hard court before Holly s more powerful game took over despite heavy rain showers. Holly won 7-5 6-4. Holly also teamed up with clubmate Ed Lovatt to beat Halton’s Ed Taylor and Hannah Russell 6-2 6-1. Referee Andy Scholfield was surprised by the number of finals which showed a one-sided contest because the standard of play was mostly of national standard. Of course there were exceptions -ex Gxltc member Oli Levi from Stoke Poges was the pick of the local players. He fought brilliantly against Toby Cutting (Ipswich) in the under 18 final on grass court number 1. Having lost the first set 6-1 he turned the match round by cutting down on unforced errors and got better penetration and depth on his shots; breaking serve at 4-4 then the set 6-4. However Toby showed great resilience to dictate with great width on his shots and after both players broke in the deciding set Toby got the all important break when Oli was serving at 4-5. At the other end of the age bracket Seb Mellows (tennace at Gxltc) just missed out in the under 8 Red singles losing to Luca Bluett (Ealing) 10-6 in the final having played a further six matches.
Nathan Fernandes (12 from Hatfield) was another player who stood out. We won the under 12 singles against rittik Anand 6-1 7-5 won the under 14 doubles and singles consolation and lost in the under 16 doubles final to Jack Clark (Halton) and Lewis Brown (Maidenhead). Nathan is short with great agility and co-ordination hitting most shots at shoulder height. His technique is very sound and he produces great topspin. He played over 12 matches during the six day tournament. Freddy Crooks from Gxltc impressed with a good win in the under 16 bonus 2 tournament. Many local players were involved in the under 9 and under 10 Orange and Green events which ran over three days; courts also being used at Chalfont St Peter LTC and Maltmans Green school. The boys orange event was particularly strong, Raahim Agha from Northwood beat Daniel Prickett Basingstoke 7-1 7-6 in the final.
An unbelieveable incident happened involving local cricketing celebrity, England T20 player Alex Hales was visiting the tournament where he used to play and his father Gary is the Groundsmen. His sponsored Jaguar car was flattened by a 100 year old tree lining Orchehill avenue only 10 minutes after he arrived. this caused great excitement; fortunately no one was injured. However the road was closed and a new car driven down from Nottingham for Alex !
The Tournament was organised and Refereed by Andy Scholfield with assistant referees Alison and Hannah Sharp. Prizes were awarded in all events including gift vouchers bought from GX Tescos.
The tennace Autumn Term Courses for all ages and standards start early September; for more information see www.tennace.com
The next junior competition is the two day tennace tournament on 2nd and 3rd September.
The next adult event is the ITF International Veterans Competition 4th to 8th September, for all young adults aged 40 upwards (singles and doubles) call 07875604872.