On Saturday 21st July, the Under 9 Cornwall team travelled to Taunton to compete in the County Cup where they would face opposition from Devon, Somerset and Dorset.
On early arrival, it was apparent that the conditions were going to be hot with the early sun already beating onto the courts. After a thorough stretch and warm up, the team, captained by Thomas Leach (Total Learning Tennis), were ready for their matches.
The first match saw Cornwall compete against Devon, and the early signs were promising. The warm up did its job as all players seemed to be playing with a spring in their step and were dominating the points. Attacking groundstrokes mixed with some fine touch shots saw Cornwall push Devon all the way, with Louis Davey (Cornish number 1 boy), and Albert Evans (Cornish number 2 boy), taking their opponents to a deciding 3rd set, however they were just unable to cross the finishing line, with Devon in the end winning all but one singles match. It was the Cornish number 2 girl, Holly Drew who stopped the clean sweep putting on a fine display of positive tennis, winning in straight sets.
In the doubles, it was Holly again, who this time partnered with the Cornish number 1 girl, Ellyn Calveley, proved too strong for the Devon duo, with their combination of strong serving and excellent returning, again winning in straight sets. Unfortunately for Cornwall however both the boys doubles (Louis and Albert), and the mixed doubles (Archie Graham and Charlotte Drew), lost to very strong pairings, therefore in the end losing overall to Devon.
The boys however would make amends in the next match against eventual winners Dorset.
Having been beaten by Devon, Cornwall’s team spirit and true warrior nature came to the forefront. Refusing to sink to a very powerful team, both Louis Davey and Archie Graham (Cornish number 3 boy) clocked up terrific wins, whilst Albert once again narrowly lost on a deciding set, even though his tennis was very attacking, calculated and a thrill to watch. The Cornish boys did the team proud and were the only team that day to beat the Dorset boys. The girls unfortunately lost their three matches however this was by no means easy. Despite true determination, the strength of the Dorset team were just too much for Ellyn, Holly and Charlotte Drew (Cornish number 3 girl).
The final match was against Somerset, who at this point were sitting pretty for the tournament win, however another fine win from Louis, and a stunning display once again from the dream team pairing of Holly and Ellyn saw Cornwall push Somerset into second place.
Over the course of the day, there was some fantastic tennis on show, not just from the Cornish players, but from all Counties, and the standard seems to be getting higher and higher. All players that took part are great players, and all have a very bright future in their tennis careers.
At the end of the tournament, Cornwall captain, Thomas Leach, said of the Cornwall team: ‘the togetherness and team spirit of the team was remarkable. The team was put together 2 weeks before the tournament, during which time they have improved immensely. It was unfortunate that we lost some of the matches on literally a point here or there, however that is the nature of tennis. It was a joy to work with all the players and I am looking forward to next year’.