The end of May half-term is always one of the busiest weeks of the year when the Heron team run the annual Newquay-Heron Open Tennis Tournament and this year that was certainly the case. With a record entry of over 250 players from all over the Country travelling to Newquay to compete, the courts were jam-packed every day and referee Sue Eames certainly had her work cut out in keeping everyone and everything on track. A combination of Sue’s expertise and brilliant organising and an amazingly kind week of weather, where we only lost one hour of play to rain, meant everything ran smoothly and finished on time.
Being a prestigious Grade 3 event, this tournament carries a high number of rankings points which means a lot of very strong players take part and it is fantastic to see in the results table below, how many Cornish players (highlighted in blue) featured in the finals.
A very special mention and congratulations must go to Cornish players Nadia Rawson for her brilliant haul, winning the Girls 18&u Singles and Doubles titles with Ines Pelvang and also taking the runners up spot in the Women’s Open Singles plus lots of doubles success as well, Jake Horton, who convincingly won the Mens Open Singles title Penzance’s Arielle Fitkin who won the Girls 16&u title, Adrian Williams & Dan Stuk on winning the Mens Open Doubles, Daisy Chapman on winning the Girls 12&u title, India Rojano who won the Mixed Open Doubles with Scott Weaver and Ladies Open Doubles Natalie Hepburn and Jowan Rawson who teamed up with Samuel Hopper to win the Boys 14&u Doubles event.
There were also some notable and commendable successes for local Heron players with Tad Maclean playing some of the best tennis of his life to finish as runner-up in the Boys 18&u Singles defeating a number of much higher seeded players on his route to the final, scooping the runners-up place in the Boys 18&u Doubles with partner Newquay’s Oshi Leverton and, arguably, his greatest result of the week teaming up with his ever-youthful Mum Cindy to win the Mixed Open Doubles consolation event!
Heron’s Liam Manning also had a super week taking the Boys 18 Doubles title with Kieran Roskill-Thomas from Bodmin Dragons and then, in what was possibly an even greater achievement due to the very high standard of players in the event, finishing as runners up in the Mens Open Doubles. I am sure that both Liam and Tad can look forward to further success through the summer if they continue to knuckle down and work hard with their Heron Coaches, Steven Askey and Matthew Trudgeon.
There were also some super successes for some of Heron’s youngest players with Archie Mallet playing tremendous tennis to finish in second place in the Boys 8&u Singles and without doubt the great technique he is developing, especially his lovely single-handed backhand, and his hard-working attitude will lead to many more successes to come. There were also some great performances from Heron youngsters Ted Brown and Annie Watson in the 8&u singles with both of them playing some of their best ever tennis matches against very experienced opponents.
Events like this cannot happen without a great team and after such a brilliant week in every respect I would like to finish this report with a very, very big thank you to all the people below who played their important part in helping the tournament to be such a success for Heron, Newquay and Cornwall.
* Sally, Chloe and all the team in the Courtside Café for keeping everyone fed and fuelled through the week
* Sue Eames, our brilliant tournament referee and referee’s assistant, Hilary Webster
* Elizabeth Organ for all her fantastic administrative help and support in all areas
* Event Supporters: Lighthouse Cinema Start & Co PJI Security Little Italy Kayes Pharmacy
* Steven Askey, Matthew Trudgeon, Steve Graves and all the helpers who gave up their time to help with scoring and umpiring, including Gary, Alannah & Elijah Ashmore, Josh Burt, Ross Bowden, Leigh Spencer, Macey Laidlaw, Oliver May and Jonty Ollers-Renshaw
* Lastly, a huge thank you to all the players, parents, coaches and supporters, especially those who travelled from out of County, who supported the competition
Report by Paul Roberts
Newquay Heron Open Organiser