Harry Finney and Esther Adeshina have been crowned champion of the boys and girls 9U respectively at the AEGON Winter National Tour which took place at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton at the weekend.
Finney, from Belper, beat Charles Taylor from Cambridge 8-6, 7-5 in an entertaining final to cap an excellent week for the Derbyshire youngster.
Finney said: "I’m glad I won – I always wanted to win this competition. I had played Charles in the round robin before the final and knew he was tough to play. I knew I had to play well and that I needed to use the angles well.”
Meanwhile 9 year-old Adeshina from Basingstoke beat Monica Raviraj from Norwich 7-5, 7-1.
“I had a game-plan to try and move people around and to mix my style up a bit and it worked" Adeshina said. " I was very happy with my serve, especially in the final.”
The invitation-only tournament is the pinnacle of the winter British Tennis season and showcases the talent of some of the best young players in the country.
Finney, who trains at ‘MY Tennis’ in Loughborough and is part of the AEGON FutureStars programme, and Adeshina who trains at Totally Tennis in Basingstoke, were two of only thirty two players to be invited across both boys and girls events, having earned their place by accumulating enough ranking points from LTA tournaments throughout the winter.
The mini tennis competition framework was launched by the LTA in 2007 in order to allow young children to experience competition at a younger age. They develop their match play skills through competing on a on a smaller court, with a smaller racket and with a low compression ball more suited to their age, size and ability.
Steven Martens, Player Director of the LTA, said: “It’s a great achievement for Harry to secure the AEGON Winter National Tour honours, against such talented competition.
“The tournament brings together the best boys and girls in the country, who have been playing in this national tour circuit throughout the winter.
“Competition at a young age is vitally important in developing both the tactical and mental competitive qualities the players need to have in place as they progress and start to play internationally.”