Flybe Mini Masters’ finalists complete an exciting Winter of Tennis

The Flybe Mini Masters Finals are the finale of a circuit of events held at tennis clubs across Devon and Cornwall giving players the opportunity to gain points towards a leaderboard from which the top players of each County are invited to compete.

The Mini Green (10&U) event was won by Exeter Tennis Centre player Tynan Hill  who overcame Tarka’s (Barnstaple) Nathan Woo in a hard hitting and close final. Tyan is part of a large tennis playing family many of whom came to support, and he was delighted to play so well.

The Mini Orange (9&U) event was very exciting with some excellent performances from all players.  The final was between Tommy Poli (Exmouth) and Sebastian Stanbury-Flood (Exmouth and Exwick) and in a nail biting match Tommy was eventually the winner.

The Red event this season has been fantastic with so many boys and girls taking part.  The event was won by Parker Caleshu of Virgin Active, Plymouth and runner up Lucas Urquiza (Chagford and Exeter Tennis Centre).  The match was watched by Parker’s coach who said “Parker has matured as a player over the winter and I'm delighted he has achieved this well-deserved win.  Great credit to Flybe for creating an event that captures the imagination of players and parents alike and ultimately gets players competing”.

The event was refereed by Cornwall’s Sue Eames and presentations made by John Allen MBE and Hilary Webster of Devon and Cornwall LTA respectively.  Hilary said, “It was such a pleasure to see so many young players enjoying the competition and their behaviour and attitude both on and off court has been exemplary and in line with the LTA Fair Play campaign.  Devon and Cornwall LTAs are so grateful to Flybe for this vital support to grassroots tennis in both counties”.

Georgina Loosemore (LTA Tennis Development Manager) said:  “What a fantastic weekend of tennis, it was amazing to see the players playing so well and enjoying doing so.  It is so exciting to bring players together from all over the two counties to compete, make new friends and be a part of British Tennis. 

Each season the standard of tennis gets better and better and this is a credit to the players and coaches of Devon and Cornwall. Many coaches were present at the finals which further spurred players to perform well.   Many thanks to Flybe for their continued support of tennis within the counties, it is enabling so many more children to play and be enthused by the sport”.

In the Mini-Masters Flybe circuit the number of players has grown across the board in both counties with almost 250 players having competed to be part of the Mini Masters Finals.  A high proportion of these are players are new to the circuit.  A special mention must go to Hazel Veron who plays at the Virgin Active Devonshire who in her first season of playing in Mini Master events has qualified into the finals by finishing 3^rd on the County Leaderboard.  Prior to the event  Mr Vernon said, “Hazel has loved the Flybe events, the format and scoring is so simple and all the events have been so well organised regardless of where you are in the County. Getting to the final has paid off all her hard work and she is very excited”.

Simon Lilley, Flybe's Director of Marketing commented, “We are delighted to have this opportunity to play a key role in giving the region’s budding tennis players the opportunity to further their dreams in becoming a future Wimbledon tennis star.  Both the winter and summer Mini Masters’ series have given talented young sportspeople from throughout Devon and Cornwall the opportunity to experience competitive tennis.

“To have helped give junior tennis a higher profile has been a privilege and the popularity of our Mini Masters’ series has resulted in a heartening growth in volume and quality of young players taking up the game.”

The competition has been open to all young tennis players up to the age of 10 years old and heats have been held across 14 regional tennis centres and clubs with the top eight players from each county and age group invited to battle it out in the Mini Masters’ finals.