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Last weekend Devon and Cornwall’s talented mini tennis players came together at the South Devon Tennis Centre in Ivybridge to compete to become Flybe Mini Masters Champions. The Finals are the finale of a circuit of events held at tennis clubs across Devon and Cornwall with the top players of each County being invited to compete.
The Mini Green (10&U) event was won by Tarka Tennis Centre (Devon) player Nathan Woo who overcame Cornish Player Owen Young in a well competed final. Nathan, who has previously been runner up, was delighted to finally take the Flybe crown.
The Mini Orange (9&U) and Mini Red Event (8 &U) was won by Zac Brown who trains at the Exmouth tennis & Fitness Centre. His performances over the weekend were superb and he showed great maturity to take both titles. In the Orange event he beat North Devon’s Joe Cooper (Ilfracombe Tennis Club) in a fantastic match. It was very exciting for Joe as it was his first time qualifying for the Masters final.
The Red event this season has been fantastic with so many boys and girls taking part. Zac was the winner beating Oscar Davey, who at 6 years old was one of the youngest players competing over the weekend. Oscar, as well as many others, is a great prospect for the future.
The event’s presentations were made by Sue Eames, Cornwall LTA Chairman and Hilary Webster representing Devon and Cornwall LTAs. 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 inline 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) says: “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, approaching 250 players who have 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 Vernon 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 3rd 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”.
Flybe’s Simon Lilley says: “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 now set to battle it out in the Mini Masters’ finals.
Find more information on the Flybe Mini Masters Winter Tennis Competition