Tennis players came from as far as Leeds to compete in the visually impaired tournament at Sunderland Tennis Centre on Friday 16th March.
There were a total of 9 players who competed against each other in the tournament, and whilst there were prizes available at the end, the aim of the day was to have fun and to raise more awareness for the Visually Impaired Tennis Club in the North East.
The day started at 10.30am and included a singles round robin tournament with play offs between the winners of each group. Then to finish off everyone played in a doubles tournament.
There was some great tennis in the singles matches. Our winner was Arif Malik, who had travelled up from Leeds that morning, beating local John Hawkins in a close game, full of long rallies. Outstanding tennis was played by both, but in particular from Arif who didn't lose a match all day and looked lethal with his serve!
3rd and 4th place in the singles went to Wynston Stafford and Rosie Pybus.
Everyone then mixed up and played doubles. The winners here were Arif Malik and Jonathan Nesbitt and runners up were John Hawkins and Qasib Nazir (also from Leeds).
The Most Improved player for the day was Teresa Usher. Whether she was on the winning side or not, she always gave 100% and was enthusiastic on court. By the end of the afternoon, Teresa had showed great improvement and the award was well deserved!
The day was a huge success and it was great to have such a good turnout, especially from those who travelled from Leeds to take part.
This shows the amount of hard work that has gone in by Wendy Glasper and Adele Waterfall-Brown (Secretary and Chair of the North East Visually Impaired Tennis Club) to get recognition and involve more people in visually impaired tennis.
Well done to everyone who took part!