The exciting and enthralling journey to the Quorn National Finals began at the Durham & Cleveland County Closed at Yarm Tennis Club run by Anne Clayton, which we qualified to the next stage of the competition as winners. The next step was the regionals, and again we enjoyed ourselves and won; meaning we had qualified to the National Finals! We couldn’t wait!
The car journey to London was a tiring one, lasting seven hours! All four of us were exhausted, but the journey proved to be worthwhile when we reached the National Tennis Centre. What a spectacular building that was! Clay, grass and hard courts outside, all of them beautifully maintained- I felt really professional being at such a place as a competitor! We checked into our rooms, and decided to have a hit on the floodlight courts before we did anything else!
The morning came, and down we went to eat and warm up on the acrylic indoor courts. When the ball bounced, it was a loud, hollow sound, like wood was underneath. It just proves how professional the courts were! A little while later former world number 4 Greg Rusedski arrived and he was such a nice guy! We were given a welcome and a tour of the whole building- led by Greg! He was really great, always cracking jokes, and always having a smile on his face! He showed us all the rooms and areas, and it was fascinating! Before the competition began, all of us competitors had a doubles coaching session with Greg, and it was a lot of fun!
Then the competing began. Dad and I were one of the first ones on- and we were nervous! The scoreboard read “Cameron and Neil vs Daffyd and Rhian”. We played really well in that match and came through to win 8-4. Then followed two other solid group performances and the day’s work ended with us going through to the quarter finals and group runners up. We went back to our rooms feeling rather pleased with ourselves! And to celebrate our achievements, we went into Fulham, and went to the cinema!
The business end of the tournament arrived, and we were warmed up and ready to face Charlotte and Peter Russell- who happened to be the favourites to win the tournament. Unfortunately for us, they were too strong for us, and we were beaten 8-1, despite playing well. Charlotte and Peter went on to win the tournament, so that made us feel a bit better about losing to them! We stuck around for the presentation, and despite not being awarded a prize for finishing 3rd, 2nd or 1st, we did win the raffle to win a gigantic tennis ball signed by Greg Rusedski!
We really enjoyed our weekend at the National Tennis Centre, and we would love to go back again next year!
By Cameron Bentham