A very successful mid term 4 day junior tennis tournament was held at Garon Park during the half term week.
This started on the Monday with the mini events. Players from as far away as Margate, Framlingham and Ipswich all turned up, travelling through appalling weather conditions. The 8 and under was a round robin event, where Noah Whiteman, from the home club won all his matches and the event. The 9 and under mixed event was played in two groups. In a very competitive final, Henry Hammond (Virgin Active Clearview) beat Jack Wallace (Westcliff Lawn), who also lost in the 8 and under final. This was Henry’s first ever win in an open tournament and follows in the tradition of the Lloyd Family, being the great Grandson of Dennis and the late Doris Lloyd.
The boys 10 and under event was played as a compass draw, where each of the 16 players, played 4 games and this was won by the 3rd seed, Anthony Weingarten, beating the No 1 and 2 seeds on the way. 5 girls competed in a round robin format in the 10 and event, where No 1 seed, Grace Leigh (Billericay) beat Ananya Vartak (Thorpe Bay).
The 12 and under boys singles, No 1 seed Matthew Doe (Mountnessing) was really pushed in the final against Suffolk player, Haadi Shah, who was only 10 years old. Although Matthew won 6-1, 6-1, the score does not reflect the intensity and standard of the game.
The other player, who played exceptionally well, was John Coyle (Hutton & Shenfield). He had a brilliant 3 days, just losing the final of the 14 and under singles, in a championship tie break, to the higher rated played from Kent, Harvey Conway. In the 16 and under event, he lost to Murray Lane (Colchester Tennis Centre) in the final match of the tournament, which was an excellent match, where Murray won by just 3 points in a championship tie break.
The final of the boys 18 and under event, was another great match, where Tom Peek, No 2 seed (Essex Golf & County Club) just lost to Belgium student Nurvan Wadhera. Nurvan, had beaten the No 1 and 5 seeds on the way.
In the 14 and under girl’s final was Sherria and Zaria Daniel, Sherria winning comfortably, as she did in all her matches.
The event was organised and refereed by Lesley and Ian Pitt.
Results