Team: Oliver Palmer, Charlie Chapman, Miles Johnson-Manley, Joel Price, Rhodri Atkinson, Zac Webb
We started the county cup event at the National Tennis Centre playing against Dorset. Our team were at a slight disadvantage as we were only playing doubles on day one so the boys had to wait to play. It didn’t help us get off to the best start and the boys’ lost their matches. We then had a steep hill to climb if we were to beat Dorset by winning three of our singles. Unfortunately the boys’ lost their matches and we lost to Dorset 6-0.
On the second day our next challenge was playing Somerset. After being 2-0 down from losing at number 3 and 4 in singles, it was going to be a challenge to come back. Ollie and Joel played brilliantly and won their matches, taking us to 2-2. We went on to play doubles; winning one match – fantastically played by Ollie and Joel – and losing the other with Charlie and Miles. It then came down to Joel and Ollie to win their doubles and take us to a tie-break shoot out. They did the team proud and won their match, and stayed on to play the tie-break shoot out. It was an exciting win and a real boost for the team.
On the final day we played Avon for the 3rd and 4th play-off. The boys started off really positively with Miles and Charlie winning their singles matches, immediately taking us to 2-2 in singles. Miles and Charlie played well to win their doubles match and after losing our other doubles match, we were again faced with a tie-break shoot out. Ollie and Charlie played brilliantly and after being 9-4 down they fought hard and took the score up to 9-9, keeping us all on the edge of our seats! After two match points, unfortunately we lost 12-10, putting us in 4th place.
Well done to the team. Hopefully there have been lots of lessons learnt. Captain’s player of the tournament was Ollie Palmer. His overall performance was great in singles and doubles. He showed real determination throughout the County Cup. Well done boys!
Nick Edwards
Gloucestershire County Cup Captain