Kate Horsburgh - winner of the Girls County Finals gives us an insight into playing at the Road to Wimbledon Finals at SW19.... and is pictured here with Tim Henman and Kirsten Campbell-Ferguson.
'I had a fantastic time at the National Finals at the HSBC Road to Wimbledon. We arrived for the practice session on the grass courts on Sunday afternoon, having a hit with Kirsten Campbell- Ferguson from H&W. I have played on the grass at my own club in Worcester, but playing on the Aorangi grass courts at Wimbledon was a unique experience.
The competition started on Monday 12th August with the 64 boys and girls being placed in round robin groups of four, with the two players winning the most matches going forward to the main draw of 32 and the others going into the consolation event.
My first match was on practice court 5. When I first went to watch the championships at Wimbledon, I spent some time watching Djokavic and Tsonga practising together on this court, so to be playing on the same court was quite special.
I managed to win both my matches on the Monday - scraping though 13-11 in a third set tiebreak in the second match. This ensured that I qualified for the main draw.
Tim Henman was at the competition on Monday, and all the players had the opportunity to have a photo with him.
On the Tuesday I played the number 3 seed for the competition as my final match in the round robin. She beat me more easily than I hoped, but she was playing really well and went on to reach the final of the whole competition at the end of the week.
On Tuesday afternoon I played with Kirsten Campbell-Ferguson in the first round of the doubles and we had a relatively straightforward win.
On Wednesday in the singles I played a higher rated girl who is 18 months older than me but I was disappointed that I lost in two sets.
In the afternoon, Kirsten and I played the number 6 seeds in the doubles, one of whom has been a number one ranked player nationally. We had our chances but eventually lost 7-5,6-4.
That was the end of the competition for me, but we came back on the following day to have a tour of Wimbledon and visit the museum, both of which were organised by the HSBC Road to Wimbledon team (who also kindly provided a £30 voucher to spend in the Wimbledon shop).
It had been a great experience. It was fun to be at the competition with Ollie Nunn and Kirsten from H&W, and we all supported each other. There was also the chance to catch up with other friends who were competing.
I would recommend the event to everybody. I am very grateful for opportunity to have played on the world famous Wimbledon grass courts.'