The team travelled to Kings Park in Northampton on 19th July to contest the 9 & under county cup against our local rivals Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
In our first match we were drawn against Northamptonshire. We raced into an early lead thanks to singles wins for Gurveer and Samik. Dylan then played arguably the match of the day to come back from a set and 3 match points down. His opponent really was a wall that got everything back! The match lasted so long that in the same time, Emily and Tabitha both recorded singles victories whilst Dylan was still on court! Talia then completed a comfortable win to give us a 6-0 lead going into the doubles. Northamptonshire couldn't raise their game to match the Leicestershire pairings who all won in impressive style.
Result: Leicestershire 9 Northamptonshire 0
Our second match of the day was against a stronger Lincolnshire team which had just narrowly been defeated by Nottinghamshire. Assistant captain Abigail Amos and I made a few changes for this match with Jack Minski and Maisie Smith coming in to make their singles debuts. Once again we got off to an excellent start with both Jack and Samik fighting through two very tough matches to put us crucially 2-0 up. Dylan then lost to the very impressive Lincolnshire number 1 in a very entertaining match. The girls’ singles followed, with Maisie surviving an impressive fight back from her opponent to seal her victory. This was quickly followed by Tabitha and Talia, who cruised to singles wins to, once again, put us in an unassailable lead before the doubles. Lincolnshire rallied well in the doubles to win the boys and the mixed before Talia and Tabitha once again showed how good a pairing they were by winning their girls’ doubles.
Result: Leicestershire 6 Lincolnshire 3
This meant that the whole day now rested on our match against Nottinghamshire, who were also undefeated. The first two boys’ singles were shared, with Samik producing a superb win and Jack losing a hard fought match. Dylan then outclassed the Nottinghamshire number 1 to put us 2-1 up. The girls followed in some very high tension matches! Emily came through in 3 sets to extend the Leicestershire lead. Tabitha then produced a fantastic display from 5-0 down in the first set to win in straight sets against the Nottinghamshire number 2. This put us one rubber away from winning the title. Unfortunately Talia couldn't quite get us over the line in her difficult singles match so we went into the doubles 4-2 up. As the tension grew, sadly the Nottinghamshire boy’s pair started resorting to some desperate tactics to try and unsettle Jack and Samik. I'm proud to say they remained calm and rightly won their match and with it the title! Talia and Tabitha then followed them with another excellent doubles display to win in 3 sets. The final rubber of the day saw Gurveer and Maisie take on the Nottinghamshire number 1 boy and girl. Gurveer and Maisie produced a fantastic result to fight back from a set down to win and put the icing on the cake!
Result: Leicestershire 7 Nottinghamshire 2
So overall it was an excellent day for tennis in Leicestershire. I would like to thank all the players who were fantastic throughout the day; the parents for their great support and words of encouragement; Abigail Amos for being a superb assistant captain and the county office for all their help organising the team and allowing me to captain such a great side.
Team:
Gurveer Bajwa, Samik Chandarana, Tabitha Holmes, Jack Minski, Talia Neilson-Gatenby, Emily Pollard, Dylan Sanghera and Maisie Smith
Adam Charlton
9 & Under County Cup Captain