Leicestershire U9 County Cup Report
Team: Andrew Chesca, Toby Christison, Theo Coats, Declan Griffiths
Tabitha Holmes, Sophia Middleton, Emily Pollard, Fallon Reid
Location: Grantham Tennis Club
Opponents: Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire
Date: Saturday 15th August
Captain: Adam Charlton. Assistant Captain: Rhianna Nathwani
Our first match of the day was up against Nottinghamshire, the county that were runners up to us last year.
Toby and Theo started first for us against the Notts number 2 and 3 boys.
Theo suffered a battling defeat against a talented Notts boy but Toby produced one of the best displays of the day to come back from a set down to defeat the Notts number 3.
They were followed on court by Declan and the first of the girls Fallon.
Fallon outclassed her opponent on her way to the first of several very comfortable wins for her on the day.
Declan sadly couldn't match her as he succumbed to a powerful Notts number 1 boy.
This left the match at 2-2 with x2 girls singles and x3 doubles rubbers to go. Emily and Tabitha then produced strong performances to win in straight sets to give us a 4-2 lead before the doubles.
All three Leicestershire pairings produced some superb tennis to run through the Notts team winning the tie in style 7-2.
The other match running between Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire was a much closer affair so after waiting for them to conclude it was on to Lincolnshire in our 2nd fixture.
We kept the team the same and realised very quickly that the Lincolnshire team couldn't match up to the quality we had. Leicestershire raced into an unassailable lead winning all x6 singles rubbers in straight sets.
Andrew and Theo once again teamed up to win their boys doubles making great use of different formations to keep their opponents guessing. Tabitha and Fallon proved just what a good girls doubles team they make with a straight forward victory. It was left to Sophia and Declan in the mixed doubles to put the finishing touches on a 9-0 drubbing which they stylishly did.
Once again we were left waiting for the other match to finish and it became apparent that Northamptonshire had won meaning that the final fixture was a winner takes all final.
Assistant Captain Rhianna Nathwani and I decided to rotate the doubles pairings just to keep the players focused. We kept the same players in for the singles.
Once again Theo and Toby started off for us. Both players produced battling displays with Theo just losing and Toby just winning. This meant we were at
1-1 with Declan and Fallon playing. Fallon once again produced a classy display to win comfortably. Declan followed with a wonderfully mature and calm performance to beat a top player.
This meant that we had a chance to secure the regional county cup before even the doubles rubbers. Emily then delivered a comprehensive win to leave it to Tabitha to produce the winning rubber to retain the title.
With the pressure off, the players went out and enjoyed their doubles working on their skills. Tabitha and Theo added the mixed doubles match to make the final score 6-3 to Leicestershire.
It was a pleasure to captain such a professional team containing so many high quality young tennis players. The current crop of players have shown over the past two years just how good a job local coaches are doing in producing regional level mini tennis players.
A big thank you as always to all the players and their parents for their support across the day from myself and Rhianna.
