Cormac Lunn tells us of his experience competing at the National Road to Wimbledon finals in August 2013.
"In the year that Andy Murray won Wimbledon I had the privilege of competing in the national finals of the Road to Wimbledon. I progressed through my local Cramlington club competition into the County Finals which I won and then onwards to Wimbledon. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world. Over 500,000 attend the tournament over its 2 week period in July but we had the place to ourselves for 1 week in August.
"I arrived at SW19 to be greeted by the gate attendant who gave me a competitor’s wrist band and pointed me in the direction of the courts. Already there were players in their tennis whites knocking up on the practice courts in the sunshine surrounded by the distinctive dark green and purple flowers and shrubs that are the classic Wimbledon colour theme. There were lots of familiar faces from the North East like Andrew McBride, Chris Jeffrey and Henri Moorland who I later played against in my group. It felt exciting to be part of something so big and to be competing on the same courts as legends like Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Andy Murray.
"I was lucky that Phil Barron, my coach, was able to come to London with me. His advice before every match was to try to feel relaxed, don’t panic and just enjoy the experience which worked out really well. Grass is a very different surface to play on compared to the hard courts that I train on. The ball comes at you fast and low with less time to react and the points are much shorter. The courts could not be used before 10am each day to allow the morning dew to dry off. Adapting my footwork to the slipperier surface was quite difficult at first but it became more familiar as the competition progressed. It was a tough competition and the playing standard was quite high but I came through a difficult qualifying group to get through to the main draw, beating a 4.2 rated player along the way. I also played in the doubles competition with Chris Jeffrey, a training partner from Northumberland.
"As well as the tennis competition we got a guided tour of the ground, visiting No.1 Court, Centre Court , Henman Hill , Court 18, famous as the court the had the longest match played over 3 days and the Press Interview Room. The show courts had been re-laid straight after the Championship and were already starting to look good for 2014. The ground has 41 grass courts, each blade a precise 8mm stubble which are used from May until September by the lucky few Club members!
"Meeting Tim Henman was a particular highlight. He was a friendly, likeable guy who was a lot taller than I expected! He was happy to answer everyone’s questions and told us to keep working hard at our tennis and keep trying to get better.
"Overall it was a really memorable week and a once-in-a-lifetime experience that made for a great tennis summer."
If you would like to get involved in the Road to Wimbledon competition in 2014 please contact the county office on 0191 522 5005 or click here.