Day One vs H&W – 3-6 Loss
Jacob and Aidan started us off on day one. Jacob’s opponent was a bit too big and strong and was a convincing winner, whilst Aidan battled but in the end lost out in straight sets. Gabriel then went on and did what he does best by being aggressive from the baseline and looked comfortable at the end of the first set, but then his opponent dug deep and make himself very tough to beat by making a lot of balls and slowing the game down but Gabriel battled well to take the win. Jack then did what he does best by using a lot of variation making things awkward. In a really tough battle in the second set, he just missed out but not without giving his opponent a scare. Joel was very convincing and eased to a straight sets win, whilst James played a very high level match but in the end was beaten by a better player leaving us 2-4 after singles meaning we needed to win all 3 doubles matches. Gabriel and Aidan came back from a set down to win in a match tiebreak giving us hope. Joel and Harry got off to a very slow start but came back strongly in the second set but lost it 7-5, whilst James and Jack lost in a match tiebreak meaning we lost the day but it could have been so different!
Day Two vs Norfolk – 1-8 Loss
An unchanged line up today. Jacob got off to a flyer but was unable to sustain the level and so lost in straight sets. Aidan played well and troubled his opponent but was also on the losing side. Gabriel went on and faced a similar issue to the previous day, with his opponent giving him no pace to work with but just like the day before, he found a way through his opponent to win. Jack had an epic match lasting over 2.5hrs but in the end ran out of gas. Joel faced a good opponent and played well but couldn’t find a way to take a set and lost in straight sets. James suffered an injury midway through his match and it was obviously affecting him throughout the whole of the second set which left him little chance of an upset. Given that Harry had to leave that morning due to personal circumstances that left us without a reserve player to replace James in the doubles so we had to concede that match as well as us losing the other two doubles rubbers. A tough day made better with a trip to Nando’s and a feisty game of Articulate!
Day Three vs Cumbria – 2-7
Final day with a win needed to give us a chance to stay up, we needed something special from everyone. Aidan battled hard, gave a good account of himself but didn’t have enough in the end, whilst Jacob didn’t have an answer for his opponent’s play leaving us 2-0 down. Gabriel was able to get his third singles win of the weekend with his easiest win of the weekend. Jack had a slow start, but battled back in the second set to make his opponent worried but just came up short, whilst Joel lost a tight three set battle. James was still very much in pain but gave it a go but with the result gone it wasn’t worth the risk of further injury.
A challenging weekend but despite the results it was still very enjoyable. My thanks go to the players for their efforts throughout the weekend. Also to James Cale who supported me exceptionally well with the on court coaching and the off court organising.
Callum Chivers
Notts 18U Age Group Captain