Following on the success last month of both the Suffolk Men’s + Ladies’ team, our Ladies’ 35 and Overs have also done the county proud by earning promotion to Group 4 in the Aegon nationwide County Cup. With Janie Taylor captaining the side for the 12th year, and Katie Tassell, Emma Elsom and Julia Carter the remainder of a strong squad, they finally got out og Group 6 with victories over Durham and Cleveland (3-2), Staffordshire (5-0) and the Chanel Islands (3-1).
Having already enjoyed the British Tour, Men’s Challenger and the success of Suffolk Ladies at County Week, local tennis enthusiasts will be able to watch many of the country’s most promising juniors as they gather at Bath Road for the 84th Felixstowe Junior Open. This is the 10th year that Neil Songer has refereed this prestigious tournament, who with Tournament Chairman Philip Cooper has seen a rise in entries from just over 100 players in 2003 to a very healthy 300, a great deal of this success due to the encouragement of mini tennis, run for 14 years by Kathy Martin and her daughter Claire.
Following the great collective success at Framlingham, Suffolk juniors will need to be at their very best against a number of quality players from Essex, Norfolk, Durham, Herts, Middlesex, Cambridgeshire, Surrey, Kent, Buckinghamshire and other counties. Suffolk Men’s runner-up Ryan Lambert leads the challenge in the Open Singles, as does Catriona Pearson in the Ladies’ Singles. Lambert’s Sports Club colleagues Rohan Abel, Jonathan Simmonds and Oscar Cutting will be looking to do well in the 18U/16U/14U respectively.
Noah Cutting and Ross Spinner met in the recent 12U Framlingham final, and will be hoping to repeat this feat, with Framlingham runner-up Harriet Petley also hoping to maintain her good form. Spectators are more than welcome to enjoy some great tennis during the week. For my part I am venturing to the north Norfolk coast again and the fabulous family festival that is the Hunstanton Tournament, which again has an entry of nearly 1,000 competitors. This will be my 34th year at Sunny Hunny, and sadly marks my swansong.
Last week saw yet another highly successful Framlingham Tournament, and 2013 has also been a fantastic year for Framlingham College tennis. Fielding 22 teams in the Aegon Suffolk leagues, three times more than any other club in the county, the College Club took 6 county titles. The girls have had an incredible season, winning Division 1 in the 12U, 16U + 18U age-groups for the first time, the Ladies too. The 50 different female players competing was more than double any other club in the 8 counties of the East Region.
The 12U Boys also won Division 1, and the 14U Boys were champions of Division 2. The Mixed 8U Red and Mixed 10U Green were both Division 1 runners-up, showing the strength in depth of the current players at the club. Brandeston Hall, the College Prep School, also had a season to remember by becoming Schools’ Champions in 8 different competitions, being victorious in the 13U Boys’ B League, the 11U Green Mixed and Girls, and the 10U Orange Mixed\and Boys, as well as winning all three 8U Red Leagues.
Another six of Brandeston’s teams were runners-up in various age-groups too, with their 11U also winning the Framlingham College Tennis Festival. The College’s 15U B Girls’ team won their Suffolk Schools’ League to make an incredible 16 team titles won in all, double what was achieved in 2012. A delighted Head Coach Trevor Wright enthused “This has been a season to remember for all our hard-working players, supportive parents and committed coaching team.”