Suffolk Ladies made full use of home advantage at Felixstowe as they whitewashed both the South of Scotland and Oxfordshire to leap out of the basement of Group 7 in the 119th Aegon Summer County Cup. A determined squad of Katie Tassell (capt) + Emma Elsom, Amanda Keen + Olivia Campbell-Lamerton, Kari Sherington + Louise Rogers/Kitty McWhirter were simply the best, Kitty McWhirter making a successful debut and Kari Sherington failing to drop a set. Let’s hope this result inspires them to keep progressing in the future.
Suffolk Men have made a superb start in Group 2 with wins over Chesire (8-1) and Derbyshire (6-3), and at the time of writing it can only be hoped they have at least retained their lofty status with both captain Jeremy Cowley and Myles Orton unavailable for the last 2 days. It’s also congratulations to our 9 and Under team of Adam Rudolph, Joshua Stokes, William Baylis, Iabelle Eaton, Maddie McLoughlin + Justice Hall on winning the County Cup with comprehensive victories over Norfolk (8-1), Cambridgeshire (8-1) + Bedfordshire (9-0).
Many of the Ladies’ team will have competed in the Bury and West Suffolk Junior Tennis Tournament, which is still going strong after 86 years, and is being staged all next week in its new home of Culford School. With many entry deadlines before the great Andy Murray victory, tournament entries are slightly down everwhere, though a very healthy 170 youngsters will be competing in the various Singles, Doubles and Mini Tennis events, the 14 and 18s running from Monday to Wednesday, and the 12s and 16s from Thursday to Saturday.
The Open Men’s and Ladies’ Singles will be contested all week, with mini green on Monday/Tuesday, mini red on Friday and mini orange on Saturday, so as not to coincide with the mini events at Cromer. Once again the mixed competitions are sponsored by the Bury Free Press, with the tournament also given invaluable support by both Glasswells and Ensors. Topspin Tennis will be available for racket stringing and clothing, with spectators very welcome to support our up-and-coming juniors and enjoy the wonderful Culford facilities.
Stowmarket Tennis Club juniors, encouraged by Suffolk LTA Coach of the Year Chris Cunningham, have always been good supporters of the Bury Tournament , and Chris reports that is has been a very busy last few weeks, a large number of volunteers working hard to garden and generally spruce the club up for the Open Day on 30th June. Many weeks of work went in to ensuring the day ran smoothly, so a big thank-you to all members involved.
Over 50 people came along to try some coaching, hitting and racket testing, and generally experience Stowmarket’s best kept secret ! The Summer league teams are well into their fixtures now, with some very good results from both the Men’ s and Ladies’ lst teams. If Andy Murray has inspired YOU to add greater depth to the teams, please contact Chris Cunningham on 01449- 673246. Finally, there will be lots of different sessions for new and experienced juniors over the holidays, with fun hits, coaching, matches and camps all on offer.
Finally, another West Suffolk club, Haverhill, held an 8U Tournament recently. Jayden Forsdicke, Saul Hindmarch, Sam Cates + Isaac Strid made up Group A, with Saul unbeaten and Jayden 2nd. Group B of Sarvesh Singh, Sam Fowle, Arthur Ferrar + Marc Fisher saw Arthur top and Haverhill’s Sam Fowle 2nd. The decider finished up with Saul winning another Haverhill tournament, beating Jayden 10-6, with some close and exciting matches throughout the day.