Suffolk Boys just lost out to Essex on a deciding Championship tie-break, with our Girls’ team of Sophia Khalyaeva, Catherine Whittle, Harriet Petley and India Ball finishing in an excellent 2nd place at Luton. A delighted coach Trevor Wright saw his team overcome both Bedfordshire and Norfolk 3-1, though they went down 0-4 to eventual winners Cambridgeshire 0-4 on the opening day.
The battling girls lost out on a shoot-out to Essex following a 2-2 draw, Norfolk beating Essex and ensuring a highly commendable runners-up spot for Suffolk. All the county’s rubbers were won by Sophia and Harriet, who were both outstanding all weekend, four out of their five victories on Sunday being achieved after dropping the opening set. Well done to both our teams !!
Suffolk should be justifiably proud of its many and varied tennis achievements at all levels, and the performance of the Ipswich Sports Club Men in this year’s Aegon National League has been nothing short of sensational. Gosling were the latest victims of the buoyant Henley Road side last Sunday, losing 5-1, with Ipswich amazingly now top of the league with just two away matches to come,
The importance of schools’ tennis cannot be stressed enough, and Amberfield School continue to make an impressive contribution to girls’ tennis. Kathy Martin worked tirelessly for many years to develop and encourage the Nacton players, and Sarah Rafferty has continued the good work. Sarah reports that Amberfield has reached the County Finals in the Mini Red, Mini Orange and Under 13 A schools’ competitions so far.
Pam Rogers continues to commit herself to schools’ tennis, and has news of the Inter-Schools’ Girls’ U19 Doubles event played in two sections of lst Vls and 2nd Vls, both won by Framlingham College, thriving under the driving force of Trevor Wright. The Girls’ Doubles is an annual event which has now been running for over 21 years, and was originally run by Fran D’Alcorn at St.Felix, Southwold, before coming under the Schools’ umbrella.
With the second half of term now underway, many schools will be hoping to win those crucial matches which will see them reaching the various Boys’ and Girls’ age-group finals which be staged throughout the county over the next few weeks. The competitive opportunities don’t stop once the Summer Holidays arrive, with Suffolk having one of the most envied tournament programmes in the region, let alone the country.
The circuit begins in West Suffolk as usual with the Glasswell’s Bury and West Suffolk Junior Tournament, when the Victory Ground courts will be bursting all week with players of all ages and abilities. Grade 3 Framlingham comes next , followed by Lowestoft at Normanston Park and then the Grade 3 Felixstowe Junior event at Bath Road. The climax comes with the Suffolk Junior Closed
Tournament at the end of August, an event all county juniors should enter.
Finally, Paul Sheldrake reports that there is further good news, with the 5 new courts in Christchurch Park now open. The FREE tennis coaching sessions started last Saturday at 1pm, and for just £5-00 two hours’ coaching is also on offer on Sunday mornings starting at 10am. Many different programmes will be on offer in the coming months, with further information to be found at : www.ipswichparktennis.co.uk. Who knows, there just could be another Rafa Nadal waiting to be discovered, the amazing Spaniard winning his 6th French Open title yesterday to equal Bjorn Borg’s record and stay as world no.1.