As supporters of Suffolk tennis bask in the glories of a sizzlingly successful Summer, thoughts now turn towards the Winter and continued development, especially in the crucial area of junior competition. There has been a fantastic response to the Suffolk Junior Winter League, with entries well up on last year, 40 teams entered from 12 clubs. Entries have also been encouraging for the new mini events, 20 teams entering up to the deadline today, which should allow primary schools to take part. (to enter contact isobelhunter@btinternet.com)
There is sure to be some keen and enjoyable junior competition over the Winter months, and hopefully the revived League will continue to grow in future years. The Finals Day for the League play-offs has been scheduled for Sunday 16th February at the Ipswich Sport Club.
Looking back over another highly successful County Closed, Culford School tennis scholars Toby, Oscar and Noah Cutting ( age 16, 13 and 12 respectively) achieved a first in Suffolk tennis by reaching all four County finals, and winning two of the titles. The youngest of the family, Noah, claimed the 12U county title in beating Travis Ireland 6-7 (2) 6-0 (10-2), but older brother Oscar wasn’t so fortunate, losing in the 14U decider to Jonathan Simmonds 4-6 4-6. Toby did well to reach the finals of both the 16U and 18U events.
Toby lost out to Ben Jones in the 16U 3-6 0-6, but claimed glory in the 18U with an excellent victory over Suffolk Men’s runner-up Ryan Lambert 2-6 6-4 (10-8).Speaking of his family’s achievements, Toby commented,” Winning a county title is fantastic, but what’s really rewarding is to play in the tournament as brothers – it gives us a real achievement buzz. Being tennis scholars at Culford means we can all play the tennis we need to, commit and train with other competitive players, and at the same time get a good education.”
Further exciting news from Culford is that 12 and Under Aegon National British Champion Kira Reuter has been awarded a tennis scholarship, which enables her to keep working closely with the Hills Road High Performance Centre. Kira was the number one seed in the National Finals in Bournemouth, justifying her favouritism in style, beating Gemma Heath 6-4 6-2, avenging a defeat against her a few weeks previously in the Tennis Europe event.
Kira is excited abot the new few years of her development, and commented, “ I am really pleased to have won the 12U Nationals. It is never easy to go into a tournament as no.1 seed, because it brings a whole new type of pressure. I am very excited and grateful to Culford School for offering me this opportunity to join them and continue my development with my coach Chris Johnson from Hills Road HPC – I think this partnership will be fantastic for my tennis.” (for tennis scholarships, visit: www.culford.co.uk)
Fellow West Suffolk club Stowmarket continues to maintain a busy programme of activities under the watchful eye of Head Coach Chris Cunningham, who continued the search for the next Andy Murray or Dan Evans at two fantastic weeks of Summer Camps during the holidays. Assisted by Tom Darling, Sam Ratcliffe and Olivia Campbell-Lamerton, the two weeks were a huge success and have seen 7 or 8 new players joining squads to gain that little extra from time at the club.
Stowmarket pairs had a relatively successful day at the annual Inter-Club Doubles tournament at Felixstowe, the Ladies’ pair of Mary Beesley + Linda Whipp wiining the Plate with victory over Holbrook, and Alex\+ Liam Holmes runners-up in the Men’s Plate.
(For Stowmarket club news contact Chris Cunningham on 01449- 673246). My final column of the season next week will look back over a sizzling Summer of great success at all levels, exemplified by the promotions of both our Suffolk Ladies’ team and the 35 and Overs.