Sadly today was the final day of the Schools Zones at this years AEGON Classic, however the forecast was good so I was looking forward to a busy day at the Edgbaston Priory Club. To add to the excitement there was a secondary schools tournament on during the day so a good chance to see some of the best schools tennis Warwickshire has to offer.
Upon arrival, the sun was beaming through the clouds so it was time to throw those raincoats to one side and bask in the warm Birmingham sunshine. Its funny, when the sun is shining everyone seems that little bit happier or maybe it was the fact that everyone was looking forward to a full days worth of uninterrupted play. It was also nice to see Tom Harlow (Head of Business Development) and Caroline Blincoe (County & Club Relations Director) from the National Tennis Centre checking out the AEGON Classic 2010 action. In a brief chat with Tom, he mentioned how impressed he was with this year’s event and that it was great to see so many of Warwickshire's schools participating in tennis.
I did also manage to sneak onto Centre Court today and take a few snaps of the Maria Sharapova/Sesil Karatantcheva and Alison Riske/Yanina Wickmayer matches. Sharapova was in very impressive form and on today’s showing would be my outside tip for Wimbledon this year. Furthermore, a massive congratulations should go to the ground staff as centre court looked in tiptop condition considering the amount of rain we have had over the past 5 days.
Once I arrived back at the Warwickshire LTA tent the secondary schools tournament was just about winding up. In the girls event Alderbrook School finished second with Arden School taking home the winners trophy and in the boys event Henley School finished runners up to eventual winners Cardinal Newman School. Congratulations to all the winners and to everyone who played in and refereed the tournament today.
Now the schools tennis zones and secondary schools tournaments had finished we were left with the sad task of packing away the Warwickshire LTA tent for the final time. Its been an extremely busy and exciting week for everyone working on the schools zones however its not totally over yet as there is still finals weekend to look forward to so if you’ve not booked your tickets yet I urge you to do so, you wont be left disappointed (plus the weathers meant to be great).
To see the photos from today’s action please click here. Don’t forget to tune in on Monday for a finals weekend roundup and the AEGON Classic 2010 final blog!