R2R Tennis

Photo shows Leicestershire U12 Girls, from left to right:

Ana Webber, Siobhan O’Gorman, Adelaide Muskwe and Olivia Wagstaff.

The 12 and under tennis County Cup took place at 8 venues across the UK . 5 or 6 Counties played at each venue, each county sending their top 3 or 4 players.

  Ana Webber played for Leicestershire (venue Corby Indoor Tennis Centre) and won all 3 of her singles matches!

 On Saturday she played in number 2 position against Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. In her first match following a slow start and losing the first set, she fought back taking the 2nd set and winning the match tie break comfortably. She then won her second match taking both sets and only dropping 2 games. On Sunday she played in number 1 position against Nottinghamshire. The Nottinghamshire player was one of the highest rated players in the tournament and nationally ranked as 65. Ana beat the Nottinghamshire number 1 player convincingly in a challenging match, only losing 1 game in each set.

 Unfortunately for the team it came to a tie break shoot out to decide 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions. Leicestershire lost the shoot out against Nottinghamshire by 2 points in a hard fought tie break placing the team 4th.

Stamford Tennis Club’s Under 14 boys are runners up in the Lincolnshire County competition in the Aegon Team Tennis series. Beating three Lincolnshire teams on their way to the final – Boston and Grantham in the Round Robin Leagues and then Tennis Buddies from Woodall Spa in the semi final, they faced Lincoln team Eastgate in the final.

The Final was played at Eastgate on May 29th 2010:

Despite constant drizzle, Edward Henley and William Bourne won their singles matches  – Bourne in straight sets and Henley battling out a tie break to keep Stamford in the frame. Felix Beech and Oliver Huxley faced Eastgate’s number 1 and 2 players. They both fought tough matches but were defeated.

 At the end of the doubles rounds the teams were equal on points which forced a play-off. Beech and Bourne fought  to the bitter end with some winning shots, but they could not overpower Eastgate’s first pair and narrowly lost by three points in a match tie break.

 All four boys are coached by R2R Tennis. “The boys all put in great performances at each stage of this competition.” said the club’s Performance Coach Ralph Clarke. “They faced some stiff competition in the final and fought hard but were narrowly pipped at the post. But to get to this stage and take away the runner-up title is a great achievement for Stamford Tennis Club.” 

Thrapston’s Hard Battle

Thrapston U8s Aegon Mini Red team was in action again this second week week of May at home against tough opponents Corby Indoor tennis centre. Thrapston’s team was Hollie, Kira, Andrew and Joseph.

 With Corby having a large pool of players to choose from, Thrapston’s squad of 6 knew they were in for a tough fixture.

 In the first round Corby took a 3 -1 lead. Andrew was the only player to win a match for Thrapston with a 10-5 score line. Kira came close to upsetting Corby’s number 2 player but finally lost 7-10, despite putting in a great effort to try and upset the odds.

 Round 2 went much the same way, Corby again winning 3 of the 4 matches on offer. This time Joseph, only 5 years old and playing in his first ever tournament, was victorious. .Andrew came very close to winning again but finally went down 8-10.

 Round 3 yet again was 3 – 1 to Corby. After losing her first 2 matches, Hollie bounced back with a gritty performance to record a 10-8 victory. Yet again Andrew was unfortunate to lose, going down 7-10 against the Corby number 1, but he showed he could compete against the best opponents.

 With an overall score of 9 matches to 3 going into the final round, Thrapston were now playing for pride. Thrapston and Corby shared the last round with 2 wins each. Kira and Hollie both won their final matches 10-8.

 The final score was 11 – 5 to Corby. Overall, Corby were the stronger team and deserved their victory. However, Thrapston also showed that on another day the result could have been different, having just lost out in so many close matches.

 After the match, Thrapston’s Head Coach Peter Harding said “I couldn’t fault any of my players today. We knew it was going be a tough match, each player gave 100% and I think they should be very happy with their performance in only their second team match. Well done everyone. It’s a pleasure to work with these players. I couldn’t have asked for any more.”

Thrapston UNDER 8s Fantastic Win

For the first time in the club’s history, Thrapston Tennis Club have entered an Under 8s team in the Northants Aegon league.

Thrapston’s first fixture was a tough away match against Northampton County, a large club with an established coaching programme. Thrapston on the other hand have only recently created their Mini Red performance group and they selected their players from this new squad.

The four players in the Thrapston team were Hollie, Kira, Oscar and Andrew.

Each fixture has four rounds of 4 matches. In a very tight first round,  Thrapston edged into an early lead 3 – 1.The 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th rounds all finished 2 – 2. Therefore Thrapston got the win against Northampton County 9 – 7!

Hollie: won 3 of her matches with some excellent play. Her only defeat was to the Northampton County Number 1.

Kira: in only her 2^nd competition showed great improvement and managed two wins. She put in a very determined performance, producing excellent play on the court, including winning a match 10 – 8 after being 6 – 1 down.

Oscar: also won 2 matches, proving to be very adept at keeping the ball in court and forcing his opponent to make errors. Oscar is happy to rally forever  and seemed to enjoy watching his opponents tire.

Andrew: won 2 matches by battling for every point, even trying to give his opponents a chance by serving outside the court! He fought hard for every point and his victories were well deserved.

This was a great result for Thrapston.  Captain and Head Coach Peter Harding said he was delighted with all aspects of the performance of his players in their first league match and the victory was a bonus. His pre-match team talk was to just go out and enjoy playing no matter what the result.

All 4 players deserve great credit for their performance. Well done team!