9U County Cup Report
9U Girls Captain’s Report from Matt Tully
The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Girls County Team played Cheshire, North Wales and Derbyshire at Wrexham Tennis Centre on Saturday 23rd March 2024 at the annual County Cup.
Captain: Matt Tully
Assistant: Harvey Ravenscroft
Girls Team: Jemima, Eleanor, Jasmine and Eva Mae.
Arrival:
The team arrived at 9:30am in good time to have a good warm up, hit some balls and prepare for their matches. Thank you to their parents as it was a long drive from our county!
After a briefing by the referee the matches got underway at 10am.
Round 1 v North Wales:
Eva Mae and Jasmine started off the 9&U campaign at number 4 and 3 singles. Eva Mae played some good tennis keeping the ball in off her forehand side well and was trying to move her opponent to force the error. Jasmine chased and battled against a hard hitting opponent and proved too consistent for her opponent. Eva Mae lost 4-2 and Jasmine won 4-1. Next up was Eleanor and Jemima. Both showed really good energy on court and battled well against their opponents but Eleanor lost 3 extremely close games on sudden death deuce to lose 4-2 and Jemima faced an opponent who didn’t give her many mistakes and lost 4-2.
Eva Mae and Eleanor teamed up in doubles and worked well together covering the middle playing both back to make it tricky for their opponents but lost 4-2. Jasmine and Jemima had an excellent match with all 4 girls on the court hitting the ball with great speed back and forth. The girls lost this one 4-2 despite some super close games.
Score: H&W Lose 5-1
Round 2 v Derbyshire
Eva Mae and Jasmine were determined to get a good result this time and both girls battled hard and looked like they were really enjoying their tennis. Eva Mae got off to a bad start going 3-0 down but made an amazing comeback winning her next two games playing some brilliant tennis before losing the final game to lose 4-2. Jasmine again produced some excellent short shots to draw her opponent in before then playing deep knocking her off balance. Some great tactics by Jasmine meant she won 4-1. Jemima played against an extremely good opponent at number 1 who’s serve was really powerful. Jemima can be proud of her attitude in this one and failed to give up and stayed positive throughout despite losing 4-0. Eleanor faced a big hitter and really dug in holding her own corner and playing some of the best tennis that I’ve seen her play. It really was impressive watching Eleanor battle away but unfortunately her opponent was really strong and won 4-1.
Doubles followed a similar pattern and despite both pairs raising their games they both couldn’t get the win.
Score: H&W Lose 5-1
Round 3 v Cheshire
Cheshire had already won both of their other matches quite comfortably so the girls knew it would be another tough match. However this didn’t put the girls off and all of them battled well and enjoyed the fact they were in a team playing tennis together. Eva Mae and Jasmine lost 4-1 and 4-1 respectively and Eleanor and Jemima both lost 4-1. The girls lost graciously and again showed that they deserved to be there and represented the county well. Doubles was similar and cheshire were well drilled being solid at the net and not missing much from the baseline.
Score: H&W Loss 6-0
In short:
- 4th Place
- Lots of lessons learned on attacking with consistency and winning the big points.
- Great team spirt from both parents and players.
- Some good performances throughout and were missing two other players who couldn’t make it today.
Well done everyone!
9U Boys Captain’s Report from Matt Tully
The Herefordshire & Worcestershire Boys County Team played Cheshire, North Wales, Isle of Man and Derbyshire at Wrexham Tennis Centre on Sunday 24th March 2024 at the annual county cup.
Captain: Matt Tully
Assistant: Harvey Ravenscroft
Boys Team: Robin, Hugo, Buddy and David.
Arrival:
The team arrived at 9:30am in good time to have a good warm up, hit some balls and prepare for their matches. Thank you to their parents as it was a long drive from our county!
After a briefing by the referee the matches got underway at 10am.
Round 1 v North Wales:
David playing 1 age group up got off to a flying start using his attacking forehand to win 4-0 at number 4. Buddy played with good consistency, and was locked in a really close match which he lost 4-3 in the end after playing a close tiebreak. Next Hugo played using his big serve and forehand to win points but his opponent kept the ball in too often and he lost 4-2. Robin came on last and played some brilliant aggressive tennis, often searching for angles to force his opponent to make it errors. It was a really close match and went back and forward before Robin managed to secure the win in a tiebreak to make it 2-2 between the teams. Robin and David then teamed up in doubles but faced a strong pair who got the better of them winning 4-0 but Buddy and Hugo overturned their singles losses to make a doubles win 4-1 to make it 3-3 and force a shootout!
Robin and Hugo teamed up in the shootout which was a tiebreak to 10 and managed to win quite comfortably in the end 10-6. The boys got off to a great start with a really tight win 4-3 to H&W!
Score: H&W Win 4-3
Round 2 v Derbyshire
Both David and Hugo wasted no time jumping on their successes from the previous match beating Derbyshire’s 3 and 4, 4-2 and 4-0 with really impressive performances striking forehands from the baseline into the spaces in the court. Hugo’s match was closer and this time he managed to win the tiebreak setting up H&W up with a 3-0 lead before Robin extended that by exploiting his opponents’ weaknesses to win his match 4-0 quite comfortably.
This time for doubles, Robin paired up with Buddy and they played some good tennis together with confidence when volleying at the net winning 4-1 and then Hugo and David secured the 6-0 victory with a 4-0 win in their doubles.
Score: H&W Win 6-0
Round 3 v Isle of Man
David grabbed himself another 4-0 win in his singles before Buddy and Hugo started to play some of their best tennis beating Isle of Man’s 3 and 2 players with the scoreline of 4-2. Robin had a tricky match at number 1 and perhaps didn’t attack as much as what he could have in his match causing him to lost 4-1. Over to doubles and David and Buddy secured the win this time at number 2 doubles 4-2. Hugo and Robin had a tight match which went to a tiebreak but unfortunately, they came out the wrong end of it losing 4-3. But yet again another good win for H&W.
Score: H&W Win 4-2
Round 4 v Cheshire
The last match of the day was the showdown match as both counties had won all of their previous ties and therefore the winner would go through to the national finals. Cheshire were strong and the boys would have to play some of their best tennis to win these matches. David, Buddy and Hugo were first up. David and Hugo’s opponents were on form and produced some impressive displays barely missing to set Cheshire 2-0 up. Buddy got off to a great start 3-0 up before his opponent slowly got himself back into it and grabbed a tiebreak win. Robin had a super close match at number 1 and again Robin got himself slightly up in the match but Cheshire were resilient and hung in there. It went to a tiebreak and all eyes were on court number 1 with both players playing some truly fantastic tennis with big forehands, backhands, big serving, volleying and smashing on display both players got themselves around the court with speed chasing after each other’s shots. Cheshire won the tiebreak meaning they put themselves 4-0 up, a lead which couldn’t be chased. Despite that the boys went on and played some fantastic doubles with Robin and Buddy producing some of the best tennis of the day to get a tight win in the tiebreak to win 4-3. David and Hugo couldn’t match Cheshire this time and lost 4-0.
Score: H&W Loss 5-1
In short:
- 2nd Place
- Lots of lessons learned on mentality, body language and being resilient.
- Great team spirt from both parents and players.
- Some good performances throughout and were missing another player who couldn’t make it today.
Well done everyone!
