Tennis Works

During the week commencing 24th August, tennis players from around the country are playing in their Junior County Closed tournament. The various categories are set by age, starting with the Under 8’s right through to Under 18’s. This years’ Bucks County Closed was held at Chesham Bois Tennis Club and the Under 8 and Under 9 categories being played at the Bucks Indoor Tennis Centre in High Wycombe.

On Thursday 27th August, two players from Milton Keynes based Cavill Academy travelled to Wycombe to compete in the Under 9 Championship using the LTA Mini Tennis Orange format that uses low compression balls, ¾ length courts and the best of three tie-break scoring. In the girls category Lauren Armstrong played against 4 other girls for the title. Lauren, who has only just been allowed to graduate to Mini Tennis Orange took the Girls title with relative ease after defeating all her opponents in her group. Lauren adapted well to the small court and did what was necessary to win, although the National Competition Framework will continue to restrict Lauren from progressing in competition for another year as many of the other girls in her category move up to Mini Tennis Green in September due to everyone being a year older.

In the boys Under 9’s, Zack MacQueen continued his good form which lasted for 3 and half hours. Zack was placed in a group of 5 people of which the top two were put through to the semi finals. In the group stages Zack won all but one of his matches against Finlay Barrett from Chesham 1879. Unfortunately Zack lost in 3 tight sets, which resulted in Finlay winning the group and Zack taking second place. Zack went on to play Haltons’ Daniel Dean in the semi final, which was also a very tight encounter with Zack managing to close the match out and book his place in the final against Finlay who had won his semi final. In the final both boys played some great tennis, especially with some very strong serves. Zack managed to take the first set and lead in the second. Then a string of good points from Finlay ensured the final went to three sets as Finlay won the second set. After a nervy start to the third set Finlay managed to take control as Zack made a few errors although he was tactically trying to find a way to win. The third set slipped away from Zack and Finlay went on to win the match and take the title.

In Northamptonshire, Tom Cunild competed in the Under 10’s category at Kings Park Tennis Centre using the Mini Tennis Green format which uses full courts and mid-compression balls. Tom joined the Cavill Academy in May this year, after he had progressed through the Talent Development Programme. Tom’s dedication to improve was shown as he made the final but unfortunately lost out. This in itself was a great achievement for Tom and hopefully he can take one step further next year!

Cavill Academy Director, John Cavill, said, “I’m very proud of the players and their performance. Lauren clearly is a great talent and one of the best in her age group. She needs to be pushed-on otherwise her potential is being restricted, which is one of the biggest problems the LTA Competitive Framework poses us. Luckily for Zack, who is a great competitor and aggressive player, he will play full-court tennis as from September that will make a world of difference to him and unlocking his natural ability into a bigger area. Tom was a big surprise but this just shows how far he has come in such a short time. He will take loads of confidence from this result and further improve for the future. It’s always nice to have a County Champion at whatever age group, but the focus is to continue the good work and reach Under 12 nationals. Simon Tomlinson, who coaches Tom, Lauren and Zack, is doing a fantastic job with all the players in the academy and much of their success is down to his drive and commitment. With more players being attracted to our Academy, we will go from strength to strength to raise the bar in terms of performance and commitment.”

Released: 02 September 2009