Play Your Way To Wimbledon
Ever dreamt of playing on the famous grass courts of Wimbledon? Who hasn’t! The LTA’s Play Your Way To Wimbledon tournament gives Bancroftians an opportunity to follow their tennis heroes and compete for a title at Wimbledon.
The journey begins by competing locally at a school (or club or park), with the winners progressing through to the County Finals, and then onto the National Finals at Wimbledon. So, one of the many ‘advantages’ of the Bancroft’s tennis season is spending a whole day at West Grove with 56 of our best junior tennis players for this U14 event.
The 16 round robin box winners progressed to the quarter-final stage where Arthur (Rem), Ishaan (3rd), Jake (3rd), Ryan (3rd), Charlotte (L4), Kamila (L4), Elina (L4) and Eleanor (L4) narrowly missed out on the semi-finals but not before pushing their opponents to the limit on the high bouncing hard courts. Arhan (Rem), Dhyan (L4), Ellie B (L4) and Lily (L4) took an extra step closer to the Wimbledon grass by advancing to the semis but it was Eashan (Rem) versus Ryan (L4) and Amelia (L4) versus Elora (3rd) battling it out in the boys and girls finals respectively. Ryan’s use of the drop-shot/lob combination was a very clever tactic and his varying top-spin and slice shots certainly troubled his opponent, but it was Eashan’s deep top-spin forehand which eventually earned him the 4-2 win and the title.
Elora did superbly well to make the final in her first year, displaying lovely ground stroke technique and showcasing a particularly powerful forehand. However, Amelia’s greater consistency on all her well timed shots, in addition to her incredible tenacity, meant that she took home the coveted trophy following her 4-3 win that went to a nail-biting tie-break. Good luck to Eashan and Amelia in the County finals!
All the competitors conducted themselves superbly with the right mix of competitive drive, sportsmanship and community spirit. Well done to Bea (L4) and Dhruv (Rem) on winning the Plate competition and a huge thank you the U4th umpires – Martin, Shrey, Shaan, Sofiina, Avantica and Anjani – who gave up their own Games afternoons to help the events run smoothly. The staff team of Miss Clark, Mr Meyers, Mr Wardley and Josh Stokes were absolutely “ace” to work with too. Overall, a “smashing” time was had by all.
Miss Wainwright
Head of Tennis
