Tucked away in the leafy suburbs of Roehampton, the National Tennis Centre was the venue for a very eventful and successful Junior Nationals.
In all 10 TEAMBATH-MCTA players were accepted into the qualifying or main draws. On the girls side, Brigit Folland, Beth Askew and access player Alicia Barnett got in. For the Boys, Sid Hazarika, Toby Mitchell, Scott Clayton, Max England and David Fox started in qualifying, with Toby Martin and access player Luke Johnson joining them in the main draw.

So on 6th August the qualifying event started with some very strange match ups. First up Max England played Toby Mitchell, the first of many ‘derby’ matches between our own players. Filled with the confidence from his recent good form Toby ran out a comfortable 6-1 6-1 winner. Sid made light work of Yorkshirman Chris Wood,  winning 6-2 6-3 while David Fox (Foxy) had a superb win over Jordan Angus from Win tennis 6-3 6-4 only to find out he had to play Sid in the next round! Scott Clayton battled well to put out Jorge Wilton 6-2 6-2.

In the qualifying round Toby had a great win over Adam Skalsky, the conqueror of Bolton Arena player Peter Ashley, winning 6-3 6-4. Toby was quickly joined in the main draw by Scott Clayton who outplayed Lewis Whiteley  6-2 6-3, and Foxy who got the better of Sid 6-3 6-2.

With 3 of the 5 boys in qualifying safely through, the Main Draw started with some more coincidences! Scott and Toby Mitchell were drawn against each other. Scott’s greater experience showed as he came through 6-3 6-3. Incredibly he would now face Foxy who outplayed the 8th seed Ravi Patel 7-6 6-3. Luke Johnson had a terrific win over the 4th seed Jonathan Cornish 6-3 7-6 and Toby Martin comfortably booked his place in the next round, beating the 7th seed Matthew Frost 6-4 6-2.

Beth Askew had a sound start to the girls event beating Tiffany William 6-3 6-1, Alicia Barnett (seeded 7) had too much for Ellie Makin winning 6-0 6-2. Unfortunately Brigit lost to the 8th seed Amy Hoburn despite fighting all the way, losing 6-1 6-7 4-6.

The second round match up between Scott and Foxy was a no contest. Foxy had shin splints and couldn’t move well enough to really have a good chance, Scott winning 6-2 6-0. Toby Martin’s progress continued smoothly, beating Jonathan Binding 6-2 6-2. Luke had a scare but beat Oliver Plaskett 2-6 6-4 6-4. TEAMBATH-MCTA now had 3 boys in the Quarter finals! Beth had the biggest win of the day beating 2nd seed Abbi Melrose 6-4 7-5, a superb effort against a very determined opponent. Lissy Barnett joined Beth in the Quarter finals beating Hollie Davies 6-2 6-2.

The Quarter finals saw some more seeds tumble. Toby Martin put out the No.2 seed Sam Hutt 6-1 7-6. His tournament was now gaining momentum. Luke was too good for the 6th seed Lloyd Glasspool, winning 6-4 6-4. Scott won his 5th match in a row, beating Ben Lott 6-2 7-6 and setting up a semi with Toby. Beth and Lissy also made the semis, Beth having to work hard in a 6-4 7-5 defeat of Emily Gibbens. Lissy had a walkover vs Caitlin Hindmarsh.
5 TEAMBATH-MCTA players filled the 8 semi final spots. Poor weather forced the matches indoors. Toby and Scott had a great battle. Toby was in complete control at 6-1 5-3. His only wobble of the week allowed the ever hungry Scott to win the next 4 games to level the match 7-5, but Toby ran out a deserved winner 6-3 in the 3rd set.  Luke ran out of steam losing to the No.1 seed Luke Bambridge 6-4 6-2. Beth had too much variety for Lissy winning 6-2 6-0 .

Finals day dawned fair and the Boys and Girls finals were played on adjoining outdoor courts. Toby finished a superb week beating the top seed Bambridge 6-4 6-1. He had proved himself to be the outstanding player of the tournament, ousting both the 1st and 2nd seeds on his way to victory. Beth faced the top seed Ruth Seaborne. She could not quite emulate Toby’s achievement losing 0-6 6-7. She still has 2 years in junior tennis and her progress in the last few months augurs well for the future.

So ended an extraordinary Nationals. In all TEAMBATH-MCTA players put out 8 seeds! The Boys beat 6 of the 8 seeded players and yet not one of our boys was seeded.  Team spirit was superb throughout the event.  All the qualities that our Academy stands for were on display and all our players should be congratulated.