GRAINVILLE Tennis club saw a number of fantastic performances from youth athletes in the SaSo Strategic Jersey Closed tournament.
17-year-old Jonnie Le Feuvre established dominance in the Men’s Singles category, beating a number of experienced tennis players on his way to victory.
Le Feuvre shows the promise of youth tennis in Jersey, and the vice chair of Jersey Tennis, Sonia Smith, was very excited about his potential: “He’s an Island Games player, and he’s a great hope for us, because he’s only 17 and he’s busy beating all the men. He’s doing really well.”
Le Feuvre fell short in the Men’s Doubles to another youngster in Sonny Derrien and his partner James Faudemer. The Men’s Doubles final was “the match of the tournament”, according to Smith.
Derrien and Faudemer faced Aaran Higgins and Joel Mckinlay in a closely matched contest. After all, three sets were played out the match was won on a champions tie-break with Derrien and Faudemer winning 10-8. Derrien also topped both the Under-16 Boys Singles and Doubles alongside Max Forbes.
Isabella Aldridge also displayed her prowess, scooping four top prizes in the process. Aldridge won the Ladies’ Singles, the Under-16 Girls Singles, the Under-16 Girls Doubles with Anais McDermott and finally, the Mixed Doubles alongside Max Forbes.
In the younger age groups, Jayden De Abreu and Evan Maultby made a strong impression in the Under-12 Doubles, while also finishing first and second respectively in the singles, with De Abreu earning top honours.
Smith is impressed with De Abreu’s performances so far: “He has definitely established himself, he’s a young talent, he’s very keen and enthusiastic, he works hard and is playing really well. So, I think he is someone to watch for the future.”
Despite De Abreu’s brilliance, Jaka Suryaman-Guerrier managed to topple De Abreu in the Under-14 Singles final.
Thomas Roberts topped the Under-10 category, while Alfie Steigenberger won the two youngest brackets, claiming the Under-9 and Under-8 Singles crown.
In second place for both was Charlie Wakeham, the pair have been selected for the under nine regional performance academies by the LTA.
Smith was ecstatic with the impression that the young athletes left on the Grainville turf: “We got some really good results from the youngsters, they’re doing so well.”
Jersey Tennis continue to improve the standard of youth tennis, and Smith hopes to develop it even further in the coming months: “We’re really proud of ourselves, with the help of SaSo Strategic Advisers, we’re setting up weekly matchplays for under eights, nines and tens at the Caesarean.
“We have really lagged behind the UK in terms of the amount of matchplay that the youngsters are getting. Our athletes have been flying to the UK to play tournaments, and obviously that is really expensive, so that starts on the 21st of September.”
Smith continued: “We are hoping that this will make a difference to the girls situation as well, because the girls seem to need a bit of a push to enter competitions, but we’re hoping that this will increase their confidence massively.”
Elsewhere in the competition, Alex Brunwin topped the Over 45 class beating Garry Forbes in the final. Natasha Forrest, an established local tennis player, only competed in the Women’s Doubles alongside Noel Hurst, and the pair won convincingly.
