The U13 and U15 tennis season finished this week and the last event for both squads was the Surrey League Tennis Final that took place at St George’s College in Weybridge. Both teams have had a very successful season and narrowly missed out on progressing through their group in the National Schools competition following some tough group stage fixtures. However, in the Surrey League, where all matches are doubles and six players are selected to represent the team, both squads enjoyed a lot of success.
The U13 team have had some Year 7 players join the current group of Year 8s this year, which has strengthened the squad and provided more competition for places. During the group stage, the U13s came out on top in a group including Reeds School, Rutlish School, King Edwards Witley and Amesbury School. This meant they had booked their place in the final eight and were set to play a knockout format at St George’s. The students played Tiffin School in the quarter final, and it appeared that we were going to go out at the first knockout game after being 4-2 down with Tiffin only needing one more set from the remaining three. However, the team of Adi, Oliver, Ege, Dorian, Jenson and Abdumalik showed some excellent determination and resilience to win all three of the remaining sets to win the match 5-4.
Next up was Kingston Grammar School in the semi-final. This match, as expected, was another close game and with the match tied at 4-4, the final set being played would determine the winner. Once again, the Wilson’s team won the high pressure points to win 5–4 and book a place in the final against an extremely strong KCS Wimbledon team. Unfortunately, this was the end of the winning run and despite some good tennis being played the U13 team finished runners-up in the Surrey League, a fantastic achievement overall.
The U15 squad had similar success. The experienced squad of Mark, Dennis, Rajadithan, Vivaan, Ronik and Sean were selected to represent Wilson’s at the knockout finals, with the last eight teams in Surrey competing for first place. During the season, the squad have played Rutlish School, Whitgift School and Reigate Grammar School and once again topped the group to book a place in the knockout finals day. A special mention must go to Vignesh, Shyamak and Jack who had put in some good performances throughout the group stages and helped the squad make the finals day. The team showed good composure in the semi-final to beat St George’s College in their knockout fixture on route to the Surrey League Final. The final at Ewell Castle was extremely close. Some tight sets and a tie break loss unfortunately led to the U15s losing 5–4 in a very competitive match.
Both squads should be extremely proud of how they have represented Wilson’s over the season and with both teams finishing in second place in the Surrey League, they should be pleased with how they have performed. Well done to all involved. Next week, we will hear from our Wimbledon ball boys—look out for them on TV over the coming fortnight!
