Sidmouth juniors have five teams entered in this year’s Aegon Tournament and their campaigns began last week, writes Kate Truman.

The U16 boys played Ipplepen at home. Due to pressure on Sidmouth courts, the fixture was very kindly hosted by Sidford Tennis Club.

Each of the team members – Ollie Truman, Harry Ensall, Tim Guest and Matt Jones – was required to play both a singles and a doubles rubber, at the end of which the closely matched teams were neck and neck at 3-3. As a result, Ollie and Tim had to play a ‘shoot-out’ doubles championship tie-break.

It was nail-biting stuff but the boys kept their nerve to win this 10-2, securing a 7-6 win to Sidmouth overall. Many thanks to Sidford and to Linda who kept us topped up with cups of tea.

The following day, the U18 girl’s took centre stage as they hosted IIvybridge. With a strong team comprising Katie and Jess Wiltshire, Molly Spalding and Emily Keenan, there was hope for yet another Sidmouth win.

However, Ivybridge had pulled on their extensive choice of players to field a crack team of girls with excellent ratings. Undeterred, the Sidmouth girls played some excellent tennis but were only able to take one set off their opponents. Special mention should go to Katie, who at one set all only narrowly lost the deciding tie break, 8-10, to an opponent with a much higher high 4.2 rating. Also Katie’s younger sister, 13-year-old Jess, put in a great performance against an opponent with a 5.2 rating.

Both of the junior matches were played with great spirit and were a pleasure to watch. It’s fantastic to see such talented youngsters developing within the club and beginning to take part in some of the adult fixtures too.