Last weekend was certainly a busy one at Sidmouth Tennis Club, writes Kate Truman.

Thankfully, the weather played its part – there was perfect summer weather for tennis. Saturday saw the finals of the club’s annual Road to Wimbledon tournament for our U14 players.

With many talented youngsters at the club it was a fantastic competition with some closely fought matches in both the boys’ and girls’ matches. However, there could only be one winner from each section and it was Harry Ensall and Jess Wiltshire who were the well-deserved winners of the boys’ and girls’ tournaments respectively.

Runners-up were Ben Harrison and Hannah Rudgard. Harry and Jess will now proceed to the next stage of this national event at a central venue in Exeter.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, the juniors were in action once again as our U14 boys took on Exwick in their final first round match of the national Aegon tournament.

The Sidmouth boys went into the match having won both of their previous first round matches and, once again, proved to be the dominating force. On what was probably the hottest day of the year so far, and with Harry Ensall nursing an arm injury, the boys secured a convincing win to secure themselves a place in the Devon County Final. The boys won all six of their matches: Harry won his singles 6-2, 6-2; Ben Harrison only dropped one game in his singles and remains unbeaten in all his Aegon matches; Jed Ionov-Flint won his singles against an older opponent; and Alfie Crick came through on top after a long tussle with a very strong younger opponent. The Sidmouth boys also both easily won their doubles matches.

The weekend’s activities demonstrated once again what a strong junior section the club has with children of all ages improving their tennis skills at a phenomenal rate thanks to the work of coaches Sue Wiltshire and Daryl Bass.

The new summer coaching programme for juniors has just kicked off and sessions are open to members and non-members alike. If you are interested in tennis coaching for your child, take a look at the coaching programme on the Club’s website or contact Head Coach, Sue Wiltshire on 07402 047011 or email her at sue.wiltshire@talk21.com