The Road to Wimbledon tennis tournament is run by the LTA to give 14 & under players the chance to play at Wimbledon on the hallowed turfs of Aorangi Park (the practice courts) and Courts 15,16 17 and 18 in August.
It is run in clubs and schools all over the country based in the county set up and each club or school champion is invited to the county play-offs, with the winner and runner up are going through to play at Wimbledon in mid August.
The Weald Club a
t Hassocks has two girls through to the semi finals of the county stage and who are seeded to reach the final – and with it the prospect of a Wimbledon show.
Claudia James and Freya Loughton travel to Worthing on Sunday to see if they can win this fantastic opportunity at the age of 13. As a warm-up for this, the pair reached the Sussex Rose Bowl final, which offers the chance to get your name on a trophy with more than 100 years of history. As an added bonus there are also two tickets provided for the Eastbourne Finals this weekend.
In a hard fought and entertaining final the two youngsters showed that volleying and change of spin and pace are not dead in the women's game as James won 6-4, 6-3.
Former British ladies singles champion Julie Pullin presented the trophy and the tickets to a delighted winner, who promptly invited her friend and clubmate to accompany her to the Eastbourne finals.
All this meant neither were available for the ladies 1st team, who were hosting Wickwoods on Sunday. With exams coming up on the Monday morning, it meant only Alex Murray and Lisa Coppinger of the top five players were available. Emma Gibson stepped in after a long absence and Izzy Holland welcomed the chance to play in the 1st team.
Wickwoods arrived with a full strength team and that left only Murray playing a similarly rated opponent. When she lost 4-6, 1-6 things looked black for the team but battling performances from the other three gave Weald a 3-1 lead. Gibson defeated Claire Andrew 7-6, 7-6, Coppinger recovered from 4-6 down to beat Carolyn Loveless 4-6, 6-0, 10-6 and Holland showed her game is backed by confidence as she beat the experienced Nicola Mead 6-3, 2-6, 10-7.
Then Weald lost both doubles, with Murray and Gibson going down 4-6, 3-6 and the other pair losing 4-6, 4-6. And so to the dreaded shootout where the teams nominate two singles players and a doubles pair to play champions tie breaks for the overall win. Having lost to Brighton Parks on this format, the team were keen to make amends and singles successes by Murray and Coppinger sealed the match.
Finally the men's 6th team travelled to Mountfield, Hastings and secured a 3-1 victory. Terry Molloy and Steve Colley won both rubbers, while youngsters Peter Molloy and Hector Loughton defeated the opposition 2nd pair.
