Slender defeat for Borders in junior tennis event

The inaugural Borders Junior Challenge Cup. which saw the Borders and Dumfries and Galloway districts go head to head in a team tennis event, was hosted at the Borders Tennis Centre in Galashiels.
The young Borders  tennis team who served up a fine contest against DumfriesThe young Borders  tennis team who served up a fine contest against Dumfries
The young Borders tennis team who served up a fine contest against Dumfries

The matchplay event involved 13 players from both sides, aged between 7-12, who had the honour of representing their district in a a series of singles and doubles ties.

The event took place in accordance with covid regulations produced by Tennis Scotland and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), with relevant safety procedures in place.

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Despite the testing weather conditions, an impressive 63 matches were completed during the afternoon.

Some excellent displays on both sides saw the closely-contested tie come down to the last four doubles matches of the day.

The dramatic finish saw Dumfries take home the spoils, and the trophy, with a narrow 34-29 victory.

The event, organised by coaches Jonny Adamson, of Tennis Borders and Michael Goldie, of Dumfries, even drew recognition from Judy Murray, who tweeted afterwards: “Brilliant. We need so much more of this type of event across Scotland. Well done, Borders and South West.”

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Afterwards, Jonny Adamson said: “We were delighted finally to get this event off the ground, after what has been a real stop-start year for our programmes.

“The Borders and Dumfries and Galloway share a close connection, not least because we’re two of only three districts in Scotland without indoor courts, and so it makes sense that we pool our resources when we can to run these fun team events for our players.

“It not only supports their tennis development but also allows them to play as a team and make friends from other districts too. This was evident throughout, since all of the matches were played in a fantastic spirit and everyone seemed to grow in confidence as the day went on and really enjoy the camaraderie of the event.”

Mr Adamson added: “It’s exactly what we want to achieve from these days and is arguably more important than ever, given the tough year we’ve had with covid and the impact that lockdown has inevitably had on the lives of young people.

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“I’m sure we’ll now build on this momentum and run more challenge cup events with Dumfries in the coming months ahead. Hopefully, we’ll also reclaim the trophy too!”

Results – Borders under-9s 12, Dumfries 6; Dumfries under-10s 11, Borders under-10s 7; Dumfries under-12s 17, Borders under-12s 10.

Overall team result – Dumfries 34, Borders 29.

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