Inaugural ‘Underground Tennis Series’

In the first week of August club member Cameron Bell hosted an external tournament at Ashford Tennis Club.

The event came about in part due to lockdown which meant the LTA cancelled all grade 1-5 sanctioned events until the end of August. Keen to get some high level competitive tennis Cameron decided to take matters into his own hands and put together a tournament himself.

He managed to piece together a 16-man knockout draw, which included some of the best players in the county and country. He embraced his new role as judge, jury, and executioner, otherwise known as tournament organiser and referee! Although, due to the clear conflict of interest this newfound power created, he did not get to compete in his own event..!

Despite having no experience and minimal resources, the tournament went off without a hitch. Cameron was blessed with excellent weather, punctual players, and lots of court time from the club. This meant that all the matches ran on schedule, making for happy players and simple organisation.

Despite all the talented juniors in the draw, two of which made it to the semi-final stage, the final was contested between the 1st and 2nd seed, the two oldest players in the draw. Sizya Kivanda and George Davies, respectively, two players that know each other well. After an erratic first set, George dominated the match and eventually won 4-6 6-1 6-2, to conclude the inaugural ‘Underground Tennis Series’, as Cameron dubbed it.

Hopefully members enjoyed watching some top juniors and world ranked adults compete against each other. On the back of this success there may be more such events held in future at Ashford Tennis Club.