Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Youngster Emma a star in the making
Canterbury TC members were blessed with fair weather and great play for the 2016 annual Club Championships.
Spectators at Polo Farm were excited to witness the emergence of a rising star in the form of 12-year-old Emma Slack who won the ladies singles event.
Slack surprised everyone, not only by beating a former champion in the semi-final, but to come through 7-5, 2- 6, 7-5, in a closely fought two-hour match against Becky Wyatt.
Wyatt featured in two other finals, triumphing in both the ladies and mixed doubles finals with partners Greg Hill and Andrea Loft.
In a thrilling men’s singles final Tom Hubble withstood the challenge of 17-year-old Tom Pullen to retain the title he won last year.
The youngster took the first set and pushed Hubble, who has a tennis scholarship to a university in the United States, all the way before the older player came through 4- 6, 6- 4, 7-5.
He and brother Nick Hubble retained their men’s doubles title, beating Pullen and Nick Wibberley 6-3, 6-3.
The juniors were also in action with finals for age groups from under-8 to under-18.
The youngest winner was sevenyear-old Genevieve Jeer who won the under-8 mixed singles event 10-9 against Dominic Curtiss.
The children played an entertain- ing match of contrasting styles using sponge balls on a mini court with Jeer’s consistent hard hitting from the baseline pitted against some creative volleys and drop-shots.
Even more encouraging for the club was the number of players who had featured in each draw, including a men’s singles draw of 38 participants and a men’s doubles draw of 27 pairs.
This was mirrored in the junior events, the under-14 boys draw numbering 32 players and the under-12 boys event 28.