Future is bright as tennis lights shine
THE new Shankill Indoor Tennis Open tournament which ran from November 23 to 25 saw a dramatic breakthrough by the next generation of young Irish tennis players.
Juliana Carton (aged 15) and Conor Gannon (aged 16) defeated the hugely talented and experienced Jane Fennelly and Dorian Cos in the two finals.
The men’s final ended with a breathtaking 25-shot rally that had the spectators almost as exhausted as the players. The tournament is designed to provide as much match play as possible so all of the above will have played four full competitive matches between Friday evening and Sunday evening.
Local star from Shankill TC Ellie Murphy (aged 17) also did well consolidating her reputation for being one of the leading up and coming stars. This followed her outstanding performance in the Junior Interprovincial Championships over the summer where she was unbeaten in all her matches.
The other local star, David Mullins, lost his semi-final by the narrowest of margins and went onto win the third-place play-off.
The tournament is one of three introduced and sponsored by Leinster Tennis to provide match play experience for the leading players during the period from September through to May. The next tournament in the series will be in in David Lloyds River in this month and in Fitzwilliam TC in January.
Derek Adams, the chair of Shankill Tennis Club, complimented the players on some exceptional tennis and thanked Garbhan O’Nualain head of the Leinster Tennis performance committee for their support.
The tournament was played in the exceptional indoor tennis centre at Shankill tennis Club – which is ranked presently as the leading indoor centre in the country. As a community club Shankill welcomes all to play at its facilities. Membership is open – but you can also simply ring Ann on 01 2825400 to book a court.