Harry keen to get back in swing of things
Nelson tennis player Harry Pugh wants to make a ‘racquet’ on the court as soon as he can, including goals which include unseating his doubles partner as top dog in the singles ranks.
The 14-year-old Garin College student and Richmond club member’s tennis exploits have been equal parts impressive and frustrating in the past 12 months, with national titles and international tournaments balanced with the disappointment of no court time.
Pugh took the lockdown in his stride and hoped to come back stronger once play resumed. He learned to adapt to lockdown training, fashioning a volley board at home to hit balls off.
‘‘We had a tennis court at home when we lived in Greymouth — wouldn’t that have been handy?’’ his mother Sharon said.
Pugh’s trajectory was on the rise last year when he was named one of three young players in a New Zealand squad who attended tournaments in Luxembourg and Belgium in August.
As well as gaining some important game insights and knowledge in his clay court development, Pugh got through to the doubles draw semifinals of the Leo Cup in Belgium with his playing partner of several years, Auckland’s Jack Chapman.
‘‘It was four weeks over there with not many days off so my tennis did improve — I feel it was a bit different coming back to hard court when I got home,’’ Pugh said. ‘‘Clay is so much different with your positioning on court and how the ball comes at you off the surface.
‘‘Also, you play a lot slower than on hard court – there is a bit more time and the ball bounces a lot higher – so for a while there my positioning wasn’t too good, staying behind the baseline when I should have been coming forward, which my coach wasn’t too pleased about.’’
The boy known as ‘‘Haz’’ served up a good showing at nationals, winning a third-year-in-a-row doubles title with Chapman.
His form saw him named in the New Zealand under-14s team to play in an ITF Asia/ Oceania junior qualifying team event in Australia on March 30. Tickets were booked, but due to the Covid travel restrictions put in place, we all know how that story ended.
Barring another global pandemic and injuries, Pugh has a new set of goals to achieve in the next year. ‘‘I hope to be at the top for my age group by the time I’m out of it in February and probably winning a national singles title too, because I haven’t done that yet.’’
The latter goal could test the strength of his doubles partnership with Chapman in coming months – the Aucklander holds the top ranking from Pugh, who is ranked number two.
For now, school was back in session and he had eased back into training on court in the last week.
The keen footballer joined his Nelson FC teammates for practice over the weekend, while his fitness had been maintained through training with the long distance running academy.
However, it was the resumption of tournaments that Pugh was most eager to engage in.
Although some of his favoured tournaments in April had passed by, his coach had hinted a tournament in Blenheim in June was a likely chance for Pugh to return serve again.