12U Boys County Cup Report
The Northants boys, without their usual number one Oskar, were drawn in a group with Hertfordshire and Norfolk. Herts is an exceptionally tough assignment even at full strength, but the boys acquitted themselves very well in their opening matches. Arjun got a win at number 3 in the singles when his opponent withdrew injured at a set all, and Katejan at number 1 gave the Herts number one a real scare taking him to a first set tiebreak before eventually losing 4-3 4-1. Arjun’s win meant the doubles were still live, and though Elliott and Arjun were well beaten at number two pair, Katejan and Oscar put up a real fight against Herts top pair only going down 4-3 4-0.
I thought this match potentially set us up really well for Norfolk that afternoon. A withdrawal due to illness meant Elliott only had to play a couple of games for his win at 4. This left Oscar and Arjun at 2 and 3 respectively on court with two monster battles. Arjun ultimately losing in 3 and Oscar losing in two tiebreaks. They were both gutted and took some picking up for the doubles (after Katejan had lost at 1 against one of the top ranked national boys). However, Arjun and Elliott did an excellent job with a change in tactics from their earlier match, they gave a very disciplined performance to get our second rubber on the board, leaving the final match on court as the decisive one. Katejan and Oscar played probably the best tennis of the weekend in a fantastic match in which they saved a match point in the second set before taking it to a match tiebreak. They came up narrowly short, but all our boys had finished the day with real confidence building doubles performances.
Our day two didn’t start until the afternoon as we just had the 5th/6th play-off match against Beds to play. The boys carried their confidence forwards and undoubtedly played their best tennis of the weekend across the singles rubbers. Elliott had a tough match at 4 but took it comfortably with real assuredness. Arjun dominated his match for a 4-2 4-0 win. Oscar again looked on paper to have a tester against a competent number two but like Arjun just totally dictated play and didn’t give his opponent a chance. Katejan at number 1 (always the rough end of the stick) had to battle throughout the longest match of the weekend to prevail in a third set tiebreak against a very good young player from Beds 3-4,4-2, 10-7. This took any heat off the doubles and both pairs played very well to close out a comprehensive 6-0 victory to end the weekend.
I think the boys learnt a lot across the weekend tactically at both singles and doubles and perhaps most importantly the value of maintaining emotional control, to be able to deliver good energy levels, with smart decision making, to make them more effective competitors. Their tennis certainly got better and better as they went.
Justin Chacksfield
