The Under 12 and Under 15 —singles and double—were played in Newport. Eight juniors from Washington and Newport competed in the weekend event which featured non-stop tennis from start to finish.
Erik Barker, age 12, dropped only one game on his way to winning both the Under 12 and under 15 singles titles. Ben Dickinson, age 10, took a game off Barker in the Under 12 final.
Barker won the Under 12 Doubles with Ben Dickinson over
Tess Browne and Will Harkins. Barker and Browne defeated Ben and Pete Dickinson for the Under 15 Doubles title.
The format for the weekend was a series of 15 minute matches, which insured that all players got lots of court time. On court drills, coaching tips from the pros combined with lots of match play led to a remarkable level improvement for all of the players over the weekend.
Thanks to Rich Smith and Sergio Lopez for running a great weekend for the juniors. Thanks also to Paul and Robin Harkins for hosting the Saturday night party for the players. And finally, thank you to the late John Lieb for having the foresight to create a junior tennis fund – the Lieb Fund – which funds junior tennis in Newport.
