by Henry Henmen
The 2023 U26 US Singles and Doubles championships were held at Westwood Country Club from 7-9th July.
The tournament was set to be a tense competition, with the top 4 seeds all within 0.5 handicap points of each other and all in single figures. Players came to the event from all four (tennis) corners of the planet, coming from places such as Hobart, Seacourt, and Bordeaux.
The first day of the competition brought 10 quality matches. The highlight of the day came in the doubles, where a first-round upset was on the cards when Chase Motz and Nick Stenning convincingly won the opening set against the first seeds and eventual victors, Ollie Pridmore and Will Flynn. However, their hopes were smothered once the latter pairing became more at home on the court.
By midday on the second day of tennis, four players remained in the singles draw, the same four who eventually made it into the doubles final. In the singles, Erik Barker had a great result against the third seed, Max Trueman, which took Erik into the semi-finals. There he would face another Seacourt member, Will Flynn.
Both Will and Max would, however, get their chance to face off in the doubles alongside their partners, Ollie and Henry Henman, respectively. After two close sets of tennis, Will and Ollie took the third 6/4, decisively stopping a prominent comeback.
Erik’s strong run in the singles continued as he knocked out yet another seed, this time the number 2 seed, Will. On the other side of the draw, another strong Westwood member, Noah Motz, took to the court, beating the 1st seed, Ollie, to book himself in an all-Westwood final.
Despite its 8:30 am start, a respectable audience came to watch the highly anticipated final. After some captivating tennis, Noah came out on top, winning 6/3 6/4 in what was a great final.
The pair had to bounce back quickly afterward to play the doubles final against the singles semi-finalists. Flynn and Pridmore took the match 6/4 6/3 after an amazing array of talent and skill was on show as some high-level tennis.
Many thanks to Ivan and James for marking all three tennis days and the hosting families for helping to facilitate the tournament.
U26 Singles & Doubles Draws
