Kent’s Play Your Way to Wimbledon finalists confirmed after county deciders
Published: 08:00, 25 July 2023
Kent players will be serving for glory in next month's Play Your Way to Wimbledon finals after reaching SW19 via county finals success.
Finals took place at four separate venues across two different weekends. The junior boys and girls and adult men’s/ladies’ doubles, played at Bromley Sports Club and the Sundridge Park Club, saw 76 pairings compete.
Tittor Caulker and Luke Ogden of Gillingham's Avenue Tennis Club won the junior boys' doubles and Ilse Russell-Jones and Ella Walker, of Chipstead Lawn Tennis Club, won the junior girls' doubles.
Harry Dyason and Chris Wahlers, of Kings Hill Community Tennis Club, won the county’s men’s doubles and Hannah Beresford and Delphine Simondi, of Oakwood Tennis Club in Crayford, won the ladies' doubles.
The junior boys and girls' county finals were played at Walmer Lawn Tennis Club and Tunbridge Wells Lawn Tennis Club. Robbie Taylor, representing David Lloyd Kings Hill, won the county boys' singles final and Bella Thomson, from Sevenoaks LTC, won the girls' singles final.
In the disability tennis competition, Canterbury’s Ruben Harris made the trip to Grantham Tennis Centre where he won the wheelchair men’s singles regional finals to earn his place at SW19. He also won the men’s doubles title the same weekend.
Starting with events held at local clubs, parks and schools and ending with the national finals on Wimbledon’s grass courts, Play Your Way to Wimbledon is the UK’s largest individual mass participation tennis competition, organised by the LTA and the All England Lawn Tennis Club, sponsored by Vodafone.
Meanwhile, Gillingham's Eoin Lambourne helped Kent's under-11 boys to National County Cup glory.
Lambourne was part of the squad that beat Dorset, Middlesex and Yorkshire en route to a 4-2 win over Surrey along with Matyas Oprchal (Canterbury) and Bromley trio Darnay Hunnygen, Tony Keohane and Luke Pratten.
Canterbury's Iris Grosso was in the under-11 girls' squad who made the final with wins over South Wales and Hampshire IoW before losing 4-2 to Surrey. Rosie Thomson and Kate Murray (Sevenoaks), along with Olivija Konstantinova (Bromley) and Nora Ramich (Bexley), completed the squad.
Read more
Bexley and Bromley Sport Canterbury Sport Dartford Sport Maidstone Sport Medway Sport Other Sport Sevenoaks SportMore by this author
KentOnline reporter