A little bit of Wimbledon comes to Meads

Wimbledon may have been cancelled this year but a little bit of Wimbledon came to Meads Tennis Club on Monday.
By Mark Dunford
Published 30th Jun 2020, 12:23 GMT
Meads Juniors preparing to play SUS-200630-121752001Meads Juniors preparing to play SUS-200630-121752001
Meads Juniors preparing to play SUS-200630-121752001

Gerry Armstrong the world famous tennis umpire who has officiated in 13 Wimbledon Championship finals was the guest of honour at a special tournament for Meads Juniors. At exactly 2pm when Gerry who is the new Wimbledon referee would have been leading Novak Djokovic on to Centre Court he escorted instead two Meads Juniors with national rankings on to the club’s immaculate grass courts to herald the start of a tournament the club called “Just Like Wimbledon”.

Tennis Secretary Clare Greenwell said, “It has been a long held ambition of mine to organise a tournament for the juniors on our Wimbledon standard grass courts. When I heard Gerry Armstrong was free to come along to start play, the idea developed from there.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“It was an absolute delight to see so many youngsters enjoying their tennis and having Gerry present to encourage and inspire them made it a very special occasion. All our youngsters showed great sportsmanship and coped superbly with very windy conditions.”

l to r Lemuel Cassidy, Umpire Clay Iles, Gerry Armstrong and Sergio Vieira before their exhibition match. SUS-200630-121716001l to r Lemuel Cassidy, Umpire Clay Iles, Gerry Armstrong and Sergio Vieira before their exhibition match. SUS-200630-121716001
l to r Lemuel Cassidy, Umpire Clay Iles, Gerry Armstrong and Sergio Vieira before their exhibition match. SUS-200630-121716001

Twenty Juniors aged 7 to 16 took part supported by club coaches, Luciano Cestari and Roberto Pacheco-Lagoda. Juliette Parkin from BBC South East Today filmed the event for television, conducted interviews and did a live link for the 6.30 local news standing on the club’s pristine grass.

After three hours of fun-filled tennis Gerry Armstrong presented the prizes in each category. Winner of the Exhibition Match was Lemuel Cassidy who defeated Sergio Vieira in a thrilling contest that went to a deciding tie break.

The competition for 16 year olds was won by Morgan Doyle with Mikhail Roseman as the runner up. In the 10 to 14 age group the winner was Gabriela Pacheco-Lagoda and the runner up was Hana Doyle whilst in the 7 to 9 age range

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sienna Charsley was victorious with William Roseman taking the runner up spot.

Sienna Charsley winner of the 7 to 9 group receiving her prize from Gerry Armstrong SUS-200630-121738001Sienna Charsley winner of the 7 to 9 group receiving her prize from Gerry Armstrong SUS-200630-121738001
Sienna Charsley winner of the 7 to 9 group receiving her prize from Gerry Armstrong SUS-200630-121738001

*****

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.