It has been a very busy second half for the Summer 2019 tournament scene and Sandycove have had lots of players out competing. The tournaments are a great way of getting lots of matches which is absolutely vital for a players progress! There are standards for everyone from Tennis 10s U8, U9, U10 , and U12- U18 graded tournaments plus the next tier of Phoenix level tournaments, Fast 4 events etc. Entering tournaments at the appropriate level is important to get the balance right of providing a challenge and maintaining confidence. Tennis 10s are all fun based with multi match formats so I would again encourage all our young players to enter some of these while the kids are young and introduce them to outside tournaments early! The following are some fantastic results our Sandycove juniors have had recently. Well done to everyone out competing!

**CARLOW JUNIOR OPEN**
Congrats to Will Fitzgearld on winning the U16 Boys Singles at the Carlow Junior Open, coming through the final very comfortably with a 6-1 6-1 win. Well done!

** LEOPARDSTOWN JUNIOR OPEN**
Well down to Zach Bailey who reached the final of the Boys U12 Phoenix Gold event, coming through the group stages and a big draw in the Gold event. Great result for Zach, well done!

**ARMAGH JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS**
Well done to Alex Wardlaw who was in the semi finals of the Boys U12 Armagh Junior Championships. Alex also won the u12 Boys Plate in the Antrim Junior Championships!

** SHANKILL JUNIOR OPEN**
Congrats to Cara and Sophie Fitzgearld who reached the final of the U12 Girls Doubles beating the no.2 seeds in the semi final 7-6 7-6 ! Great result girls, very well done!

** DONNYBROOK JUNIOR OPEN**
Congratulations to Kate Begley who flew through the Girls Doubles event, winning the final comfortably also with her partner. Kate had already played 3 matches that day so did very well to power through and take this title! In the U16 Boys Doubles, Max Vidal made the semi finals and Alex Wardlaw was in the final of the U12 Boys Singles Plate.

** WEXFORD SENIOR OPEN**
Congratulations to Oisin O’Hanlon who fought hard to win the title for the Mens Class 2 event , coming through the final 2-6 6-2 6-4. Well done to Oisin!

**TRAMORE SENIOR OPEN**
Oisin O’Hanlon was competing down here also and reached the final of the Mens Doubles in another hard fought battle where they were just pipped 12-10 in a 3rd set championship tiebreak against the no1 seeds!

** WILLIAM FRY NATIONAL JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS- FITZWILLIAM**
The National Championships at Fitzwilliam took place over 9 days with the Finals Day last Saturday August 24th. This is the highest level Junior tournament in Ireland and they had 713 entries from almost 500 players from all over the country which should give you an idea of the level required to compete! Even getting in is an achievement as not all players make the cut. Sandycove had 10 players involved this year and I want to congratulate all of the them for competing at the highest level with the best of the best! We also had some very positive results which I would like to mention.

Congratulations to Kate Begley who reached the semi finals of the U12 Girls Doubles Event which is a huge achievement. The semi final was a close contest with Kate and her partner only going down in a 3rd set championship tiebreak to the no.2 seeds! Kate also came through qualifying in the singles coming through a tight 3rd round battle 6-2 6-7 6-2.

Cara Fitzgearld also came through qualifying in the Girls U12 Singles beating the no7 seed comfortably and another seed in the 3rd round in a battle in which Cara prevailed 6-4 3-6 6-4. Well done to Cara!

Max Vidal also came through a huge qualifying size 64 draw very comfortably and relatively unchallenged in the Boys Singles U14 Event, coming through the 3rd round 6-1 6-3.

Finally, we also had Will Fitzgearld who came through qualifying in the Boys U16 Singles Event battling hard in the 3rd round coming back from a set down to win 6-7 6-2 6-1.

Congrats again to everyone who played over summer 2019. Please see the Junior Section of the website for links to the junior calendars for Tennis 10s, Phoenix and graded tournaments which will show tournaments that are running over the next couple of months!

Kind Regards
Aine Leonard (Head Coach)