Disclaimer
All observations are subjective, occasionally informed by anonymous but reliable courtside sources, and heavily influenced by coffee. No children were psychologically analysed beyond what is standard for junior tennis parents.
This morning, Taunton Blackbrook Sports Centre hosted a Grade 4 U9 tennis tournament.
Somewhat ominously timed, an email from the Somerset LTA had landed in inboxes last month outlining selection criteria for U8, U9 and U10 county players.
Buried among the technicalities was a very clear message: county players need to play tournaments or risk not being selected for the County Cup.
Cue mild parental anxiety.
Not really an issue for our son, who plays at least one tournament a month. However, several county players are skating close to the edge. Henry Deem, a strong player already in the county setup, found himself in potential danger territory, hence his parents sensibly entering him today.
Ted, another very capable county player, hasn’t played tournaments at all and is therefore potentially discovering how selection policies work in real life.
The issue with not playing tournaments is twofold:
a) time and competing commitments, and
b) the belief that it might not really be worth it.
To be clear, I understand where the Somerset LTA is coming from. Some form of selection criteria has to exist.
But the dilemma is uncomfortable: what do you do with a very good U9 who hasn’t played tournaments? Or, looking at it the other way around, what happens when players who may not be quite as strong have played regularly but still don’t get selected? It’s tough, and realistically we won’t know who’s made the cut until the additional county training session.
That, however, is a blog entry for the near future.
The Tennis (and the Coffee)
With a 9am start, Blackbrook was already buzzing. As my wife was once again holding the NHS together this weekend, it was left to yours truly to keep her updated via a steady stream of WhatsApp messages.
Twelve players entered and were placed into a 16-player compass draw. The top four seeds received byes into the quarterfinals.
Round of 16:
Our son vs Ben Newbound.
Before stepping on court, our son confidently announced:
“Last time I played Ben I won 7-0, 7-0!!!”
I gently explained that this was both historically interesting and completely irrelevant. That sort of cockiness tends to end badly. I then went to get coffee, because sometimes the best coaching intervention is strategic absence.
Result: a one-sided affair. Our son won 7-3, 7-2, progressing to the quarterfinals.
Also into the quarters were Henry Deem, Edward Smith, Charlie Tackle, and Zachary (who, as the 4th seed, had enjoyed a first-round bye).
Other Somerset players bowed out at this stage—Ben (see above) and Logan, who lost to Edward Smith—at which point keeping track of everyone became mildly Olympic.
Quarterfinals, Reality Checks & Resilience
Next up was Zachary. Their last encounter had been a three-set nail-biter that our son edged. This time the universe demanded balance. Our son lost a tight three-setter 9–11. Both played very well; unfortunately only one could win. Tears followed, as is tradition, but the tennis was good.
Meanwhile:
- Henry Deem beat Idris Sawar to reach the semifinals.
- Edward Smith dispatched Hugo Yee in three sets.
- Charlie Tackle lost to Millard Lai.
That meant three Somerset boys and one Devon player in the semis.
Revenge, Rackets & Referees
Next up for our son was Hugo Yee. Some may remember the Bath Group C encounter, so there was a mild sense of unfinished business.
Our son won in two sets. The final point, however, caused brief philosophical debate. Both players raised their rackets, the referee was summoned, and after a short discussion the ball was called out.
As this was match point, Hugo quite rightly queried it. Following the discussion, the decision stood: 7-5, 8-6, and our son moved on to play for 5th place.
In the semifinals, Henry Deem narrowly lost a three-set thriller against Millard Lai—a match that could easily have gone either way. A superb performance from Henry in his first ever tournament.
At this point, anonymous yet entirely reliable sources within the wider tennis community quietly mentioned—over coffee and knowing nods—that Henry is a long-overdue and very welcome addition to the local tennis scene.
The general consensus was that this tournament should hopefully act as a catalyst for future tournament entries rather than a one-off experiment. No pressure, of course.
The other semi was won by Zachary, who beat Edward Smith in straight sets.
This set up the final round of matches:
- 5th place: Our son vs Charlie Tackle
- 3rd place: Henry Deem vs Edward Smith
- Final: Zachary vs Millard
The Inevitable Match-Up: Our Son vs Charlie
It now seems inevitable that our son and Charlie play each other in most tournaments. The last outing was Bath, last month.
The match did not start well. Our son was quickly 1–4 down. As I began texting my wife a blow-by-blow account, momentum quietly shifted.
Our son clawed his way back to 5–5, then found himself 5–6 down. At that point, Charlie double-faulted to make it 6–6, which very visibly rattled him. Confidence wobbled, momentum swung, and our son duly took the set 8–6.
The second set was over quickly. Unfortunately for Charlie, he never quite recovered from the end of the first set, and our son ran away with it 7–1.
Podiums, Perspective & County Maths
The 3rd place match between Edward Smith and Henry Deem was tense and captivating. Edward eventually prevailed, leaving Henry an excellent 4th place finish in his first tournament. Combined with the aforementioned whispers from the tennis cognoscenti, it felt very much like the start of something rather than a footnote.
The final itself largely passed me by, but Zachary won in two sets to take the tournament, with Millard Lai finishing second.
A very strong showing from the Somerset boys overall:
- 1st: Zachary
- 3rd: Edward Smith
- 4th: Henry Deem
- 5th: Our son
- 6th: Charlie Tackle
Add the Carroll twins into the equation and you can probably pencil in most of the County Cup team already—leaving perhaps one place still up for grabs ahead of 1st March.
But that selection drama?
That’s definitely for one of my next blog entries.
Pseudocyst 
What do you think?