Surrey 12U Boys Team Report – County Cup 2016
Regional Qualifier – Woking LTCC
In April 2016 the top 12 ranked 12U boys in Surrey and small selection of Regional level 10U/11U players were invited to a series of training camps at Woking LTCC with Team Manager Matt Trevail (Woking LTCC) and Team Coach Ben Cullen (St Georges Hill LTC). Following the team’s success in 2015, Matt and Ben were delighted that all the players were able to attend the training and showing great passion and drive to get into what they knew would be one of the strongest 12U teams in the country. After fighting it out in singles and showing great team work in doubles, the team of RaffaelloPapajcik, Mukhtar Andu, George Shields and Finn Doyle were selected, with Daniel Abernethy as reserve.
As defending champions, Surrey got to play at home in the regional qualifying stage for the first time and Woking LTCC made the perfect venue with the boys able to play on the same courts as they had been training on in the run up to the event. Everything looked to be going to plan until the day before it started……Finn had unluckily had his finger trapped in a door at another tournament and wasn’t able to hold his racket!!! Emergency call to Dan…..no answer……not looking good! Fortunately Friday evening we got through andtomuch relief of everyone he could still play, so Raffa, Mukhtar, George and Dan was the team that would represent Surrey 12U Boys.
The regional stage saw a slight change in format after the withdrawal of the Channel Islands teams meant it would be a round-robin against Sussex, Middlesex, Dorset and Hampshire rather than group/knockout stages. The weekend kicked off with lovely sunshine against Sussex and George Shields, although starting a little nervously, soon found confidence to take first set 4-2. Things got a little tight in the second with some lengthy deep rallies, but as seems often the case, George took the tie break 7-5 to finish things off. Mukhtar had a similarly nervy start against big hitting Lemuel, but held solid to force the mistakes in the end and came through 5-4 5-3. Raffa then had a big match against LuiMaxted and knew he needed to play well against another top 10 player. Unfortunately he couldn’t get his rhythm on the forehand side and a string of hitting too flat and not making first serves meant he went down 1-4 2-4. So the match would go down to the doubles later on.
Next up the team would take on Dorset. George once again made things as close as possible to keep the crowns entertained in the first set against Pascal, but then switched up a gear to win 5-4 5-0. Mukhtar kept up the “rock” attitude on court and won fairly easily 4-1 5-3, then Raffa came in against Tim Jarvis who he faced in the same match exactly a year ago and had won with only a slice backhand. Despite a better performance that the morning, Raffa still hadn’t found his forehand and valiantly battled to a 4-5 2-4 defeat. Down to the doubles again!
Raffa and Mukhtar first faced Dorset in the doubles. Unfortunately Tim was full of confidence from the Singles win and dominated at the net and the boys lost 5-3 4-2, so a shootout would be needed! Feeling low after successive defeats, Raffa stepped back and George paired up with Mukhtar for this one. A fantastic start with some amazing drop shots and smashes saw them go 8-4 up and although slightly nervy at the end they got the job done 10-8 to win the shootout!! Next up Daniel and George took onSussex’s Lemuel and Lui. An extremely tight see-saw match saw the boys win the first 4-2 before the score was reversed in the second. The 3rd set tie-break couldn’t be closer, but the momentum was with Sussex and a 10-8 loss meant the second match in a row going to a shootout. The team talk and increased support from the home crowd seemed to do the trick and the boys went out in aggressive mode to attack the weaker link and make more first serves. 10-6 and the boys were through another shootout to end day 1 on a high!!!
With Sussex beating Middlesex on a shootout on Saturday, the table saw Surrey leading on 4 points vs Sussex, Middlesex and Dorset all on 2 points. First up on Sunday George had the daunting task of facing Raahim from Middlesex, a player nobody wanted to play after seeing rather aggressively unsporting behaviour in matches Saturday. George kept his head in the first set and let the tennis do the talking winning 4-0. A concentration lapse in the second and suddenly it had become an all mental moon-ball battle 3rd set tiebreak and despite working his heart out, the mind games took their toll and Surrey were 1-0 down. Mukhtar then faced Tom and despite going 3-0 down in the first set he managed to win a tough mental battle and came back with his very best tennis of the weekend to win 5-4 4-0. Feeling a lot more confident coming off the practise court Raffa then was back to his very best and in easily the highest quality battle of the weekend he had got the initiative back to Surrey with a 4-0 1-4 10-6 victory over William Jansen and the whole team was pumped knowing they had a great chance to win now going 2-1 up against the joint favourites and team they faced in the national finals in 2015.
Luckily the Hampshire match was a little more straightforward. Daniel went in for his first singles match and the “bomb” blew his opponent away with huge serves for a bagel. There was a slight lapse in concentration in the second, but the result was never in doubt, 4-0 5-3. Mukhtar faced a giant playing at 2, but kept solid in a tight first set and came through 5-4 4-1. Raffa finally rounded things off with a spectacular win over George Russell in another high level baseline battle to delight the fans!
Doubles matches against Hampshire and Middlesex went on at the same time, with the team knowing a victory over Middlesex would see them through to the finals again. Daniel and Raffa took on Tom and William and took an extremely close first set on the tie-break. The boys then seemed to forget they needed two sets and suddenly they had lost the second set 0-4 in the blink of an eye! Another championship tie-break and with concentration re-focussed and some stunning volley rally’s they’d done it and the celebration began……Regional Champions 2016!!
County Cup Finals – Bolton Arena
With Finn recovering from injury, the formidable team of Raffa, Mukhtar, George, Finn and Daniel travelled up to Bolton with a full team of family support for the national finals (joining the girls 12U who had also made it through). After a short lunchtime practise session the boys were all fired up as top seeds for the first match vs. Northumberland. Raffa took to the stage first against strong opponent inRonan Lunn and had clearly got over his admittedly below par performance in the regional stage and a very tight first set of spectacular quality tennis finished 5-4. Raffa then moved up another gear to create intelligent angles and space to fly through the second set 4-0. The good start for Surrey continued with Mukhtar “The Rock” not giving away many opportunities to take apart Matthew Nice with a 4-2 4-1 win. George then stepped up at 3 to finish the win with relatively straightforward a 4-1 4-2 win over Marcus Jeffery. With the win already in the bag, Finn and Daniel knew that winning rubbers margins were still important and although started rather rusty with a lack of communication, came back from losing the first set on a tie-break to win in three and get the weekend off to the perfect start with a 4-0 win.
Saturday started rather early, with the practise at 8am, followed by match 2 vs an extremely vocal South Wales team who’d already received multiple warnings from the referee! Raffa went on first against Hugo Cochlin and unfortunately struggled to wake his tennis up. After a few very close calls and swearing on court by his opponent Raffa couldn’t regain focus and went down 4-5 1-4. Mukhtar then confidently unbeaten at 2 then demolished Rufas Plan 4-0 4-1 to level the tie and raise moral. Finn then came in at 3 and had a very hard fought match against Wil Jenkins, who came out on top 4-1 4-2. Daniel and Raffa then came in for the doubles in the tightest match yet. After over 2hrs on court they were unlucky with very tight calls on sudden death points with the match finishing 4-5 5-4 10-8 in South Wales favour and Surrey had lost their first match in over 2yrs .
The team hadn’t lost hope, as they knew it was a very close box and a final match win could still take them through to the finals on point’s difference. Raffa went on first against the much bigger hitting Sam Harris, but controlled the game well with a very carefully planned counter attacking performance to win 4-2 4-2. Mukhtar then wasted very little time again, playing off the front foot to destroy Chris Smith 4-1 4-1 and with a huge “Cummon” to win the match Surrey knew they had a chance to make the final still. George went back in at 3 and played a strong first set with a fantastic passing winner to win it. A slight loss of focus and foot off the pedal and suddenly his opponent had come back and won the second set. A huge tie-break followed and George had to save a match point at 9-10, but under intense pressure held on to take it 12-10 and the boys were once again happy! Dan and Finn then went on for the doubles and struggled in the first set, losing 0-4. Some better communication and movement at the net and they came back to win the second 4-2 to take it to a third. While all this was going on, parents were doing the calculations and they realised that if Northumberland won at least two rubbers against South Wales on the adjacent court, then Surrey would be through anyway….luckily thanks to Ronan Lunn, it happened and despite the 8-10 defeat the boys were over the moon to get through to the final!!
With Avon the opponents, some individual discussions and team talks with the players resulted in a decision to leave Raffa out for the singles, meaning Mukhtar would step out at no. 1 in the final, undefeated in the Singles so far in the competition. His opponent James Vincent was clearly nervous against “The Rock” and Mukhtar never moved out of second gear to cruise to winning the first match 4-0 5-3 in less than 40 minutes. Next up George had a match against J’Quon, a similar style speedy opponent. A strong first set again from George to win 4-2, but his opponent ground his way back with slower more consistent play in the second to win 4-2. Another 3rd set was a nervy baseline battle which J’Quon got the better of to take 10-5. All square and Finn stepped on against Marmus. With multiple 40, 50, 60 shot rallies it was a tough physical start to the match, but Finn took opportunities well and served a number of aces to win 4-1 4-1.
2-1 up and it went to the doubles again, with Raffa and Dan feeling well rested and ready to go against J’Quon and James. A great aggressive start and the boys were 3-0 up and flying, but a few unforced errors going for big shots and losing three games in a row on sudden-death deuce took it out of them and they lost the first on a tie-break. A valiant fightback in the second to win 4-2 took it to a 3rd set tiebreak, but unfortunately they couldn’t find the beginning form and despite saving 4 match points, lost 10-7. A shootout decider for the 3rd time in the competition would decide who would win the title! Feeling confident and rested after a good win in the singles, Finn switched with Dan and Raffa/Finn renewed an old doubles partnership from a few years ago. The boys had a fantastic start with incredible concentration and shot to a 6-1 lead. Some patient focussed play from the back of the court and fantastically timed interceptions at the net brought up 4 match points. One was saved, but the second saw an incredible reversing smash from Raffa and the boys had done it……..County Cup Champions 2016 and the first team to defend the title! An incredible performance from the whole team may have meant they missed Murray winning Wimbledon, but they went home very happy indeed!
A massive thanks goes to all the parents and siblings who relentlessly supported the boys for both weekends and made it such a great team win. Also a big thanks to Ben for some great on court advice and motivation to all the players throughout the competition.
Matt Trevail – 12U Boys Manager
Photo gallery of both weekends for public viewing;