The 10&u Mini Green players started their season this past weekend at Emilio Sanchez Academy Dubai. With the start delayed one hour due to a late summer spike in humidity, the players were raring to go and treated spectators to a feast of tennis and some exceptionally close contests.
Maksim Sidorov, who would eventually go on to claim the title, had to endure some marathon group games. Opening his account with a tough 5-3 victory over Jack Earley, this game had everything, big serves, long rallies, lots of attacking tennis and could of gone either way. It was however, Sidorov who managed to keep his calm at the pivotal moments of the match and went on to claim the win, and also set the precedent that even when matches are close, he displayed the mental toughness to bring out his best when it mattered most.
In the second group, Saif Elgammal was quietly going about business, and whilst he lost a tight group match vs Eugenie Killeen, he had done enough to book his place in the 1st/2nd place playoff. Honourable mentions go out to Killeen and Yahya Sulaiman, who playing a year out of their age group showed a great level of tennis, and will surely be a threat moving forwards into the season.
Onto the final then, evening had come, the lights were on. And Sidorov and Elgammal were ready for battle. In an epic encounter, the rallies were long, the games close and once again a match which could of gone either way. But it was the big hitting Sidorov who finally managed to conquer the defence and tenacity of Elgammal coming through a marathon battle 7-5 to claim the ranking points.
Overall, a superb start to the Mini Green season leaving us eagerly anticipating more of the same in the future! Thank you for everyone who turned out to play, and for Emilio Sanchez Academy to such an excellent host.
See you on the courts again soon