Yorkshire Pair Take National Tennis Titles

Yorkshire scored a notable double in the 14&under events at the AEGON British Junior Championships with players from the county winning the boys and girls titles.

Kyle Edmund from Beverley won a thrilling match with Nottingham’s Luke Bambridge (6-1, 4-6, 6-4), while Dewsbury-born Eleanor Dean came through 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 against Hemel Hempstead’s Katy Dunne. The AEGON British Junior National Championships is the highest domestic accolade available to Britain’s most promising young players and past champions included the current men’s and women’s British number ones, Andy Murray and Anne Keothavong.

Dean, who was raised in Ossett and has also spent time in Spain, admitted she was delighted to receive the trophy, adding that she had to draw on reserves of character to get her through. Dean won the first set, but any hopes that she was going to get through the whole tournament without dropping a set where shattered when Dunne dug in to claim the second in style. But Dean did not panic and ground out victory in the deciding set to take the title.
She said: “It feels really good to be the national champion. It’s really hard on Katy as it was so close and it was such a good match, “I didn’t go out there today with my A game, so I had to just get through it with positive attitude. It was a hard game, a mental game. I wasn’t hitting my best at all. “I really didn’t think this week was going to be as good as this as I had just got back from a lot of back-to-back Tennis Europe events, so to win here was really good. “I’m going back to Spain for two and a half weeks holiday now.”

Meanwhile, Edmund had to overcome a second set slump to win his match. The 14-year-old looked to be heading for a comfortable victory, winning the first set 6-1 and then taking a 4-0 lead in the second. But his opponent then won six sets in a row to tie the match at one set all, meaning Edmund had to show all his talent to come out on top in a high quality deciding set. Edmund said: “When I was a set and 4-0 up it looked like it was going to be easier than I thought it would be, but Luke is a fantastic competitor and he just wouldn’t say die. “I must have just lost concentration and even I was thinking that I didn’t know what to do. “Eventually in the third set I managed to get a couple of games and get my rhythm again. “That’s often the equation that the quality of tennis steps up in the deciding set of a final and that was certainly the case here, but I’m just really pleased to have come out on top.” More than 400 of the best boys and girls in the country have competed across qualifying and main draws for the National Championships, which has been running for 101 years, at both the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton and West Hants tennis club. And former winner Keothavong for one believes that winning a junior national title can be the springboard to further success. Keothavong said: “Every title that you win is memorable and I know that becoming the national champion in your age group is something very special for these players. I know it was for me. “I've got great memories of winning the junior nationals and it was a big step for me because it gave me the confidence to pursue my career. I hope this year's winners come away believing the same thing."

Since 2006 there has been a 300% increase in the number of young people who play six or more matches a year, but this is a figure British Tennis is driving to increase even further in order to create more winners. This is the first year that this prestigious competition has been supported by AEGON, a leading life assurance company.  In September 2008, AEGON was announced as the first Lead Partner of British Tennis.  AEGON backs the game at all levels, from grassroots programmes through to international events.