TENNIS
Our tennis players always train hard throughout the winter , making use of our fantastic indoor facilities , and this year was no different . With limited competitive opportunities available outside school , we ran a series of internal year group tournaments at the end of the Michaelmas term . These were well received and an opportunity for players of all levels to play some competitive tennis . Despite the Lent term lockdown we arrived at the beginning of the Summer term ready to play fixtures against other schools . Almost 200 students represented the school in a fixture during the term ; the sun didn ’ t always shine but much fun was had by all !
BOYS
Since the Michaelmas term , the boys had eagerly been awaiting the return of fixtures , especially with the debuts of Aashray Gupta and Ben Reinhardt in the senior team to come . With a convincing win against local rivals Tonbridge , the season was off to a flying start . The boys backed this up the following day with an incredible 7-6 win against a strong Kent College Canterbury side , in the first round of the national cup .
Special mentions to Aashray and Aidan Durant for clinching the tie in a nail-biting super-tiebreak at 6-6 . To finish the first half of the season in style , the boys beat Eastbourne fairly comfortably in an all-doubles affair .
Unfortunately , on the return from half term , we lost Aashray and Ben to injury and travel . Despite this , the rest of the team remained positive going into round two of the national cup , pitted against a familiar Eastbourne side . Freddie Stafford and Aidan just fell short in the one and two doubles , going the distance in a tight three-setter , whilst Kai and Ray Hayashi battled on in their singles . A comfortable singles win from Freddie gave hope of another Sevenoaks miracle act , however it was not to be as the Eastbourne 1 sealed the fate by overcoming Aidan in three sets in a fantastic display of tennis .
Sadly , the end of season ISTA championships were cancelled again ; this was a real shame as the boys looked forward to defending their title , but they did themselves proud by finishing off with a 6-0 win over Cranbrook .
94 SPORT REVIEW