Incredible result for Queenswood at World Schools Tennis Finals
Tuesday 28 March 2017
Queenswood’s tennis team are officially the third best in the world! Georgie, Lexi, Charlotte, Bella and Lilli are celebrating their outstanding success at the ISF World Schools Tennis Championships in Recife, Brazil, where they picked up the bronze medal for England.
The girls qualified, along with 10 other teams from around the world, after winning the Aberdare Cup (the national schools competition) for the 27th time in July 2016.
Each round of the World Finals was decided by a combination of doubles and singles matches, and every member of the team played a significant role in the success. In the group stages, Queenswood beat China and Italy in two very close-fought encounters, and knocked out the Brazilian team with a 5-0 victory.
The quarter final against a very strong Belgian team was won 4-1 by Queenswood, setting up a meeting with the Germans in the semi-final.
Unfortunately, by this stage in the gruelling competition our girls had picked up a number of injuries, and Germany proved too strong and experienced an opposition for us.
We faced Italy again in the bronze-medal play-off. This was perhaps the most nail-biting match of the entire competition; with the teams all square after four matches, the contest was decided by a tie-break in the final doubles match.
Director of Tennis Catherine Sluter was ecstatic with the result. ‘We had realistically been hoping for a top-eight finish. This was a really young team, and they hugely exceeded expectations, losing just once in the entire tournament. Every member of the team coped incredibly well in nerve-wracking conditions, and there are really exciting prospects for the future of tennis at Queenswood.’
Mrs Cameron remarked: ‘We are terrifically proud of the tennis team’s achievements. The level of support and excitement in school as the results came through was palpable, and the girls received a huge standing ovation on their return. I would like to congratulate them, and the staff who have coached and supported them, on a fantastic result.’
As well as playing an intensive schedule of outstanding tennis, the girls also enjoyed a cultural day in Recife, met Yane Marques, the Brazilian Olympic flag-bearer, attended an all-singing, all-dancing Nations Evening, and generally enjoyed celebrity status in Brazil. They were interviewed for local and national press, radio and TV stations, where the high profile and success of the ISF World Schools Tennis event was being marketed as proof of the lasting legacy of the Rio Olympics.
