Cardiff tennis player Matt Story has become the British junior doubles champion, partnering Scotland’s Vincent Gillespie to the U18 title at Nottingham.
Champions! Matt Story (left) with doubles partner Vincent Gillespie.
Seeded number one, they won through to face number three seeds Ben Jones and Harvey Shackleton in the final at the Nike British Junior Championships, which they won 6-3, 6-2.
Story, who trains at the XL Academy at Cardiff Metropolitan University, was runner-up in the U16 doubles last year with partner Matthew Summers.
A member of the Wales team for the Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa next month, he won the Grade 5 ITF (International Tennis Federation) doubles tournament in Malta earlier this year, and won the U16s and U18s singles and U16s doubles in the 2014 Welsh championships – regaining all three trophies for the second time.
“This is an outstanding achievement, especially as Matt has only just recovered from an ankle injury in July,” said Tennis Wales national coach, Ellinore Lightbody. “It’s also a very timely confidence boost, as the Wales team prepares for the Youth Commonwealth Games.”
Tennis Wales chief executive, Peter Drew, added: “Wales currently has some of the best young tennis players we have had for quite some time and Matt’s tremendous achievement in winning the British doubles title is another great example of the talented players we have right now. We now wish Matt and the rest of the Wales junior tennis team all the best for the upcoming Youth Commonwealth Games in Samoa.”
Information on all aspects of tennis in Wales is available from Tennis Wales at 029 20 463335 or www.lta.org.uk/in-your-area/Wales/ and for regular updates follow Tennis Wales on Twitter @tenniswales
