Team Meriden has won the Tildesley Tennis Tournament for the eleventh consecutive year. At the weekend, our players achieved the School’s best-ever results in the competition, attaining Meriden’s highest-ever point score and taking out first prize and runner up in both the singles and doubles events.
In the nail-biting Meriden v Meriden singles final, Sarah Rokusek and Indiya McLeod battled it out, with Indiya winning 8-6 to claim the title of Tildesley Singles Champion 2020. It was only the second Tildesley appearance for both girls. The all-Meriden doubles final saw Subeksha Suren Raj and Samantha Lavers take on Miranda Xu and Sarah Mazaraki. Subeksha and Samantha took the victory in an exciting match that saw their steely nerves prevail.
Meriden had twenty-two players competing in the tournament: ten singles players and six doubles pairings. Every Meriden girl played valiantly in the competition with our girls losing only to other Meriden players. One of the stand-out singles matches was played in Round 6 by Indiya McLeod and Sienna Leeson, who maintained an exceptional quality of tennis for the entire match. Piper Freeman and Sarah Rokusek played another of the hard-fought singles matches, with an incredible twenty-two deuces occurring halfway through the match and Sarah winning following a tie-breaker. The School’s doubles pairings also demonstrated the grit of the Meriden players, who showed extraordinary focus and sportsmanship.
Head Coach, Mr Ross Anton, said the best thing about the Tildesley Tournament is that it is truly a team effort.
“Every one of Meriden’s forty-two Tildesley team members had a role to play in our success,” he said
“The girls invested significant time and effort in the lead-up to the competition: at School, at weekend and holiday training sessions and even at home throughout the offsite learning period during Term 2. Their success is well deserved and their commitment to, and care for, each other is the basis of their strength as a team.”
The pared-back competition meant that for the first time in its 102-year history, the tournament was held without spectators. Meriden Principal, Dr Julie Greenhalgh, said she was proud of all Meriden’s Tildesley players, who kept team morale high, despite the competition’s more subdued atmosphere.
“Our players showed incredible technical skill on the court but I am most proud of the attitude of humility and solidarity they displayed throughout the two-day competition,” Dr Greenhalgh said.
“I was particularly impressed by the leadership of the senior girls, who stepped up to be mentors and confidantes to the younger students in this challenging time. We are thrilled to have brought home the Tildesley Shield for the eleventh consecutive year and congratulate the students and coaching staff on their hard-earned success.”
The following students competed at the 2020 Tildesley Tennis Tournament as members of Team Meriden:
Elektra Arseniou
Paris Ayoub
Dunja Dudic
Piper Freeman
Penina Kamu
Samantha Lavers
Sienna Leeson
Maxi Lipic-McFadyen
Indiya McLeod
Tia Vuk-Luboya
Sarah Mazaraki
Joanna Papastamouli (injured)
Sarah Rokusek
Chilee Roland
Soha Singh
Jaide Smith
Kaitlin Spanoudakis
Subeksha Suren Raj
Hannah Taleb
Sara Tanti
Madeleine Whip
Miranda Xu
Farah Zulfiqar
Reserves:
Layla Ibrahim
Nina Krecklenberg
Te Akaiti Toa
