Oldfield impresses experts

JACK OLDFIELD has enjoyed a successful week at the Bristol Junior Hardcourt Championships. The tournament is part of the Sunday Telegraph Grand Prix series and was the largest in the south-west during the Easter holiday.

Oldfield played in two events, firstly the under-nines, which was run on a round robin basis.

He won all six matches without dropping a single game and thus ended up the clear winner.

The Sarnian then went on to compete in the under-10 event, which had an entry of 34 players.

In the first round, Oldfield overcame his nerves and pulled out a 12-10 victory in the final set tiebreaker.

The next round provided a more comfortable win 4-2, 4-2 against a rated player, Zaccariah Sheppard.

In the quarter-finals, Oldfield was beaten by the eventual finalist, 10-year-old Rafael Lofinmakin-Dutta.

The following week, the Guernsey boy travelled to the Jersey Easter Tournament and again made the finals of the 10-and-under event, losing in the final to Stuart Parker (10).

The standard of play was high for this age group and both should be assured a place in the under-10 CI county team due to travel to the UK in June.

Oldfield and his coach, Jo Robinson, are encouraged by the results.

'Jack deserves the success he has had this far,' she said.

'One of his best assets is that he is as keen to practise as he is to play matches and has worked hard at his game over the winter. He is committed to the game and clearly enjoys it.

'Earlier this year we spent a day at the Sutton Junior Tennis Academy in London where Jack had the opportunity to be seen by top performance coaches and ex-tour professionals ranked in the world's top 200.

'They too were full of praise for his technical ability and his attitude to training.'

There will be more competitions for Oldfield in the UK and Jersey over the summer, with the main aim being experience rather than results as he still has another year in the under-10 age group.