The first weekend of the under 19 SA High Schools tournament has just been completed in Pretoria and George. Four provinces are still due to play in Bloemfontein next weekend.

The Pretoria weekend started off with a huge downpour on Saturday morning and the players, coaches, managers and even parents all got down to the business of sweeping and squeeging the tennis courts. No sooner were they starting to dry then the heavens opened up again. For a while the tournament looked like it wasn’t going to happen. Everyone moved across to Groenkloof mid morning and the sun came out drying the courts in no time. Play could begin!!

Due to the delay, singles were only played in the first round matches. The level of play surpassed previous years and the very high standard was evident to all. Long, hard matches were fought for with many going to three sets and some heartbreaking losses in 3rd set tiebreakers.

The organisers and managers/coaches of teams – who have to be mentioned for their passionate involvement in Schools tennis made every effort to catch up lost time and doubles were played for the second match on Saturday afternoon. It was an exhilarating and exhausting day in the humid weather for players and spectators.

Sunday morning was sunny and bright and the last matches of the tournament were played – once again with passion and intensity.

The tournament is played on a round robin format and when all the points were tallied – Gauteng Central in Group 1 and Gauteng North B in Group 2 had amassed the highest number of points.

News from the organisers in George also reiterated the high standard of play with Eastern Province gaining the highest number of points in their group.

Well done to all participants – your behaviour on and off the courts was a credit to your province. Here are some photos from the Pretoria venue – there are lots more photos on the SATennis facebook page – facebook.com/SATENNIS