The second annual Bi-Nation Junior Tennis Championship between St Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda was held at Warner Park in St Kitts from December 16-17 with a number of the country’s top junior players pitting their talents against the top juniors from the neighbouring islands.
Antigua and Barbuda was represented by Victoria Mckay (Girls U12); Zaiden Hector (Boys U12); Matthew Mckay, Giovanni Quinn, Letrell Anthony (Boys U14); DeAndre Weekes and Daren Dunnah Jr (Boys U16).
St Kitts was represented by 18 players in the various categories.
In the Girls U12 Victoria Mckay played well given this was her first tournament representing her country and advanced to the semi-finals but lost to Shreyah Rawat of St Kitts, the eventual U12 female champion (4-6, 6-7).
In Boys U12 category, Zaiden Hector advanced to the finals but lost in a hard-fought and close match to T’Zuriel Percival of St Kitts (5-7, 5-7). In the U16s, DeAndre Weekes advanced to the finals but lost to Khalil Burroughs of St Kitts (4-6, 0-6).
After narrowly losing the first set he ran out of steam in the second and attributed it to lack of court time because he was preparing for exams. Daren Dunnah Jr fought valiantly in his round robin matches where he showed glimpses of his talent by beating one of his Kittian opponents but too many unforced errors resulted in back to back losses as he failed in his bid to advance to the semi-finals.
In the U14 category, Matthew Mckay played his heart out but lost in the preliminary rounds. Also in the U14s, Letrell Anthony played some magnificent shots, but too many errors worked against his advancement in the tournament.
In an all-Antiguan semi-final contest, Giovanni Quinn played masterfully and went on to win the Boys U14 championship by defeating the hometown favourite, Matthew Owen of St Kitts 6-4, 6-1. He had the most aces of any player across all age groups and dominated his opponents with his “lefty” serve and heavy topspin.
President of the Antigua and Barbuda Tennis Association, Cordell Williams said that he was satisfied with the results given the limited preparation time for the Antiguan players. He also indicated that the goal of the ABTA is to rekindle OECS tennis such that it can serve as a spring board for developing talent in the region.
In pursuit of this goal, he stated that the 2024 version will be hosted by Antigua and Barbuda, but it will be expanded to include teams from Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia, Anguilla, St Kitts, and St Maarten.