The Mississippi Junior Claycourts Closed State Championships was held at Bowman’s Gulf Coast Tennis Club this past weekend. Wonderful tennis weather prevailed, and as a state level 2 and southern level 4 tournament, many junior ranking points were won during the three day tournament. And as a Closed tournament, all of those points stay right here in Mississippi. Here are some highlights:

It’s a Family Thing - Looking at the list of competitors, you can tell tennis is truly a family sport. Forty percent of the competitors had siblings also playing. No other sport that I know of could include a wide range of brothers and sisters - from identical twins like Boys 18s singles finalists and doubles winners Ben and Brock Hurston, to kids spread out such as Kris Roberts playing in the Girls 16s with sister Anna Rachel in the 12s and brother Russell in the 10s. Fourteen families had two kids playing, while five families, including the Roberts, had THREE kids playing! I hope they get a quantity discount on tennis lessons!

Busy Refs - I’m not sure if the USTA has an initiative going on to crack down on code violations, but Bowman’s referees certainly were generous in awarding point penalties during the course of the tournament. I heard one parent say “You can add up all the point penalties given to all the players in this tournament they have ever received in all their tournament play, and there were MORE point penalties than that given out today.” Players, think twice before you toss your racquet up in the air. And also make sure you know how to play a tie break!

Trey is back! While recovering from surgery due to injuries sustained in an automobile accident, Trey Seymour, a star athlete from Greenville, made his return to junior tennis in a spectacular way. Playing up an age division in the Boys 18s, Trey was unseeded, and had to meet eventual tournament winner Brock Hurston in the quarter finals. Brock had also taken some time off from the tournament circuit, but was able to get past Trey in a close, hard-hitting 4 and 3 match that was as good as any finals could be. Trey went on to sweep the backdraw, losing only four games in his three matches, and along with Patrick Johnson took the Boys 16s doubles trophy. Trey is back with a vengeance, and has his sights set on playing at Kalamazoo - the Holy Grail of junior tennis!

Call Her the Comeback Queen - Unseeded Anna Claire Henderson was down 1-4 before winning five games in a row to beat the Number 1 seed and take the Girls 16s trophy. Even more dramatic was her semi-final against the two seed. Way down in the second set, after losing the first, Anna Claire dug deep to take the set 7-5 and then win the 10-point deciding tie break. She will see the largest jump in rankings for any player, as every other singles draw was won by the one or two seed. Now that MRA JV basketball is over, it looks like Anna Claire must be spending more time on the tennis courts!

Double Your Fun - As Doubles points are now included in the combined rankings, the doubles event is more popular than ever! Doubles is fun and less stressful for the players, and all competitors should participate. One suggestions to tournament directors - in a weekend-long tournament, it would be great to get ONE round of doubles in on Saturday, even if it is at an alternate site. Placing most doubles matches after all singles matches have completed means LOTS of sitting around and waiting for all competitors (and parents!) on Sunday afternoon. Leaving Gulfport at 6pm to drive home to say, Tupelo or Starkville, then getting your high school student up for school on Monday morning is a tough chore! With an eight game pro set, doubles matches go fast, but by playing two rounds of singles and one round of doubles before the end of the day on Saturday can let players who don’t get deep in the tournament to get on the road and get their homework done!