A Wellington School pupil has been competing at Wimbledon in the finals of a National Tennis Competition and rubbing shoulders with some famous tennis stars.
Stephanie Buckingham, 14, entered the ‘Road to Wimbledon’ event at her local tennis club. Stephanie won and progressed through the county final to represent Avon at the famous All England Tennis Club. The nationwide event was entered by over 20,000 players who were all in the 14 and under age group and the top 144 contested the finals at the home of tennis.
The standard of play was extremely high and after some tough matches Stephanie was eventually eliminated by Catrin who went on to win the whole event. However, the experience is one that Stephanie will never forget. She had access to the hallowed Wimbledon courts, met Tim Henman and even played a match on the famous Court No 18 where, in 2010, John Isner and Nicolas Mahut played for over 11 hours in the longest match in the history of tennis.
Stephanie commented, “It was a great experience and something that I will probably never have the opportunity to do again.”