Florida-based player Liam Gomez made his return to T&T count, when he won both the Boys' Under 18 Singles and Doubles titles, on the last day of the 22nd Annual Catch National Junior Tennis Championships at the Eddie Taylor Public Courts in St Clair yesterday. Gomez beat Javier Lewis 7-5, 6-2 in the Singles final and later paired up with Luke De Caires to subdue Lewis and Jualon Greig 6-4, 6-3. When he took the court at 9am, the 17-year-old was still recovering from his four-hour long semifinal against De Caires on Thursday, which he won 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3. "I didn't have that much energy and I wasn't feeling too good," he said afterwards. "It was a tough match. Javier played some really smart tennis. He was quick and wasn't missing much but I hung in there and finally won.
"I think what made the difference was that I played a bit more aggressively than he did. I came to the net to finish off the points while he was spending a lot of energy on the baseline." Lewis's semifinal also turned into a marathon when he and Keegan De Silva fought to a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 scoreline. "I could have played a little better but I was still tired from the matches I played," he said. "Still, it felt great to test myself against a T&T player who has been training in the States." At 6-5 in the first set, very little separated the two players who had been testing each other's patience with long, exhausting rallies amid the distractions of the basketball game next door. Gomez ground out his points patiently and went for his big shots when the times were right.
On his first set point, he played a ball that, unnoticed by the officials, drifted a fraction long and Lewis, in reply, placed his backhand wide. To his credit, Lewis took the decision with maturity and turned his attention to the second set. The test of wills continued as Gomez kept his opponent busy by changing the pace of the ball and placing his shots into different areas. After a tense start, he broke Lewis's serve to go up 4-2 and once more after that to secure the title. He will head back to the Saddlebrook Prep School tomorrow after a three-week stay in T&T which also included a semifinal run in the T&T ITF International Junior Circuit tournament.
Boys' Under 12 player Jelani Davidson also copped a double crown, starting with a 6-1, 6-1 whipping of his partner Nabeel Mohammed in the Singles final and then teaming up with him to thrash Aaron Soo Ping Chow and Ryan Thomas 6-2, 6-1 for the Doubles title. In the morning's other Singles final, Joshua Abraham became the Boys' Under 14 champion when he topped Elan Mendes 6-2, 6-3. Abraham then returned to the court with his brother Ty to face Ross Hackshaw and Scott Lanser in the Boys' Under 14 Doubles final in which the latter pair won 6-2, 1-6, 10-8.