A team representing Cardiff Met University won this year's National Premier League Tennis event held in Sunderland.
A team representing Cardiff Met University won this year's National Premier League Tennis event held in Sunderland. The event has been running since 2002 and this is the first year that any side from Wales or any side based out of a University has won the event.
Cardiff Met qualified directly for the finals by finishing top of the South West group. Players involved in this stage of the competition included Cardiff Met students (James Rowe, James Haywardd-Browne, Wyn Lewis, Mikey Cox, and Mike Castle), Cardiff Met Academy players (Matt Story, Ricky Hernandez-Tong, Callum Findlay, and Matt Lloyd) and the top pro in Wales Josh Milton also played during the qualifying stages.
The team at the final consisted of Chris Lewis and Jordan Helyer who both coach at Cardiff Met as well as Craig Evans who is based at a club in Neath and professional player Marcus Willis of Reading currently ranked at 390 in the world.
The team was seeded 2 and won through to the final by beating Millfield in the QFs followed by Virgin Active Chiswick in the SFs. In the final they beat the top seeds and the champions of the last two years, Gosling. The match was tied at 1-1 after the first round but Cardiff Met won both of the 2nd round matches to win the match 3-1 and take the title.
The National Premier League event is the only domestic club team event to run through the winter season in the UK and is a doubles only event. Over 100 teams around the country enter the group stages and compete in regional divisions to qualify for the finals.