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On 13th September, Jonny O’Mara, Stewart Crerar and James McKie embarked on a trip to Belfast to represent Scotland in the annual 4 Nations tennis tournament. We knew from the outset that it was going to be a very challenging weekend with extremely strong competition in all age groups, but were quietly confident. Stewart and James were competing in the U18, while Jonny was in the U14 (despite still being U12!)
On arrival at Belfast Boat Club early on Friday morning the whole team was ready for action, despite being tired from the early morning alarms. We were drawn against Wales, and with many tight and tense matches we came through strongly with impressive wins, especially in the U18s with the score at 5 matches to 1.
 The second day saw us compete against a stronger Irish team. The matches were close and the final doubles match of the day would be vital. At 9.30 under the floodlights, James (left) and Stewart were in one of the tightest matches of the weekend so far. After a slow start they fought back to win in the deciding set, with an ecstatic Scottish crowd cheering them on all the way.
On the final day the scores were:
England: 29
Wales: 26
Scotland: 25
Ireland: 16
We knew that the last day against England would therefore be crucial.
At the start of the day it was the U14 boys' doubles, with Jonny leading from the front to get us off to the flying start we needed. With some unbelievable shots from Jonny making the crowd go wild, he and his partner eased to victory. With many of the matches going to plan it was looking likely that the U18 boys doubles (again) could decide the overall winners. After another very tight match we came out on top, confirming us as official Junior British Doubles Champions, and much more importantly securing the overall Four Nations victory for Scotland.
James McKie
Link to LTA article
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