Great Britain’s 12U boys’ team lift prestigious Tennis Europe Winter Cup in Sunderland
• 1 MINUTE READ
Great Britain’s boys’ team were crowned champions at Tennis Europe’s 12U Winter Cup at the Silksworth Community Pool, Tennis & Wellness Centre in Sunderland.
The Winter Cup is Europe’s biggest indoor team tennis event, with boys’ and girls’ tournaments for the 12U, 14U and 16U age categories.
The GB team – including Kai Max Hodkinson, Tomas Gabor and Cameron Rae – put in an impressive weekend worth of performances, winning all three of their ties without dropping a rubber.
This is Great Britain’s first 12U boys’ Winter Cup title since 2013 – a team that included Jack Draper, Jacob Fearnley and George Loffhagen.
It’s the second successive year that Brits have clinched a 12U Winter Cup after the girls’ team captured the trophy in 2024.
Team Captain and LTA National Age Groups Coach, Richard Plews, commented: “The team spirit was a standout quality demonstrated by the boys. They grew in confidence over the course of Qualifying and the Finals culminating in some high level singles and doubles throughout the Finals."
“These international team events create great memories (win or lose) and are always mentioned in “the highlights” of the junior careers of many of our leading men and women. The Winter Cup was highly competitive, hugely developmental for our boys but above all else it was great fun.
“The only other winning 12U boys' team featured Jack Draper, Jacob Fearnley and George Loffhagen who have all gone on to successful pro careers. The boys were aware of this before our campaign and it obviously served as extra motivation to follow in those footsteps.”
The Brits breezed past Romania in the quarter-finals and Denmark in the semi-finals with straight sets victories in both ties – setting up a final against Poland on Sunday.
Gabor opened the final with a dominant 6-3, 6-1 win over Leon Miarka to give the Brits an advantage, before Hodkinson stepped up to seal the title, defeating Kajetan Kosinski 6-4, 6-0.
To put the icing on the cake, Gabor and Rae then combined to beat Miarka and Jakub Sylwestrzak 6-2, 6-0 in the final match of the tournament.
The 12U GB girls’ team finished the week in 7th place. After narrow defeats to Latvia and Austria, the team – led by Milla Bray, Honey Robinson and Kaya Stojsavljevic – beat France 2-1 in their final match.
