HELEN’S Bay tennis star Sam Irwin was crowned national U-14 champion at Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club in Dublin on Sunday.
The National Championship is the most prestigious tournament on the junior calendar, affectionately known in the Irish tennis community as ‘Fitz’.
While Sam has consistently been at the top of the Irish rankings, for the past four years, and represented Ireland many times, the Fitz title is one that evaded him at U-12 level, despite being the favourite to win.
However, he put that behind him when he reigned supreme amongst 32 of the nations top U-14 players last weekend.
Now boasting the title of national champion, Sam has had an outstanding summer.
He represented Ireland at the European Summer Cup in Valencia, Spain, where he faced the top-ranked players from Andorra, Israel, Great Britain and Greece, recording two wins and gaining valuable experience for the future.
That was followed by a break, for a family holiday, before the 13 year-old focussed his efforts locally, with Fitzwilliam glory being the primary objective.
In the three weeks prior to the Dublin success, Sam played up an age group and won three U-16 tournaments, hosted at Cavehill, Belfast Boat Club and Malahide, which gave him form and confidence going into the National Championships.
Sam will now turn his attention to leading the Ulster U-14 team into the Interprovincial competition in Cork and representing Ireland at the Home 4 Nations in England, with both tournaments set to take place in September.
