Thirteen year old Guernsey tennis player, Chloe De La Mare, is heading to Wimbledon to play on the hallowed grass of the All England Club in the finals of the National Play Your Way to Wimbledon Competition.
The Play Your Way to Wimbledon Tournament is the largest individual mass participation tennis tournament held in the UK. Having won the U14 Guernsey area event earlier this year, Chloe travelled to Jersey this weekend to play in the Regional Finals where she impressively won all three of her matches for the loss of just four games.
She has now earned a place in the National Finals which will be held between 6th and 12th August on the lawns of Wimbledon.
Chloe spent last week volunteering every day at the Island Games Tennis where she claims she was inspired by the success of the gold medal winning ‘Lauren’s’ (Barker and Watson-Steele). Helping with the court services and results teams, she even found time to master their celebratory ‘power pose’ which she performed at the end of her final match.
After winning this weekend she said: “I watched the Lauren’s and the Guernsey Team play great tennis all week and I was determined to follow in their footsteps and play well in Jersey. I’m so happy to have played so well today. It’s really exciting to have the chance to go to Wimbledon to play on the grass, which is something all tennis players dream of – I can’t wait.”
Lauren Barker, who herself won two medals last week, coaches Chloe alongside Jo Robinson, and said: “We are so proud of Chloe. She is one of our hardest working players and all her efforts are paying off. I am excited to see what is to come for her as she is getting better and better all the time.”
