Nenagh’s Nathan Slattery is Irish Under 16 Tennis champion
A warm glow of pride exists among Nenagh tennis circles, following the news on Saturday that Nathan Slattery had won the Irish Under 16 Boys Singles title at the Fitzwilliam club in Dublin.
Nathan, seeded 2, defeated Daniel Borisov, 6/3, 6/1, in the final. He had earlier defeated Hugh Butler, 7/5, 6/3 in the semi-final while Borisov had beaten Irish number 1 Zach Murphy from Castleview LTC (Carrick-on-Suir) in three sets in the other semi-final.
Nathan Slattery is the first Nenagh player to win an Irish singles title at Fitzwilliam. This is Nathan’s second Irish success of 2020, as earlier in the year he won the Irish Under 16 Indoor title, an important and prestigious title by any criteria.
However, a Fitzwilliam success, essentially a title or at minimum to do oneself justice, is a supreme aspiration for junior players in Irish tennis. Entries for the tournament are limited, being dependent on players’ results and rankings. The famous Dublin club’s website proudly states that “The Junior Irish Open, aka the Junior Fitz, which has never left the club, has been a rite-of-passage competition for Ireland's top young tennis players since 1914”.
One other current Nenagh player also won a title there. Lena O’Connor, then representing Limerick Lawn Tennis Club and won the Irish Girls Under 12 Doubles title, playing with Richelle O’Driscoll (Sunday’s Well).
Karl Purcell, Gail O’Meara, Marc O’Meara, Ann-Marie Darcy, Helena Darcy, Frank O’Keeffe and Alan D’Arcy are among other Nenagh members who have played Fitzwilliam with distinction, and indeed there may well be others re whom we’d be glad to be reminded about.
We congratulate Nathan and his parents Juliana and Kieran whose support and encouragement over the years have been vital components in Nathan’s achievement. Both are active players in Nenagh Lawn Tennis Club, Kieran in fact featuring on one of the Nenagh teams which featured at the recent deferred Munster Winter League finals at Rushbooke while Juliana was a member of Nenagh team which won a Midland League title a few years ago.