Tennis Triumph
Loughborough Amherst A-Level pupil Henry Searle has made history after being crowned the Junior Wimbledon Boys’ singles champion, following a 6-4, 6-4 victory over world No.7 Yaroslav Demin.
Searle ended Britain’s 61 year wait for a boy’s singles champion at Wimbledon with a dominant victory over Russian, Yaroslav Demin.
The unseeded 17-year-old won 6-4, 6-4 in front of a Court One crowd. A larger contingent of supporters sporting t-shirts printed with ‘Henry’s Barmy Army’ sat in the stands, chanting and jumping to their feet with every point Searle won.
Henry’s classmate said, “We have followed his progress throughout the tournament and couldn’t believe it when Henry was playing on an All England Club’s show courts!”
Searle told us, “It’s a pretty special feeling and it’s not going to come too often and I am going to try and enjoy it. It was amazing in front of this crowd today. I’d like to say thanks to my coaching team at Loughborough University, my mum, my brother and all of the Barmy Army here.”
Searle is only the 12th British boy to win a boys’ Grand Slam title and the first since Oliver Golding won the US Open in 2011. He is the first Briton to win a junior Wimbledon title since Laura Robson in 2008 and, most impressively, the first boy to lift the trophy in more than half a century.
Julian Murphy, Head of Loughborough Amherst School, said “We are all very proud of Henry Searle for his historic achievement on becoming the first Wimbledon Boys’ singles champion since 1962. Henry has shown incredible focus and mental strength throughout the tournament and his performance in the final was simply sublime.
I am also very proud of Ranah Stoiber and Mika Stojsavljevic for reaching the Wimbledon quarter finals. It must be a first to have three pupils from the same school all reach the later stages of the same tournament.
All credit to the amazing LTA National Tennis Academy at Loughborough University for the wonderful work they are doing with these young players. It really does feel like we are on the cusp of a true renaissance for British tennis.”
Congratulations are in order for even more Loughborough Amherst Pupils, Mimi, Daniela, Luca, Hugo and Given who all made it to the Wimbledon Tournament.
Congratulations also go to Katie Boulter (FFD 2007, LHS 2014), who competed in the Wimbledon Women’s Singles and reached the third round. Katie is the current British women’s number one and on 17 July, she reached her best singles ranking of world No.73.
The School’s history also includes a Wimbledon winner! We have to go back to 1890 when Willoughby Hamilton won Wimbledon. Willoughby, who was from Ireland, boarded in School House at Loughborough Grammar School between 1876 and 1881. Reports from the very first Loughburian of 1879 state that he was a ‘thoroughly good athlete‘ at School, particularly in Tennis and Cricket.
After winning Wimbledon, the then Headmaster, John Colgrove, was so impressed that he had the old ash court asphalted at his own expense. The excitement of Willoughby winning Wimbledon also inspired the introduction of three silver challenge cups for cricket, football and tennis – these cups are still awarded at LGS today.
You can read more about Willoughby Hamilton and the cups that he inspired here: T is for Tennis – LSF Development
