Posted on November 13th 2014
Reward Trip to the Barclays ATP World Tour Tennis Finals
On Wednesday 12 November, eight hard-working students (Rahmadan Abogun, Joe Bradshaw, Liam Mackowski, Noah McLean, Philip Ototahor, Samir Parada, Maziar Patterson and Kieran Smith) were rewarded with a trip to watch the Barclays ATP World Tour Tennis Finals at the O2 Arena, accompanied by Mr Vertannes and Mr Nowers.
The boys got to watch two games of tennis, starting with Bob and Mike Bryan vs Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau. The boys were excited at the prospect of watching the Bryan brothers - the most successful doubles tennis players of all time. The contest was closely fought, going into a third set tie break, with the Bryan brothers digging deep to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
The main event was contested by Tomas Berdych and Marin Cilic. Both players lost their opening matches and were looking to reignite their ATP World Tour Finals challenge. Tomas Berdych ended up running away with the tie 6-3 6-1 against an out-of-sorts US Open champion Marin Cilic. The boys were blown away by the quality of tennis on show and the special effects utilised by the O2 Arena created an excellent atmosphere.
As well as enjoying the tennis, the boys also got to visit the Fan Zone which included two practice courts (pictured) and a number of interactive games and activities supplied by the event’s sponsors. The boys made the most of their time in the Fan Zone, getting involved in all of the activities and some even registered their interest in being a ball boy at the next ATP World Tour Finals!
At the end of the day, all of the boys commented on how much fun they had and how mesmerised they were by the whole experience. Everyone was impeccably behaved and did Harris Boys' Academy proud.