By Randy Bennett
Tyrease Holder is no longer a pretender to the throne.
The 17-year-old Holder announced himself as one of the best ‘B’ class road tennis players on the island when he emphatically defeated Ashton Blackett on Monday night to capture the inaugural Hope for the Ghetto road tennis tournament.
In what turned out to be an anti-climactic final, Holder rolled over Blackett 21-2, 21-17, before a large crowd at the Deighton ‘Pa’ Roach Facility in Bush Hall.
In an interview with Barbados TODAY, Holder, whose aunt Kim Holder is a women’s road tennis champion, said he always believed he had a good chance of winning the tournament, which attracted over 90 men, including some of the island’s best ‘B’ class players.
“I knew I had a good chance of winning after beating Julian Collymore in the round of 16. I just had to keep my focus on moving forward and I came home with the win,” the soft spoken Holder said.
And while the lanky attacker disclosed that he went into the final against Blackett with a specific strategy, he admitted that he was shocked by his opponent’s poor play in the opening game.
“I just really went into the game with a game plan and I just tried to stick to it as best as possible. Coming on to the end I got a bit tentative but I made it home.
“I know Ashton has a good game but I was really surprised with how he played me in the first game,” Holder said.
The opening game was over almost as soon as it began, lasting a mere six minutes.
Surprisingly, Blackett actually won the first point when Holder sent a forehand shot into the net. But in somewhat unbelievable fashion, Holder won the next 13 points to take control of the match.
He employed a strategy of keeping the ball in Blackett’s forehand and then switching the ball to his backhand wing, which left his opponent scampering to retrieve the shot.
Another forehand into the net by Holder gave Blackett his second and last point (13-2) as Holder rattled off eight straight points to comfortably win the opening game.
Blackett gave a much better showing of himself in the second game, rushing out to an early 3-0 lead.
That lead didn’t last too long though, as Blackett committed five straight unforced errors to fall behind (3-5).
With his confidence up, Holder was in a no-nonsense mood, quickly running around his backhand to play attacking forehand shots which Blackett had no answer to, as he built a comfortable 9-5 advantage.
Intent on finishing his opponent quickly, an over-aggressive Holder smashed an easy ball outside of the court and committed two more forehand errors as Blackett battled his way back to within two (9-11).
Another errant forehand from Holder brought his opponent to within one at 12-11, before a service error from the teenager tied the scores at 12.
Holder looked in danger of self-destructing when he sent a forehand into the net on the very next point to trail 12-13.
However, he regrouped and found his composure to win the next three points and retake the lead at 15-13 and a beautifully executed forehand turn gave him a critical lead at 16-14. Two more attacking crosscourt shots extended that lead to 19-14, and Holder eventually closed out the match.
Holder said he would now turn his attention to the Sandy Lane Charitable Trust Easter Youth road tennis competition which serves off on Friday.
He walked away with the first-place prize of $1000 while Blackett earned $700.
School teacher Dwaine Hope won the third-place playoff by defeating Azarie Clarke 20-22, 21-17, 21-12, to claim $400 while the 16-year-old Clarke took home $200.
randybennett@barbadostoday.bb
