The island’s women’s tennis team has begun its preparations for late June’s NatWest Island Games in Gotland.

At the end of 2016 the team competed in the annual Winter County Cup in Gloucestershire.

This is a three-day competition with singles and doubles matches against one county team per day.

On day one, the Isle of Man faced the South of Scotland and they couldn’t have had a better start.

Alison King got the ball rolling with a straight sets win and after that there was no stopping the Isle of Man.

The Manx stormed to a historic 9-0 win with Katie Tinkler not dropping a single game all day.

Day two saw the team face Northamptonshire and confidence was high after the previous day’s victory.

The team got off to a strong start with captain Elena Snidal taking her second singles win of the weekend 6-4, 6-3.

However, despite a closely fought three-set match from Tinkler, the only other singles win came from the island’s number one player, Laura Feely, 7-6 (2) 6-1.

This meant the team would need to win all three of the afternoon’s doubles matches in order to take the tie.

Karen Faragher paired up with Feely to win in straight sets. While Elena Snidal and Katie Harris lost out in a first set tie-break and failed to regain momentum. Final score Isle of Man 3, Northamptonshire 6.

On the final day, the Isle of Man played the home side, Gloucestershire.

The women knew they were up against a talented side, as Gloucestershire had not dropped a set all weekend.

Although Harris played well in her singles, taking the second set 6-1, she could not close out the match.

Similarly, Tinkler and Hannah Snidal showed they were contenders in the doubles, but narrowly missed out to the stronger Gloucestershire pair.

Final score Isle of Man 0, Gloucestershire 9.

The women enjoyed a weekend of competitive tennis; good preparation for the upcoming Games in Sweden.

The team would like to thank all of those who support Isle of Man tennis and Manx sport and will be training hard and fundraising as much as they can in the coming months.

Sponsorship opportunities are always welcome.

Therefore please get in touch by emailing [email protected] if you would like to support Isle of Man tennis and see your company’s name on the medal podium at the Island Games.