Saanich resident Zach Scott was the solo U14 tennis player from Vancouver Island at the provincial tournament at the Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort and Spa.
The 13-year-old is currently ranked in the top 10 in the province for U14 boys singles, and was one of 16 U14 boys invited to the tournament.
Scott’s goal is to go to nationals, but said he would have to win “quite a few matches” at Bear Mountain to qualify.
At the U14 level, players don’t have umpires and they have to call their own outs and keep score, so Scott said it is a mental battle.
“There was a lot of unique ways of calling the ball and playing the game, I found it hard to concentrate,” he said.
He has been playing the sport since he was seven years old, and he said he likes competing and seeing that same level of competitiveness from his opponents.
“One of my favourite things about playing against other players is facing them and knowing what I have to do to improve and get better,” he said.
Scott was the 2017 U12 Outdoor provincial champion and placed seventh at the U12 Outdoor Nationals last August in Quebec.
He thinks Bear Mountain is “a pretty great facility to play at,” and is happy to have a tournament close to home as most of his tournaments are on the mainland.
Scott won Friday’s U14 singles match 7-5, 7-5, but lost Saturday morning 6-1, 6-1 to No. 2 ranked Henry Ren from Vancouver.
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