One of Bermuda’s promising tennis players Tobiah Goodchild has reflected on his first taste of action on the ITF World Junior Tennis Tour in St Vincent & the Grenadines.

In his maiden appearance at an ITF under-18 tournament Goodchild was beaten 6-1, 6-1 by Zach King, from Barbados, in the singles first round on Monday. He got over that disappointment quickly to combine forces on the same day with Khalil Burroughs from St Kitts & Nevis, to triumph 6-3, 6-3 against Lakshmi Dublin (France) and Hoi Shun Hui (Hong Kong) in the first round of doubles.

Goodchild, 16, and Burroughs then lost 6-3, 6-0 against the Trinidad & Tobago pair of Kale Dalla Costa and B'jorn Hall, in the quarter-finals.

“In my singles match, I felt like I didn't play to the best of my ability,” Goodchild said.

“I wasn't playing with full confidence and trusting my strokes and my serve, but my opponent did play really well. He was finishing his opportunities and he was executing well.

“In the doubles I won on the same day that I lost my singles and on the second day we played against the No 1 seeds and they were a lot better than our first opponents.

“We tried our best and it’s not like we did anything wrong. Our opponents were just better than us.”

The Saltus Grammar School student is now preparing for the next tournament at the same venue, which starts on Monday.

“For the next tournament, I’m trying to train a little bit more and gain more confidence in my strokes,” he said.

“I’m working hard to shake off all these nerves and hopefully I’ll play better than I did in the first tournament.”

Goodchild’s coach Steve Bean felt that the young Bermudian struggled due to lack of experience.

“Tobiah didn’t play as well as he’s capable of, I think partly because he’s not doing this as often,” the veteran coach said.

“His opponent in the singles has played in Jamaica, St Lucia, Dominican Republic and Trinidad. These guys play in all these tournaments from one week to the next.

“I found that Tobiah was a little slow and lacking in confidence. Hopefully, as we go on, he can play in the singles a little better.

“Playing in these ITF events is a commitment we have to make if we’re going to continue moving forward.

“We’re here for another week and, we’re going to try our best to play as many games as we can.

“There are other boys that are out of the tournament, so we can practice singles and doubles against them. A beautiful part of the whole experience is that these guys become friends and train with each other outside the tournament.

“There’s a lot to be learnt and we appreciate and value the opportunity to be in St Vincent at this time.”