Jasper becomes World no 1 at 70
Canterbury tennis player Jasper Cooper escaped the rain of East Kent to compete against the world’s best septuagenarians in Mallorca last month at the World Tennis Championships. It was a career-defining tournament for Jasper: his win in the O70s doubles event took him to no 1 in the World O70s Masters doubles rankings.
Much like his long career, the tournament itself was far from straightforward. Jasper and partner Boyd Brackstone of Dorset, came through two 10 point match-deciding tie breaks in the quarter and semi finals. The final was a more decisive affair, winning 6-3 6-4 against Americans Engelbrecht and Rhone.
It has been an outstanding year for Jasper whose prowess on the singles court has secured him the British number 1 spot (World no 7). In 2023 Jasper won 3 of the 4 British national events with singles wins in Indoors (Wrexham), Wimbledon and Eastbourne and doubles wins in Indoor, Bournemouth and Wimbledon. He also won events in Glasgow, Jurmala (Latvia) and Istanbul.
Jasper captains the Kent Men’s O70s team who won the Inter-county National Championship Finals in Sheffield last week, the team not dropping a rubber over the entire season. Jasper also represented Great Britain at the World Team Championships where GB finished 6th out of 22 competing nations.