Bredeney and ETUF Tennisanlage played host to the 2025 Rhine-Ruhr FISU Summer Games tennis competition and what a setting it’s been, based south of Essen and on the river Ruhr.
A team of university tennis stars descended from the very start of the games and have left everything out on the court, no more than Jamie Connel from Florida State University.
Jamie’s singles journey started on day one of the games against Australia where he dispatched his opponent in straight sets 6-2 and 6-1 breezing into the next round. A couple day’s break from singles tennis then saw Jamie return against Libya where again Jamie made light work of his opposite man winning 6-0 and 6-1.
Jamie’s first real test of the competition came in next round where he faced off against Hong Kong, China and what a competition it was as he was up against the number one seed in men’s singles. The number one seed proved his worth in the first set sweeping Jamie aside 0-6 and looking for an easy day at the office but the GB Student athlete was having none of it battling back to win the second set 7-6 and setting up a final set decider. A strong turn out from fellow GB Student athletes and staff spurred Jamie along bring the noise to court 4. A tough back and forth decider set ultimately went in the favour of the brit as he won again 7-6 setting up a guaranteed medal and a semi final.
Onto centre court for the semi final where Jamie stood across from fellow American based athlete Jay Friend from Japan. A tough game set about on centre court for the crowd in attendance and both the men bought their a-game at the end of a very long week on the clay. The first set went in the favour of the Japanese athlete 6-3. Jamie pushed Friend as much as he could throughout the entirety of the next set but the drop shot coming his way was too much and Friend took the second set 6-4 progressing onto the final.
Despite not getting the result he wanted in the semi final Jamie becomes GB Students fourth medal holder from Rhine-Ruhr 2025 taking home a bronze around his neck.
After the match Jamie commented “It’s amazing. I’m really happy with how the tournament went. Very happy to get a medal, at least. It was unlucky. I couldn’t win today, but I’m still very happy with bronze."
“I don’t think I played too badly when I was up. He came up with some great shots, a lot of winners. He played extremely well in those moments. Finally, the drop shots were killing me. I never played somebody who can consistently hit them so well, and from so many different angles on the court."
