The winners of Kent Tennis’ 2026 awards have been announced, with accolades up for grabs in seven categories.
Adult Performance Player-of-the-Year went to Bromley’s Alice Gillan. Gillan won the ITF W15 singles title in Monzon, Spain, was runner-up at the ITF Nottingham event and reached a career-best singles ranking of 532.
Further semi-final and quarter-final runs in Spain and Cyprus followed, before finishing the year as runner-up at an ITF W15 event in Estepona and closing the season ranked 496.
Junior Performance Player-of-the-Year was awarded to another Bromley player, Lois Newberry, after a 2025 which saw her qualify for the WTA W50 in Nottingham, earning her first WTA singles ranking of 1,384.
Newberry won the ladies’ singles title at the Lexus British Tour Premier Event in Loughborough, reached the quarter-finals of the under-18 doubles at the National Junior Championships and played a decisive role for the Kent girls’ under-18 County Cup team, sealing promotion back to Division 1 with a three-hour 30-minute match.
The Junior Performance Team-of-the-Year award was shared between the boys’ GB wheelchair team – featuring Kent trio Canterbury’s Ruben Harris, Biddenden’s Matt Knoesen and Beckenham’s Lucas De Gouveia – and the Kent girls’ under-18 County Cup side.
Harris, Knoesen and De Gouveia helped GB to World Team Wheelchair Tennis Cup junior glory in Turkey, while the girls gained promotion at David Lloyd Southampton, beating Suffolk 7-2, Lancashire 6-3 and Dorset 5-3.
Captained by Bromley’s Pippa Lane, with Bexleyheath’s Sophia Thomas vice-captain, the girls’ squad included Chloe Cleaver (Bromley), Grace Gay (Avenue Tennis Club/Sevenoaks), Eva Hutchins (Sevenoaks), Alice Moffatt (Chipstead/Sevenoaks), Eloise Newberry (Bromley), Lois Newberry, Mia Rose Otley (Margate), Charlotte Spratling (Canterbury), Bella Thomson (Sevenoaks) and Judy Zhang (Bromley).
The Adult Performance Team-of-the-Year award was shared by the Kent men’s over-75s and over-80s. The over-75s became national champions with a 4-0 win over Yorkshire captained by Margate’s Keith Clark alongside Peter Pharo (Beckenham), Christopher Mackenzie (Beckenham), Jonathan Potter (Canterbury) and William Baxendale (Margate).
Baxendale also represented the over-80s side.
Junior Club Player-of-the-Year was Alice Moffatt. A qualifier for the Play Your Way to Wimbledon finals, Moffatt and her partner won the under-18 girls’ doubles national title at the All England Club.
Runner-up at the under-16 girls’ Winter Regional Tour Grade 3 at the National Tennis Centre, Moffatt also won the women’s singles Grade 3 Fast4 event at Gosling and three titles at the Tunbridge Wells Grade 3 event, as well as winning a WTA W15 women’s singles meet in Malta.
Thomas Eastwell was named Adult Club Player-of-the-Year. Introduced to tennis in April at a Kent Tennis Deaf Tennis Open Day, Eastwell won his first learning disability tournament within weeks at Canterbury LTC and finished runner-up at an LTA-sanctioned event at Bromley Tennis Centre. He plays at Wye LTC.
The Sundridge Park men’s National League side were named Adult Club Team-of-the-Year. Competing in Division 1, they went unbeaten throughout the regular season and secured promotion with an 8-4 play-off victory,
Under captain Gary Le Pla (Bromley), the Bromley-based team of Tom Norwood, Tim Schoenert, Tommy Harrison and Shaun Ward became one of the few Kent clubs this century to reach the National Club League Regional Division.
