Meet a member: Jimmy Tasker, IC of Barbados

Jimmy Tasker was born and raised in the beautiful island paradise of Barbados. His father Jimmy Tasker Snr. was a well-respected tennis coach on the island and it was no surprise that young Jimmy and his two older sisters were all handed racquets at an early age. A natural talent with a feel for the ball that can’t be taught but which one has to be born with, left-handed Jimmy became dominant at both the junior and senior levels in Barbados while still a young teenager.

Jimmy represented the island in the Brandon Trophy – a Caribbean Open tournament – from as early as age 16 and also played on the Caribbean team in the Davis Cup before each island had its own team. Once Barbados had its own Davis Cup team, he would go on to represent his country between 1989-1992. One of the highlights of his career was his participation at Junior Wimbledon in 1980 where he competed alongside juniors Mats Wilander and Henri Leconte.

Jimmy attended and played college tennis for Houston Baptist College with his two older sisters and went on to play the American Circuit for 3 months. Jimmy has continued to play tennis and has represented his Club at every interclub tournament for which he has been available. His introduction to IC Barbados some 12 years ago was through another highly respected member of the tennis community of Barbados, Mr. Peter Symmonds.  Jimmy’s love of the sport, along with his desire to give back to it after bringing him so many happy memories and positive aspects to him and his family over the years, is what led to his decision to accept the invitation to become a member. He has contributed in many ways to the IC of Barbados, including serving as captain of the Barbados team to the IC Rod Laver Junior Challenge tournament in the Bahamas in 2019. He has participated in most of the invitationals to IC events since becoming a member and counts the reconnection with comrades from his earlier tennis days as well as the forming of new friendships, among the many aspects of what he loves most.

Jimmy is currently looking forward to attending the IC of Canada’s 60th anniversary event in September and then onwards to India’s 75th celebrations in 2026. Jimmy can always be counted on to enjoy a friendly game of tennis, which he preferably follows up with some socializing on the beach with his friends and/or guests.

You can connect with Jimmy on Instagram here.

Even more exciting matches - Day 2 of The IC Rod Laver European 16U Junior Challenge

The first day had some close matches but this was surpassed on day 2. In Group B both inter country matches were tied at 3 each and had mixed doubles tie breaks to decide the winner. Against Spain Israel needed to win two 10 point tie break third sets in the no.1 girls singles and number two boys singles to manage to level at two matches each, both teams then won one doubles with Israel coming through in the mixed doubles decider to win the overall tie 4-3.

Meanwhile in the same group Austria went down 3-1 to Slovenia in the singles winning only the number 2 girls match. They then went on a great doubles run winning both the boys and girls doubles to level at 3 matches each. So it was another mixed doubles decider with Austria continuing their winning doubles streak to take the overall match 4-3. This means an interesting third day to see which teams go through to which play off positions with the other group for Friday's matches with Israel currently in pole position.

Maybe not to be out done by the other group there was a great match between Italy and Ireland. After the singles it was three matches each with both the boys number 1 's and the girls number ones going to 10 point tie break third sets with Italy winning the girls 10-7 and Ireland the boys 14-12. In the boys doubles Italy came through in two sets but the girls doubles split sets and went in to the third 10 point tie break set with Italy coming through 10-8 to take the overall tie and avoid a mixed doubles decider. In the remaining match GB won comfortably over Germany 6-0 but it to had some good matches including two that went to third set 10 point tie breaks. So the overall result was perhaps a bit flattering to GB and not fully representative of some good performances from Germany.

So it is: Group A Italy 2, Great Britain 1, Ireland 1, Germany 0
Group B Israel 2, Austria 1, Slovenia 1, Spain 0

This has probably been the most closely contested regional challenge for some time with strong consistent performances by all teams giving them a great tennis experience and feeling of team camaraderie.

After the matches the teams were taken on a coach tour of Frankfurt. Tomorrow evening our hosts Germany have put together a Tennis Dinner Quiz for all the teams that will be held at The Frankfurt Palmgarten Tennis Club ...... no phones and Google will be allowed !!!!!