Club Tournaments
Open Summer Tournament - Finals Day Report
Carnage on the Court (or The Teenage Tyros Triumph)
Last Sunday, July 11, dawned drizzly – but it was the day of the Tennis Club Finals in the restored walled garden at Chorleywood Tennis Club so the gods smiled and the sun was shining brightly as the first balls were hit in the mid-morning Ladies’ and Men’s Singles finals.
It has to be said, our home-grown Juniors were brilliant. Jess Stone, now fourteen, has won all the county and regional tournaments she has entered – and it showed. Lindsay Bird, who hits a pounding forehand, ran and ran, lobbed and volleyed, bravely contested the Final but Jess is that good these days that Lindsay did awfully well to keep her out on the court so long…
On an adjacent court, 17-year-old Luke Willis took on Steve Page, the highly experienced captain of our Men’s B team – a class act on the singles court. In a hard-fought contest, with no quarter given, it became apparent that even with the large number of deuces in most games, Luke held the edge. Both players used the whole court, volleying and lobbing, hammering ground strokes – and then Luke would unleash his secret weapon, his speed-of-light, cross-court backhand killer. There would be a blur and then a crack as Luke hit the ball like it’s never been hit before at Chorleywood. And so it came to pass that Luke triumphed in two sets.
But that was just the start. Our club has a flourishing junior section with more than a hundred novitiates being taught by three specialised coaches. Roy Richardson, the head coach, organised a knock-out singles tournament for the under-12s. Will Potter and Zoe Ramsay won the cups for the boys’ and girls’ events. Finalists Louis Prideaux, Josh Walton, James Wheeler, Abi Jones and Ella Jackson were each presented with handsome ‘gold medals.’
Later in the morning the men’s and ladies’ doubles were played. Luke and Paul (his Dad) took on last year’s champions, John Ramsell and Andrew Bowler. A very competitive and exciting three sets were played and eventually Andrew and John retained their champion status.
In the ladies’ doubles, Jess and Kelly, her hitting partner, powered their way to victory and lifted the Doubles Cup by defeating Andrea, our popular coach, who had teamed up with Nicky our administrator and captain of the mixed C team.
The action didn’t end there though, because Jess and Luke came together to contest the mixed doubles final, playing the formidable pairing of Steve Page and Jane Smith, a recent ladies’ captain. Junior tennis tyros Jess and Luke were behind throughout the first set but were able eventually to break serve and win the first set 7-5. This gave them a new burst of enthusiasm. In the second set there were some brilliant volleying exchanges and pounding rallies, demonstrating a quality of skill and determination that kept the 50 or so spectators entranced. A great roar of appreciation broke out when Jess and Luke finally triumphed –apart from their tennis skills, they are both great ambassadors for the game and show outstanding sportsmanship. Jess and Luke are a credit both to themselves and to the coaches at the Junior Tennis Academy at Chorleywood Tennis Club.
So many thanks are owed to all who made our finals day so special. First and foremost, thanks to our many members and to their friends and children who came along and helped create such a friendly atmosphere. Then we must thank Elaine who organised the tasty barbequed lunch, Harry and Tom who drove the barbeque and Jack and Bungi who organised the bar.
Nicky worked hard behind the scenes getting the day organised and our head coach Roy singlehandedly ran the invitation under-12s tournament. Finally, we must thank our umpires who supplied the gravitas…well done, everyone!
Bob
Mixed Singles Box League
Another successful singles box league has now finished with the results as follows:-
Box A Winner: Nick Jones
Box B Winner: Cal Meyrick
Box C Winner: Bob Arthy
Box D Winner: Chris Coughlan
Box E Winner: Adam Vine
Congratulations to all those players!
We will run another box league starting in July.........to take into account current team matches, holidays, the open tournament etc, we will run this until Mid September. Consequently it will be 3 or 4 matches over 10 weeks. If you'd like to join this fun box league please email Nicky.
Winter Box League - Update
The Winter Box League is currently underway - just click the link to see the 1st round draw.
On Monday 1st February the second round of the Winter Box League will start.
This year for a change there will be Men’s and Women’s Doubles instead of the usual Mixed Doubles (click here for 2nd round draw)
Please play your matches by SUNDAY 25TH APRIL.
Well done to those pairs who got their matches played.
For once, because of the terrible weather in November as well as December, there will be no penalties applied for matches not played! Instead, could you try and get those outstanding mixed doubles matches from round 1 played sometime during the second round – before April 25th- and we will include the scores. However if the matches aren’t played by then penalties will apply, unless there are extenuating circumstances.
Any problems please contact Frances Arthy (or between February 8th – 28th, Michelle Castelete)
“N’er cast a clout” fun tournament
The last May day bank holiday dawned grey and cold and stayed that way until 2.00pm. For it was then that some twenty souls braved the conditions and gathered to play in a ‘Fun’ tournament. After the first round scores were logged and the organiser decreed that six was the maximum score in any round. So much for a fun tournament then as his proclamation was met by howls of derision – led by his errant wife (seen pirouetting below). Anyway as the afternoon proceeded with all matches being keenly contested scores grew and quite a few players were anxiously gazing at the score sheet. After a tea and delicious cake –(thanks Budgens) to the denouement, the final round. Well it was close almost too close to be called but congratulations to the two heads peaking above the battlements - those of Susan Moore and Vartan Melkonian, who were declared worthy winners –picture below
Young Turks lock horns with the Old Lags
The tournament was due to start at 1.00pm and by this time everyone was at the Club......bar our Captain who it transpired had forgotten to put his clocks forward.....No worries though, for when he arrived and we got into the first round it was a 4-0 whitewash for the more elderly ones…..Not that the Lads weren’t keen – five pairs of them had arrived all begging Roy to let them get at the four pairs of Old Lags. When the young ones hit the ball it stayed hit, and they had monumental top spin skills. However they were all so young and couldn’t deal with the guile and the prodding and poking of the ball by their elders. But as the afternoon tennis tutorial advanced The Lads started to improve and eventually got some good wins with 15 yrs old Stefan and Dan beating two of our pairs who admittedly panicked and played like......words fail me.
So to the presentation. This year the Old Lags didn’t have to suck their dummies because they effectively won. However prizes of ‘I Love Chorleywood’ bags were awarded to Stefan and Dan for their wins and then to the rest of the Lads who had stayed for the shambling presentation delivered by the Men's Captain, who along with the other old losers were last seen modelling their balloons…
Then we all went home with a song in our hearts because we had all had a lot of tennis and fun on a lovely Spring afternoon.
Young turks mock the big girls blouses
Play some tournaments, emulate your heroes.....