T&RA Newsletter Easter 2013

hief Executive Update The World Doubles Challenge is on and will be

played over two legs in April, details elsewhere in

this Newsletter but a very exciting time for the

Rackets world. The Champions retained their Amateur

crown in February but the Challengers look dangerous.

The Open Doubles after Easter has a bumper entry as

the new pairings jostle for supremacy for a future

challenge. The Public School Doubles saw Eton and

Harrow triumphant but a great entry shows promise

for the future and to keep the boys playing when they

leave school. Stay in touch via Facebook and Twitter.

In the world of Tennis, there is change afoot at

Holyport, with the T&RA, the Club and the current

owner working hard to secure the future for the

members. More to follow in the next few months, as

this unravels. The new Markers Register will be on-

line for the start of next season, adding a layer of

professionalism to this important role all a positive

spin-off from the Club Professional Development

programme.

It is good to see new members joining the Association

and the new membership card will be sent to clubs

shortly after Easter for distribution. Finally volunteers

are the heartbeat of the T&RA and my thanks goes out

to the many unsung heroes at the clubs. Two worthy of

special mention are Simon Talbot-Williams, who has

put a huge number of hours into Holyport; and Ashley

Lenihan, who has taken over the role of Child

Protection Officer and is currently revitalising this

important process.

21s/24s

Due to New Year's Day falling on a Tuesday, the tournament was held nearly a week later than usual so some of the younger players were back at school, which coupled with one or two high profile absentees made for a smaller draw at this year's championships. The early rounds belonged to Leon Smart who won through as far as was reasonably possible in both singles events and the doubles. Lewis dispatched those who sought a scalp despite nursing an injured knee, but fell short of both finals by 1 round. Michael reached the U21 final by beating Lewis, but he came up against an opponent just a little bit too experienced in John Lumley, who retained his title with a 6/0 6/3 win. Although John was the current U24 title holder, the top seed was Conor Medlow. Both players won their semis to set up the grandstand final. Extreme consistency in John, met a more expansive but error prone power game from Conor. Previous meetings had gone Conor's way but it was the consistency of John which saw him pull ahead in a

tight first set and eventually win 6/3. Frustration reigned in Conor's game and it might have made for a quick demise in the second, but with his back against the wall, Conor hit back from 5/2 to 5/4 inducing a few visible nerves setting in from John's game. True to form though, he showed his champion qualities and dug deep to win the second set 6/4 and retain the title. John and Conor paired up in the doubles and won a mismatched final against the Williams boys (not related) to win a comfortable 6/0 6/1.

ro Singles

The 2013 Rackets Professional singles competition was held this year on the highly regarded Haileybury school court. Considered by many to be one of the finest courts in the world, it was the perfect venue for one of the most prestigious tournaments in the Rackets sporting calendar.

In the top half of the draw, Hopton made light work of

his opponents and secured his place in the final

without dropping a single game. The bottom half of

the draw however was more fiercely contested. The

semi-final between 3rd

seed Ben Snell (Queens Club)

and six time winner, Mark Hubbard (Radley College)

was a thrilling encounter. Both players were in sublime

form and struck the ball magnificently. The quality of

retrieving was astonishing and finally, after almost two

hours of play, Snell secured victory and place in the

final. Saturday afternoon also saw the Professional

doubles competition. Defending champions and ex

Gloucestershire County Cricket Club team mates Mike

Cawdron (Haileybury) and Reggie Williams (Clifton

College) played Ryan Tulley (Wellington School) and

Andy Stout (Haileybury). In a high quality match,

scores reached 11-11 in the final game. Despite some

stubborn resistance from the Gloucestershire duo the

challenging pair were able to overcome the defending

champions.

The full balcony on Sunday was treated to spectacular

final. Both players were on supreme form, however the

near pin-point

accuracy of

Hopton put Snell

under constant

pressure. Hopton

managed to keep

the upper hand

and retain his title

in straight games.

W.Hopton bt B.Snell 15/3 15/6 15/6

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S Open Camden Riviere won the title 6/2 6/4 6/1 and regains the US Open title, which he first won in 2009 when he defeated the same

opponent, Steve Virgona. At 4/3 to Camden in the second set a 30 minute break was witnessed due to a leaking roof. For both players this was a chance to refuel and gather their thoughts. Unfortunately for Steve, it was Camden who was able to capitalise the most and Steve only won 2 more games in the match. Riviere played very well indeed and it starts to make the race for the world championship eliminators very interesting. There are five more ranking tournaments this year to be played.

nter-Schools Doubles Championship and handicap Championship

A fantastic showcase of the great work that clubs are doing with schools. Over 22 schools participated and 115 pupils in total. A great weekend of Tennis and an even better look for the future.

Seniors Final

Ben Robinson &George Buckley (Radley) bt Charlie

Braham & Rory Giddins (Eton) 6/5

Colts - Final

Eton bt Radley 8/5

Under 14 - Final

Radley 1 bt MCS 6/1

Under 13 - Final

St Hughs bt Perrott Hill 6/0

Handicap Doubles Seniors

Warwick 3 bt Bradfield

Handicap Doubles Juniors

Westbourne 2 winners

eacourt Silver Racquet

Home professional Adam Player overcame Michael Williams from Ballarat Australia, to triumph in the 2013 Seacourt Silver Racquet. Adam, who had to qualify to reach the main draw, defeated John Lumley, Tony

Hollins and Luke Danby on his way to the final. Both players were at the top of their game but it was Adam's new found fitness and strength which gave him the edge winning the match 6/4 4/6 6/3

pen Singles Championship ATB dominates

The Open this year was a huge success and was

enjoyed by both spectators and players alike. It was

held back at the home of the game, The Queens Club,

now all the work has finished and the galleries are

perfect to get the most out of watching the great game.

There was a fantastic entry this year and it meant that

the qualifying rounds on the first weekend were hectic

and full of some top Rackets. Only the top 12 went

straight through the last 16, so there were plenty of

impressive players trying to get through the qualifying

groups. A special mention must go out to Patrick

Maxwell who got through his group beating Ali Gourlay

on his way to setting up a last 16 round match against

no.1 seed Alex Titchener-Barrett.

The semis finals were played on the Friday evening

with a very good crowd for the ATB v Christian Portz

match which resulted in ATB winning 4-2. The crowd

seemed to be ever increasing for the 2nd

semi final

where no.2 Will Hopton and no.3 seed James Coyne

battled it out in what was an exciting match. It was one

of those days for Coynie where everything he hit was

perfect and Hoppy had nothing to combat the hard

hitting and severe serving of his opponent. Coyne won

4-0.

The final on Sunday was another mouth-watering

prospect with two of the hardest hitters in the game

going head to head. ATB played with some amazing

control and was looking good for a 4-0 victory

especially at 9-0 up in the 4th. That wasnt what Coynie

had in mind and with some excellent serving and some

brilliant killing of the ball he got back into the match

winning 17-16. This got ATB thinking again and with

some great serving and a very calm mentality ATB

went on to win the championship. Well done to ATB for

winning yet another title and showing that he has

without doubt matured and changed his game and now

looks a real threat to Stout.

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ombined services Real Tennis Championships

There were a total of 39 entries this year comprising 6 RAF, 9 RN and the remainder Army which included a plethora of relative youth from both Wales and East Midlands OTCs. The appetite for Rackets appears to be growing as several newcomers tried their hand at this demanding sport in the novice Rackets league which was played in the margins of the main competitions and proved to be highly successful and can only be a positive way of increasing participation in this unique game. Whilst the AAC were represented in every final, this was the first year in recent memory that they came away deficient of silverware. Instead, it was the turn of the Guards and specifically the Grenadier Gds as Lt Col Andrew James dominated the Real Tennis taking a clean sweep in all three events. The Rackets witnessed the arrival of a new tour de force in the form of OCdt Adam Kula Przezwanski from EMOTC who claimed two of the Rackets titles and his aspirations to join the Army Air Corps may do much to alleviate the aforementioned silverware deficiency in the future!

The Tennis finals were somewhat one sided with the masterful Andrew James giving a very clinical and controlled display. He was ably supported by the much improved Michael ODwyer in the Regtl Doubles and the hard hitting David Reed Felstead in the Open Doubles. The latter match was particularly close going to a final set which witnessed long rallies and some quality Tennis as opponents Paul Danby and Nigel Tench tried desperately to hold on to the narrowest of leads.

The Rackets Singles final saw Ollie Snell temporarily escape from his flying training to meet the talented Adam K-P in what was a close final which swung in Adams favour. The Regimental Doubles final saw both players joined by less experienced partners, to witness a similar result, but not without a significant battle for what must be the biggest and most impressive cup in Army Sport. Snell and K-P then teamed up to challenge the Nicholls brothers in the Open doubles where they were given a tough lesson in ball retrieval and can only take comfort from the fact that the brothers are no longer serving!

Real Tennis Results:

Singles: Lt Col A F R James GREN GDS bt Maj NF Tench AAC 6-0; 6-0.

Regimental Doubles: Col M ODwyer IRISH GDS & Lt Col A F R James GREN GDS bt Majs M Lytle & NF Tench AAC 6-2; 6-2.

Past & Present Doubles: Lt Col A F R James GREN GDS & Lt Col (Retd) D Reed-Felstead bt Majs NF Tench AAC & P Danby (Retd) 4-6; 6-3; 6-5.

Rackets Results:

Singles: OCdt A Kula-Przezwanski EMOTC bt Capt O Snell AAC 3-1.

Regimental Doubles: OCdt A Kula-Przezwanski & SSgt J Daley EMOTC bt Maj NF Tench & Capt O Snell AAC 3-1.

Past & Present Doubles: M Nicholls & P Nicholls bt OCdt A Kula-Przezwanski & Capt O Snell 3-0.

athurst Cup

In February 2013 players from the USA, France,

Australia and the UK descended on Holyport Real

Tennis Club for the top amateur team event in Tennis.

The Bathurst Cup goes back to the 1920s and is held every 2 years, rotating around the countries with active

Tennis courts.

The format is the same as the lawn tennis Davis cup.

The first matches played from Monday to Tuesday saw

the USA take on Australia and GB take on the French.

The GB and Aussie teams prevailed and went forward

to meet each other in the final with the French and US

teams playing off for third spot!

Play started at 10am on the Wednesday morning with

the French and US singles matches. This was the start

of an amazing 4 matches that took more than 12

hours. Both Florian Reinaud and Peio Sarlangue took

2 set leads in their matches against Jeremy

Wintersteen and Ben Cook, however the Americans

were not having any of this straight sets malarkey and

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fought back to 2 sets all. Both of the final sets were

long and the French team prevailed in both, with each

match lasting over 3 hours.

At 4.20pm Jamie Douglas and Mike Happell took to

the court. Mike was playing a controlled and sharp

game and took the first 2 sets despite some

magnificent retrieving from Jamie. Then we had a

mammoth set, with both players taking the lead at

different stages. At 5/4 down Jamie looked beaten, but

despite a couple of match points against him he

managed to take the third through sheer tenacity. An

equally close fourth again saw Mike with the upper

hand at stages, but unable to close of Jamie. Unknown

to the crowd, towards the end of the fourth Mike was

struggling with a tight calf which he already had

strapped. Sadly he felt unable to continue, so the first

point went to team GB. Though the score line of the

Kieran Booth vs Conor Medlow match looks quite

comfortable for KB, that was not the case. The 4 sets

took over 3 hours and Conor came very close to taking

the third, which would have upset the form book (as

Conor did 2 years earlier taking KB to 5 in NY).

The doubles was a similar story to the Wednesday

singles, with the French and US players locked

together for over 3 hours. In the end it came down to

the last 2 or 3 points available at 5 all in the 5th and

the US were so close to taking the match at 5/4 up in

that same set! The win gave the French the tie to take

third place.

The doubles between the Australians and GB was an

impressive spectacle. The Aussies took an early lead,

with Bret Richardson proving his reputation in the

galleries to be well deserved he made his first unforced error in the second set! In the second Conor

and Peter managed to get a better rhythm going and in

particular managed to keep the service end for longer

periods than in the first. At 1 sat all it looked like it

could go either way, but KB and Bret rallied to take the

third comfortably. The fourth was like all players had

found another gear. Again, this could have gone either

way with a very tense last 3 games. At 5 all it looked

tight, but the Australians managed the game well and

were able to close it out.

So it was all down the last day of singles in the main

event. KB took on Jamie Douglas and despite KB

being the better player by 4 points on paper, the court

and balls were neutral but allowed Jamie to keep the

ball live even when that seemed impossible. The first

set could have gone either way, with Jamie coming

back from 2 games behind to just be pipped 6/5. He

carried the momentum to the second which he won

comfortable, but KB by this point was ramping up and

switched the momentum his way to take the third. The

fourth was tight to 4 all, with no player going more than

a game up. The last 2 games went to KB and in

winning them Australia retained the title and took the

Cup back to Melbourne and the MCG trophy cabinet.

The whole event was played in a great spirit, with the

players from all teams being present for all the big

matches and the Holyport faithful and others cheering

all along, despite the temperature dropping

dramatically towards the end of the week. Thanks to all

the Holyport committee and pros and a special thank

you to Jill Newby and Angus for sorting all the billeting

and food for the week.

The next Bathurst Cup will be in Australia in 2015

arsity Real Tennis Ladies Singles Oxford names first

Flora Olcott bt Imogen Whittam 3/6 6/0 6/0

Audrey Davies bt Karen Pearce 6/1 6/0

Emily Scaysbrook bt Emily Brady 6/5 2/6 6/2

Maggie Henderson-Tew lost to Emma Samia-Aly 3/6 5/6

Ladies Doubles

Audrey Davies & Emily Scaysbrook bt Emily Brady & Karen Pearce 6/2 6/5

Maggie Henderson-Tew & Flora Olcott bt Emma Samia-Aly & Imogen Whittam 6/5 6/1

Match Result Oxford won 5-1

Mens Singles Oxford names first

Euan Campbell lost to Freddie Kalfayan 3/6 1/6

Alex Portz bt Jules Camp 6/1 6/4

John Beale bt Alex Evans 6/3 6/2

Miles Jackson bt James Watson 6/5 6/2

Mens Doubles

John Beale & Euan Campbell lost to Freddie Kalfayan

& Alex Evans 2/6 4/6 5/6

Miles Jackson & Alex Portz lost to James Watson &

Jules Camp 3/6 5/6 6/2 6/4 4/6

Deciding Doubles

Miles Jackson & John Beale bt James Watson &

Freddie Kalfayan 6/3 6/5

Match Result Oxford won 4-3

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S Open Rackets

James Stout won the US Open Rackets in Philadelphia, beating Alex Titchener-Barrett 3-1. James then went on to win the doubles title, partner with Mike Gooding. They defeated current British Open Champions James Coyne and Will Hopton 3-0

arsity Rackets

1

st Pairs

Oxford beat Cambridge 3 matches to 0

Alex Portz (Winchester and Somerville) bt Ed Kay (St. Pauls and Emmanuel) 18/17 11/15 15/8 15/8 (Oxford)

Max Seely (Eton and Christ Church) bt Tom Elliott (Tonbridge and Sidney Sussex) 15/3 8/15 15/10 6/15 15/5 (Oxford)

Portz/Seely bt Kay/Elliott 15/8 15/8 9/15 15/13 (Oxford)

2nd

Pairs

Oxford beat Cambridge 2 matches to 1

Ben Graves (Winchester and Worcester) bt Freddie Kalfayan (Clifton and Girton) 5/15 15/7 7/15 15/11 16/15 (Oxford)

Arthur Wakeley (Malvern and Lincoln) bt Cameron Lemon (St Pauls and Corpus Christi) 15/1 15/12 15/2 (Oxford)

Kalfayan/Lemon bt Graves/Wakeley 15/9 15/11

(Cambridge)

This was by far the best Varsity Match for some years. In recent times Cambridge have struggled to extend Oxford, but this year all the matches were well contested and the standard of many of the rallies was truly exciting. 0xford ended up winners of all the 4 combined singles matches, deservedly so, but were taken to a deciding game in 2 of them. In the 5

th game

of the 2nd

pairs 1st string match, Ben Graves had 5

match points he didnt win, but saved 3 match points that Freddie Kalfayan had in the see-saw set to 3 from 13-all.

In winning the top singles match, Alex Portz became the first player since Mark Faber, over 40 years ago, to achieve 3 consecutive 1

st String victories, (though

since then Will Fortune and Richard Carter have also

notched up 3 singles victories for Oxford, but not in consecutive years). In this feat of 3 wins in a row, Alex joins a very distinguished group of Oxford players, Mark Faber, Colin Cowdrey, Robert Riseley and JFC Simpson. No Cambridge first string has had 3 wins since HW Leatham just prior to the First World War!

After the doubles matches were completed the players and supporters were treated to a Champagne Reception in the Museum, hosted by James Simpson of Pol Roger, who are the very much appreciated Sponsors of this historic contest between the Dark Blues and the Light Blues.

ol Roger Trophy

MCC bt Queens 3-2

2nd Doubles: James Acheson-Gray & Jolyon Symonds

lost to John Prenn & James Coyne 3-6 6-4 3-6.

1st Singles: Alexis Hombrecher lost to Conor Medlow

1-6 1-6

2nd Singles: David Harms bt Harry Eddis 6-2 6-2.

3rd Singles: Peter Jarvis bt Chris Herbert 6-1 4-6 4-1

rtd.

1st Doubles: Neil Roxburgh & Mark Mathias bt Tom

Seymour -Mead & Dom Wright 6-3 6-3.

ield Trophy

CURTC bt Jesmond 3-2 2

nd Doubles: Jules Camp & Ed Kay bt Ed Lyle & Rory

Musgrave 6/1 6/0 1

st Singles: Alex Evans lost to Charlie Harries-Jones

5/6 6/0 5/6 2

nd Singles: Ed Pearson bt Richard MacAlister 6/0 6/2

3

rd Singles: Jimmy Campbell lost to Michael Raven

1

st Doubles: Duncan Colquhoun & Andrew Petrie bt

John Duns & Alan Douglas 6/4 6/5

Winning Team - Cambridge

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rodie Cup

Seacourt bt Hatfield 3-2

2nd

Doubles: Simon Flynn & Nigel Ireson bt Will Harris

& Chris Handley 6/4 6/1.

1st Singles: Neale Turner bt Nick Brodie 5/6 6/3 6/1

2nd

Singles: Simon Armstrong lost to Chris Aley 6/0

6/4.

3rd

Singles: Jerry Way bt Nick Pickard 5/6 6/2 6/4

1st Doubles: Jess Garside & Lewis Davies lost to

Andrew Gaunt & Martin Richards 1/6 6/1 6/2

adies Open Championships The Ladies British Open is now in its third year

and it is safe to say that ladies Rackets is growing

in strength year by year. Rallies are longer and more

tactical play is being used.After two round robin boxes,

Karen Hird met Alex Kurkjian in the semi-final, with

Claire Vigrass matching up against Sally Grant in the

other. Karens angles and movement on court proved too much for Alex, as she led 15/4 14/1. Unfortunately

Karen had to pull out, giving Alex a life line and a place

in the finals. Claire also proved too strong and the

match was set for a re-run of the final last year,

Kurkjian v. Vigrass.

Kurkjian had a fantastic

run of serves putting

Vigrass on the back foot

almost immediately. At

9/0 up, it looked like there

was no stopping her, but

Claire had other plans.

She dug deep and began

returning to a good

length, using the width of

the court more to move

Alex side to side. She

made an incredible come back to win the game 15/9

and never looked back. She sealed her third British

Open title. 15/9 15/1 15/3.

mateur Singles With the Bathurst Cup having just finished, we

were graced with several of the players staying on for the Amateur Open. With that and Julian Snow coming over to defend his 2012 titles we had the strongest draw for many years.

Most matches in the early rounds had no surprises, though sadly for Mike Happell his calf gave way in his match against Miles Jackson. Then Miles went on to have an impressive win against Roman Krznaric in a long 5 set battle to make his first major semi! The other notable match was a three hour 5 set tussle between John Prenn and Tom Seymour-Mead, with John just coming out on top.

Unfortunately for Miles he met Julian in the semi and was shown no mercy. The other singles semi final was a great match, with the young Frenchman Matthieu Sarlangue taking on former winner Jamie Douglas. Matthieu took the first set with his laid back but very controlled play and ability to handle pace holding fast against Jamies attacking style. In the second Jamie found that respecting Matthieus ability and rallying points out was what was required to get the upper hand. This he did for three sets, and whilst at no point appearing to be in complete control, closed the match out by serving tight and staying in points until he had clear openings.

The singles final therefor had two past champions facing up - one of them had won a few more than the other though! The first set was probably the best, with Julian playing his traditional game, but with the added feature of stopping Jamie from being able to use his pace from either side of the net or the court. It would be no exaggeration to say that over 80% of balls were hit to Jamies backhand at half pace to better than 2. That being said, as in his semi, Jamie was patient and was able to suck up the monotonous rallies and bide his time till he could finish points. Julian managed to take the third, but Jamie seemed to be in control for the majority of the match and won this third Amateur Open title.

mateur Doubles The doubles semis followed form, but Matthieu and Alistair Lumsden gave Julian and Conor

Medlow a run for their money, taking the third set 6/5. This was the first set the pair had lost since they started playing together at the 2012 Amateur Open.

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The doubles final gave Julian a chance to get some honour back, and with he and Conor both having had many doubles successes between them, they started the match against Jamie and Peter Wright as favourites. The first set went with form, but then Jamie and Peter managed to get going. Though they lost the second and third sets, 6/4 and 6/5 were deserved scores and they did have opportunities to lead at times. The title went to Conor and Julian for a second year and Alistair Lumsden did the honours with the trophies and the Pol, and then thanked all those at QC for giving up their courts and supporting the matches, to Neptune for their continued amazing sponsorship and the pros for getting all the matches going on time and marking.

rowning Cup

Darren Long retained his Browning Cup title, beating Craig Greenhalgh 6/5 6/5 in the final. Along the way Darren had two three set matches and was pushed all the way in a tight final, but managed to secure the victory in 2 straight sets.

mateur Doubles Alex Titchener-Barrett & Tim Cockroft bt Mike Bailey & Tom Billings 4-1

naugural Ladies British Amateur Doubles Championship

The inaugural British Womens Rackets Doubles Tournament was held at Malvern College. The

College has spearheaded womens Rackets, staging the first ever womens challenge match in 2010 which helped to build momentum and led to the first national

senior singles and schoolgirls championships the

following year. Their own pair, lower sixth former

Shinan Zhang, 16, and sports teacher Chey showed

their rapid improvement with some fine performances

in their first senior event. Despite going down in

straight games, thanks to the favourites extra experience and weight of shot, the pair produced some

sparkling Rackets and improved visibly throughout the

match to the delight of the enthusiastic gallery.

The final saw Kurkjian and Hird match up against

Gaskell and Lenihan. Kurkjian and Hird showed their

class with a thrilling display of power Rackets, cleverly

cut serves and subtle boasts. Although Gaskell and

Lenihan battled back to level at 8-all in the hard-fought

second game, Hirds fine volleying and Kurkjians explosive serves and forehands gave them the edge

and they stormed through without dropping a game.

Final:Kurkjian/ Hird bt Gaskell/Lenihan15-0 15-8 15-1

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ublic Schools Championships

1st

Pairs Harrow bt Cheltenham 15/10 15/12 15/11 17/15

2

nd Pairs

Eton bt Cheltenham 11/15 10/15 15/10 15/19 16/13 10/15 15/8

Colts Final

Eton bt Wellington 15/11 15/11 15/8 17/14

Junior Colts Final

Eton bt Wellington

16/13 15/2 14/17 15/8

choolgirls Rackets Championship

Under 16 Girls Singles (Beryl Danby Cup) Georgie Willis bt Eve Shenkman 21/15

Under 18 Girls Singles (Judy Angus Cup) Millie Pughe (WEL) bt Lily Owen (CHE) 15/7 15/12

ritish Under 12/15/19 Doubles Championships

The British Under 12/15/19 Doubles Championships were once again held at the Holyport Club. As usual this venue provided a great atmosphere for all the youngsters from the many different clubs that took part, although the freezing weather gave the event quite a different feel. The under 12 section was as strong as its ever been with 6 good pairs playing some exceptional Tennis for their age. The closely fought semi-finals produced an all Seacourt final with Huw Thomas & George Charlton defeating their younger opponents Max Jones & William Flynn 6/4 The round robin section of the under 15s produced the following finalists, Hugo Hodgson & Oscar Wright (Petworth) v Finlay Ramjane (Prested) & Columbus ODonnell (Petworth). The match was far closer than the score suggests with many games going to deuce,

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However in the end Hugo & Oscar triumphed 6/1 6/2 to take the trophies.

The under 19 section was a quite a one sided affair with top seeds Levi Gale (Hyde) & Lewis Williams (Prested) on a much lower handicap than any other pairs. However a very close group section produced the other finalists Felix White (Radley) & Rory Giddins (Queens). The final itself proved to be far from one sided with the younger unseeded pair giving the top seeds quite a few scares before Levi & Lewis came out as the winners 6/3 6/4.

Thanks as usual go to the Holyport Club for hosting the event and to Neptune for their generous sponsorship. Also a special thanks to Holyport professional Angus Williams for all his hard work.

Major events coming up

pen Doubles

The Open doubles will be taking place at The Queens Club 3

rd-14

th April. With two high profile doubles pairs

preoccupied training up for the World Doubles it leaves the tournament wide open. The traveling pair of Jamie Stout and Mike Gooding will take some beating, but there are pairs lining up to give them a run for their money.

ilne Hue Williams Cup

(Public Schools Old Boys Under 24 Doubles Championship)

To be held April 5th-7

th (alongside the Open Doubles)

at the Queens Club.

adies World Championships

Paris 15th 21

st April. Big draw expected for the 2013

World Championships. Claire Vigrass will be out to defend her Singles title and the Doubles (along with her sister Sarah). Plenty of social events throughout the week promising for a fantastic tournament all round.

orld Championship Rackets

Defending Champions Alex Titchener-Barrett & Tim Cockroft take on The Challengers of Will Hopton and James Coyne in 2 best of 7 legs. The first leg will be held in Chicago (Saturday 20th) and the second leg will be held at The Queens Club (Saturday 27

th). For

information on tickets please contact Rosie Brown: office@tennisandrackets.com More dates for your diary

April 9th-14

th Ladies Singles and Doubles Open

Championships and handicap doubles @ Seacourt April 19

th-21

st Category A Open Championship @

Oxford April 21

st Over 70 Amateur Singles and Doubles

Championship @ Holyport April 27

th-28

th Prested Cup for UK Under 20 Amateurs

April 27th-28

th Over 50 Amateur Doubles

Championship

In other news.

uinness World Record Attempt Will Stephens and Richard Ramjane, two of Prested Halls keen Real Tennis members will

face a raft of opponents in an attempt to raise in excess of 5,000 for Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and, at the same time, create a new Guinness World Record. From 6.00pm on Friday 10

th May 2013, Will and

Richard aim to play as many doubles opponents as they can manage for at least 24 hours and, in so doing, hope to create a new Guinness World Record: Real Tennis, Doubles, Most Consecutive Opponents. Will set a similar Guinness World Record playing 26 singles matches non-stop in 2010. The attempt will culminate in matches against Richards twin sons Fin and Zak, and then Rob Fahey, the current mens World Champion and his partner Claire Vigrass, the current ladies World Champion. The event will be taking place at Prested Hall in Feering, Colchester, Essex. The charitable fundraising is for GOSH Childrens Charity because around 9 years ago Richards son

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Finlay was taken ill with severe complications after a bout of chicken pox. He was given only a 50:50 chance of surviving. Through early detection from his local GP, and expert care at the hospital Finlay managed to pull through the ordeal and is now a healthy little boy enjoying life as he should, and of course playing Real Tennis! Anyone who would like to support Will and Richards attempt and their support of GOSH Childrens Charity can do so by visiting their Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/account/teams/RTWorldRecord. All-comers also welcome to the post event fundraising party at Prested Hall Real Tennis Club on the evening of Saturday 11

th May.

For more information please contact: Will Stephens on 07545 922992 or willjstephens@hotmail.co.uk

ocial Media We are now on Twitter and Facebook. For all news, events and photos please join/like/follow!

Twitter will especially be used for game by game updates in the Major events.

embership Cards T&RA Membership cards will be sent out in April to your home/primary clubs Please be

aware of this and pick them up when you can!

Photographs: Tim Edwards & Tory Wall

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