Local Tennis Leagues The UK home of local park tennis since 2005

Round 9
Monday 11th October to Sunday 12th December 2010

Round 9 of the Wimbledon Park Tennis League has slithered to a halt - this slight thaw fools no one; another week and we will be swapping tennis balls for snow balls again. The time has come to announce this round's winners....

Despite the weather, lots of tennis was played. Thirteen players received their bonus points and free tennis balls - which, given the weather is quite remarkable. Overall, a high proportion of matches was played  and it would no doubt have been higher still without the snow.

We really appreciate your efforts in setting up and playing matches. We hope the tennis had been really enjoyable, but we know it takes commitment and dedication to keep the league going and all the work you put in now should mean the league can grow again in the spring and summer. The more players, the better the spread of playing standard and the more fun for everyone.

But now, without further ado... The winners are:

GROUP ONE
Winner: Bassam Zreik
"I am pleased to report my first win in this league after three defeats  in a row," Yohei emailed after his match with Ian, and though no one likes to lose (so commiserations to Ian) it is always great to see a player getting a win after a series of tough battles. "
 We played on beautiful Sunday morning, had some long deuce games." 
Beautiful days seem a long time ago now, and no doubt the weather played its part in limiting the total number of matches played in Group One. But congratulations to Bassam who after two very good matches, took the round thanks to a walkover win. Not the perfect way to top a group, but a well-deserved win nevertheless! As for Yohei, his hard perseverance earned him, with Greg, joint second place.

GROUP TWO
Winner: Chris Hogan
Another group where, if it had only stopped snowing and blowing, anything might have happened. As it is Chris edges past Kurt thanks to beating him in their tight head-to head match. So with commiserations to Kurt, who completed one more match (and a special word to Lee who also completed three matches) it is many congratulations to Chris!

GROUP THREE
Winner: Rhys Lewis
"On a very cold and misty night, much more suited to my defensive slice based game, than to Ian’s attacking top spin game, I beat Ian", Huw told us conjuring up the atmosphere of this wintry round. Meanwhile Ian fought "a really close match filled with deuce games" with Rhys..."We were both sure this was going go to three sets!". If it had, that would have given Rhys a belt and braces point at the top of the group, but determination and exceptional organisational skills has certainly been the hallmark of Rhys' round. Playing an incredible seven matches, he matched his rivals Grant and Huw for total matches won, and though Grant beat him comfortably enough in their head to head,  Rhys snatched one very important point by winning a set against Huw. In the end, it was enough to see Rhys clinch the title. Very well done Rhys, while Grant and Huw live to fight another day!

GROUP FOUR
Winner: Tim Dawkins
Tim took an early lead in this round and by the third week of November could do no more than wait and see if Jane or Stephen could battle through to equal him on points, or whether he could win the round by a clear margin. As it is he had no need to worry with Jane just running out of steam  when she came to take on Robert and Stephen running out of time to complete his matches. And that leaves Tim the very worthy winner after playing an excellent round. Well played!

GROUP FIVE
Winner: Giles Ivey
What can you say about Giles's performance this round? Just nine games lost in four matches and the kind of playing tips that certainly made us laugh "If you're carrying a bit of extra weight always play skinny people at night!" The self-deprecating humour of a true champ. Well done Giles!

And talking of tennis anecdotes, thanks Adam for this report: 

"Very good match against Ben, both evenly matched players. Adam took a few games to get the cobwebs out, and after being down 0-3, rattled off 6 straight games, thinking it was going to be smooth sailing. Ben had other ideas. He kept rallies going and found ways to win and fought hard, winning the last 3 games of the 2nd set to take it.  Going into the last set, both were tired, but Adam prevailed. Funniest shot of the day was by Ben – while trying to return a shot to his forehand, Ben swung and we both looked up to see where the ball went. As it turned out, it got stuck in the triangle right under the head of the racket. No points for showing off!"

GROUP SIX
Winner: Suzanne Cole
I think we should rename this the "friendly group".... "A very enjoyable and sociable match with a good friend!  Lots of long rallies and games going to deuce" Suzanne told us of her win over Jane, while Isabel says she "enjoyed my match with Jacqui so much that we have fixed a 'friendly' in a couple of weeks time!". But friendly though it may have been, true competitive spirit will out and Suzanne concluded a brilliant round with a full set of wins. Well done Suzanne, a great performance in an excellent group.

Well played all!

We wish you very happy holidays and a healthy, prosperous and happy New Year, filled with tennis of course.

Midway for bonus points and a Free tube of tennis balls, Sunday 7th November 
Match winners, please report scores to Sally by email at wimbledonparktennisleague@googlemail.com
Please do send match commentaries too - we may quote from them in our emailed round updates.
To make input easier our end, please use the format: John McEnroe bt Bjorn Borg (Feb 21) 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Thanks! W=won, L=lost, UF=unfinished