On Sunday 8th October Seacourt hosted a home match against Manchester Real Tennis Club. With 5 matches to be played, first up was the Seacourt partnership of Tory Wall & Peta Taylor taking on Pete McDonald & Simon Killham, a tight first set only separated by a few unforced errors with the Manchester team sneaking it 6/4, going into the second set, they continued their run winning the match 6/4 6/1.
Next out of the blocks was Vince Dobbin against Tim Mort, a tight match with both players tearing around the court like teenagers, Tim took the first set 6/2, in the second set Vince showed he was getting to grips with the match, controlling the ball and retrieving well, but Tim pulled out some great shots to close the match 6/2 6/5.
Now we are 2/0 down and all to play for!
Pete Tambling stepped on court and there was no messing about, he was focused and ready to work hard, dispatching his opponent Robert Moss 6/3 6/1. Now it was up to Graham Law, he was up against David Binns who was 3 points better on handicap, Graham had to find his ‘A’ game, this was a slow drawn out first set as David took so long to serve between first and second serves that the marker had to stop play to have a word.
First blood was taken by David 6/4, the next set took 45 minutes but a better flow to the match, Graham saved 2 match points and took the set 6/5!
Into the final set, starting at 3/3 almost every point was shared right up to 5/5 deuce, Graham knew he needed to win, with the crowd shouting come on Graham! He pulled the win out of the bag taking the match 4/6 6/5 6/5 amazing!
The match now stood at 2 all. The junior phenomenon of Alex Boulton who was patiently waiting for his turn was up against John Mortimer, both players with the same handicap of 56.
Well Alex showed he has the match focus of a strong player, they had some fantastic rallies but Alex was on top form winning the match in style, 6/1 6/0, and taking Seacourt across the line to a 3/2 victory.
Congratulations to team Seacourt for taking part and supporting the Club.
Manchester was a great visiting team and as standard kept the barman busy.
Thank you to Paul Weaver for organising the match as Seacourt’s match manager, a fantastic job.
Also to everyone who came to support the day, Jon and his team for all their work behind the bar, and Lee our top chef for providing delicious food for lunch.
Keep your racket up!
Drew
