Shirley Park LTC News Letter – Spring 2012 Club Championships – Summer 2011 Mens Singles Final - Harry Ware beat Dan Hatton 6-1 7-6 It seemed that Harry Ware was in a hurry when he raced through the opening set of the Mens Singles Final against two-time former champion Dan Hatton taking it 6-1 in just 22 minutes. However, the second set proved a much closer affair. Dan struck early on by taking the first two games of a see-saw set that contained some high quality tennis and exciting rallies. Harry then broke service twice to take a 3-2 lead, but Dan returned the compliment and had a chance to take the set when serving at 5-3. Two double faults gave Harry the chance to level and, after sharing service holds, he eased through the tie-break to successfully defend his title in straight sets. Ladies Singles Final - Natalie Davis beat Kamila Morgan 6-2 6-3 This was a tight affair. Kamila came out hitting some crunching forehands but Natalie wisely kept most of her shots to Kamila's backhand in an attempt to neutralise her opponent's game. It became clear early on that Natalie’s strategy was to simply out rally her opponent with her consistency. Natalie showing great resilience broke Kamila in the fourth & sixth games to win the first set 6-2. The second set produced some stunning tennis with Kamlia using her forehand topspin to good effect. Kamila moved into a 3-1 lead and at this stage it looked we could be heading to a third set. However, Natalie started to ease her way back into the set levelling the games at 3-3. Natalie’s serve together with some deft touches around the court started to get the upper hand. She won the next three games to win the final. Both players should be proud of their efforts especially in the humid conditions. Mens Doubles Final - Dan Davis & Trevor Mclree beat Tony Ingram & Ed Newman 6-1 6-1 Last year's winners Dan & Trevor were in impressive form coming into the finals. Therefore, it was no surprise that they raced into a three game lead. Tony & Ed won the fourth game, but Dan & Trevor superior 'fire power' come to the forefront closing out the fist set 6-1. In the second set Tony & Ed looked more purposeful hitting some well directed shots. They started to push Dan & Trevor who after the third game lead 2-1. Then Dan's & Trevor's experience and their ability to cover every inch of the net to create an impenetrable wall was evident. They won the next four games to win the final and retain their title for another year. A final played in good spirit with Dan & Trevor proving to be worthy winners. Tony & Ed were popular finalists and possibly a pairing to look out for in the future. Ladies Doubles Final – Kate McEwan & Nicky Hodgetts beat Natalie Davis & Sarah Davis 6-0 6-2 The Davis girls had a very successful championships with both Natalie and Sarah winning trophies in other events, but the ladies doubles final proved to be one match too far. As hard as the twins tried, Kate and Nicky always seemed to have an answer to whatever was thrown at them, taking the first ten games without reply. Just when the dreaded “double bagel” seemed a probability, Natalie and Sarah managed to win two of the last four games to give some respectability to the scoreline, but Kate and Nicky were worthy winners. Mixed Doubles Final – Dan Davis & Sarah Davis beat Dan Hatton & Gemma Randall 7-5 3-6 6-2 In the first set, the first four games went with serve. Dan and Sarah gained the first break in the fifth game but Dan and Gemma broke back in the eighth game to make it 4-4. The next two games were shared. Dan and Sarah then broke to make it 6-5 and Sarah served out to win the first set 7-5. In the second set Dan and Sarah broke serve straight away. Then, on Dan Davis’ serve, there were four deuces before he held serve with a fine volley to go 2-0 up. With some fine serving from Dan Hatton and competent groundwork from Gemma, they pulled out all the stops and won the next six out of seven games to win the set 6-3, taking the match to a deciding set. With Dan and Gemma now playing so well, they looked like they might be heading for victory. Dan Davis served the first game in the third set, and after a tense game which included seven deuces, he held serve. Dan Hatton then served to love to make it 1-1. Then it was Sarah’s turn to serve and again, after a tight game which included three deuces, she won to make it 2-1. In the fourth game, Gemma was broken (to 30). Dan Davis then served and, after a game with four deuces, he eventually won making the score 4-1 which seemed a significant margin, but was only one break of serve. In the sixth game some inspired shots by Dan Davis enabled him and Sarah to break once more to make it 5-1. With Sarah now serving for the match, what could Dan and Gemma do? With some great returns and skilful shot play, they were able to break Sarah (to 15). Was this the start of their comeback? Unfortunately, this was not to be. Once again, Dan Davis raised his game and with two great winners, he and Sarah were able to take the game (and third set) 6-2. Congratulations of course go to Dan and Sarah for winning the final. However, we would like to thank Dan and Gemma for putting up such a good fight. Well done to both sides for making it such an exciting match to watch! Social Thursdays Thursdays have just got more sociable!Your committee has purchased a new gas barbeque over the winter and are ready to put it to good use. Our aim is to follow Club Session with a barbeque every Thursday night from May through until August (weather permitting) so come along, join in the tennis and have a burger and a pint to round off the evening! Grand Slam Quiz 1. Which of the following players has not won six 6. Who won the 1991 French Open women’s singles? singles grand slams? 6a Monica Seles 6b Conchita Martinez 1a Stefan Edberg 1b Ken Rosewall 6c Steffi Graf 6d Martina Navratilova 1c Boris Becker 1d Mats Wilander 7. How many players enter a singles draw for a grand 2. Which female has won the most Grand Slams? slam? 2a Martina Navratilova 2b Steffi Graf 7a 64 players 7b 128 players 2c Margaret Smith-Court 2d Helen Wills-Moody 7c 256 players 7d 100 players 3. Who won the 1997 US Open women’s singles? 8. What is the youngest Grand Slam? 3a Lindsay Davenport 3b Monica Seles 8a Australian Open 8b French Open 3c Martina Hingis 3d Venus Williams 8c US Open 8d Wimbledon 4. Who won the 1995 French Open men’s singles 9. Which male/female combo won both the US Open singles titles in 1994? 4a Sergi Burguera 4b Andre Agassi 4c Yevgeny Kafelnikov 4d Thomas Muster 9a Agassi / Sanchez-Vicario 9b Agassi/ Davenport 9c Sampras / Hingis 9d Agassi / Hingis 5. Which doubles pair has won the most grand slams? 10. Which of the following players has never won a singles title in a Slam? 5a Agassi / Sampras 5b Hingis / Kournikova 5c Williams / Williams 5d The Woodies 10a Jana Novotna 10b Thomas Muster 10c Serena Williams 10d Magnus Norman Freeze on Subscriptions It’s not just the weather which has been freezing! Costs continue to rise, but your committee, being aware that many people are struggling in the current financial climate, have frozen subscription rates for another year. Indeed the last time that subs were increased was 2008.So please pay your subs on time and join in the social functions which help to finance the running of our club. Clubmark As many of you are aware, we are in the process of obtaining our LTA Clubmark accreditation. Clubmark ensures that we deliver consistent good practise and have high operating standards. We are well on the way to achieving this but one outstanding item is submission of competition results. To those of you in the Box Leagues – please play your matches as soon as possible and pass the scores to Phil – once we have Clubmark, we can get more involved with local schools and other organisations which hopefully will boost our membership – and in turn will help to keep costs per member down. Wimbledon Draw Courting Aid! Many thanks to all those who have bought “bricks” over the past few years. Without your help it would not have been possible to complete our new Summerhouse. Due to the current financial climate, your committee felt that it would not be appropriate to increase subscriptions this year (indeed subs are now lower than they were four years ago!). However, we need to raise money to replace the artificial grass courts which are now beyond their recommended lifespan. We will continue of course to generate funds through Handicap Tournaments, Social Functions etc., but we still need to raise some more! Just to remind everyone – you need to have renewed your Shirley Park LTC membership by 1st May 2012 to be included in the Club Ballot.