Tennis Club Reports

By Phil Moss

Cambridge

By Ben Geytenbeek

We seem to have played very little Tennis in the past year. Once the shackles were off last summer we did manage to start a tournament within the Club, the aptly named Covid Cup, but we barely got beyond the initial stages when the next wave of restrictions hit us. This was such a shame as it meant that the ingeniously named Face Shield never got off the ground for the runners-up. We are starting to feel optimistic now, with players gradually coming back on court and we are looking forward to the new season, with fixtures and events starting to populate our calendar. We shall look forward to renewing old acquaintances from near and far.

We have also been working hard behind the scenes planning for the future of Real Tennis at Bristol. Dr Clive Archer has stepped up to become our new Chairman and we are especially delighted that a number of younger players have joined the Committee. These are people who were brought up on Real Tennis in Bristol in their youth, have gone off to do other things and have now come back to the game in Bristol. We see great potential in Bristol for a concerted drive to sell the game into schools, other sports clubs and the wider community. We especially want to focus on those at the lower end of the demographic scale, because reinvigorating our age strata is essential for the Club to reset itself for the future. We are all excited and we shall look forward to the new season in 202122 with optimism and enthusiasm.

There is an apt phrase with which to close – we aim to be shipshape and Bristol fashion. Please do come and see us and enjoy the voyage. Lockdowns in Cambridge have brought an opportunity to refresh the court and club to continue to be a welcoming, open environment for all. The upstairs club room and viewing gallery above the blue court is undergoing a major renovation, led through many volunteer hours from James Squier. Progress is well underway on a new kitchen with better facilities for dining and watching matches. Alongside the renovations the club has undergone a major tech upgrade thanks to Christie Marrian and Ben Geytenbeek. The new easy-to-use live streaming set-up complete with live scoreboard has made it possible to watch evening league matches when the viewing galleries have been closed. Meanwhile on court, Alan Sharpe has done an excellent job repainting the chase numbers and crown, giving both courts a fresh look. The club is also indebted to Alasdair Bovaird who secured much appreciated grants and financial aid through the closure.

Despite being closed for much of the academic year, our student players have been training hard and rapidly improving their handicaps.

The 150th Real Tennis Varsity Match was held at Lord's in early June. The men's team led by Marc Bonaventura pushed Oxford to a deciding doubles match, with excellent performances by debutant Patrick Smart and veteran Ed Hyde, with Ivo Macdonald holding his nerve in the doubles. There wasn't to be a repeat of the previous year's upset for women's captain Sophia Lewis, however, as Oxford completed a clean sweep in the women's match. Our players showed significant improvement from 15 months prior, with Jacqueline Siu, Kate Kirk and Rosie Taylor all improving from the previous year. Cambridge also hosted the Second's Varsity, winning the first men's second's fixture in over four years. The best performance was by our alumni who eeked a narrow victory in the Not the Varsity match, held at four clubs around the country due to travel restrictions.

Competitive Tennis was squeezed in wherever possible, with the evening Cambridge League season running for over 18 months. The latest reopening has also allowed us to run our annual intraclub category tournaments, with nailbiting matches from all the way from the 20-29 tournament up to the inaugural 80+ tournament. The Finals Day was soured, however, due to the sad passing of Duncan Hannay-Robertson earlier in the year, a long term supporter and sponsor of the club and friend to many.

Through a difficult year, appreciation must be given to our pros Kees Ludekens, Peter Paterson and Adam Phillips, who were flexible and supportive with the changing restrictions, taking on an extra load of lessons when matchplay was not allowed. Finally, a great deal of gratitude must be sent to our beloved president Vix Harvey, who has done an excellent job negotiating the club through a host of different obstacles and hurdles whilst maintaing an enthusiastic energy throughout.

Canford

By David Dickson, Chairman

As I write we are gradually returning to Tennis normality at Canford. The court is in use, a few surreptitious drinks have been enjoyed in the Dedans after games and the draw for this year’s Summer Cup has been made. We hope that this progress will be maintained and that full combat and more importantly face-to-face socialising will resume eventually.

Photo above: Steve Ronaldson

There is, however, a very new “normal” about to hit the Canford Real Tennis community. After some 39 years – yes, 39 years - in post, Steve Ronaldson is retiring as the Real Tennis Professional at Canford School. It is difficult to overstate the huge contribution that Steve has made during those years to the game he loves, to countless generations of Canford pupils and to the hundreds of individuals of all ages who have been inspired by his enthusiasm and commitment to take up the game. In his prime, Steve was by all accounts a formidable opponent. His best handicap was 2 and he was ranked within the top 15 in the world. With brother Chris he won the British Pro Doubles on three occasions in the days before the World Doubles Championship existed. At 6ft 3in he was a powerful left-hander in possession of a seemingly infinite array of serves. Following an elbow injury he taught himself to play right-handed and as “Prof Wright” achieved a handicap of 14 with the wrong hand! Steve has long been acknowledged as one of the best ball makers in the game – a skill he has passed on to many in his charge.

Perhaps Steve’s greatest legacy has been the many individuals of all standards who have been taught and encouraged by him to take up the game. He is a truly gifted teacher with a profound knowledge of the game and over the years his assistants have all become excellent players. From his earliest association with Mike Gooding the list includes Adam Phillips, Austen Snelgrove, Adam Pine, Matt Potter and of course Darren Long. (Apart from Real Tennis these have all been required to learn to ride a monocycle!) Among many gifted amateurs are Spike Wilcox and Jules Camp.

My enduring memory of Steve over the years is of his seemingly endless patience and enthusiasm in the manner of his encouragement and tuition of players of all standards. He takes as much pleasure from the achievements – however small – of those with handicaps in the fifties and above as from those with great proficiency in the game.

Steve and Barbara are moving to the Scottish borders where, although he may be in striking distance of Jesmond Dene, I think the golf links around Berwick-on-Tweed will take precedence over Tennis in his future. He leaves Canford Real Tennis in the capable hands of his current assistant James Ryan, who has been appointed by the school as his successor. We wish him well. We will miss him more than I can say – his good humour, good company, good Tennis and above all great friendship.

Holyport

By John Evans

After a difficult year for everyone, with long stretches of no Real Tennis, HRTC and its members are looking forward to returning to a busy schedule full of Tennis next season.

The beautiful historic building of Holyport Real Tennis Court. The court was built in 1889 by Sam Heilbut

Steve Ronaldson, tutu & uni-cycle...of course!

Hyde

By Adrian Paterson

Jesmond Dene

By Richard MacAlister, Chairman

In spite of the obvious travails around the court being closed for large parts of the year, it has been an extremely eventful time for the Hyde. After successfully transitioning into a Charity in the early part of 2020, we set about raising sufficient funds into the Charity to enable us to buy the freehold of the building from our (then) landlord the Bridport and West Dorset Sports Trust.

I am delighted to report that, having received strong support from our own Members alongside the wider Real Tennis community, we completed the purchase in September securing the future of Real Tennis at the Hyde for many years to come. I would once again I would like to thank the T&RA and the Dedanists’ Foundation for their tremendous support without which this would not have been possible. With the money we have raised, we have been able to not only buy the court but also embark on a comprehensive refurbishment of the Club room and changing rooms. When planning permission is granted we also intend to replace the drive……..a project which is long overdue!

I would also like to place on record our sincere thanks to our two Professionals, Jez Brodie and Stephen Grier, for their great stoicism through such a challenging period. During lockdown they were instrumental in overseeing much of the renovation work as well as making copious amounts of balls in preparation for our reopening.

Since the court has been open, we have experienced high usage and, in particular, a decent number of juniors coming in at weekends. Growth in the junior ranks is of great importance to us and we are planning to redouble our efforts to forge new links with local schools in time for the start of the new academic year.

As always, we are keen to welcome visitors so do please drop in and have a game if passing through……… The last few years have seen many changes at the club and the last year has been no exception. We have taken advantage of the inactivity on court to upgrade the facilities, including the changing rooms, kitchen and dedans. We are particularly grateful to Ramy Zack, Gordon StangerLeathes and Richard Sanderson for their generosity and hard work to achieve this, and to our Treasurer, Michael Howard, for making sure we can afford it. We are also putting in place plans to ensure that we continue this progress. Our head professional, Mark Eadle, joined us in January 2020, which wasn’t the best timing but, despite everything, he has managed to remain incredibly upbeat and make remarkable progress. There are no competition results to report, although we are delighted to report that our friends from Manchester made a trip to Jesmond in September, although they were restricted to playing and socialising among themselves.

We are optimistic about the new season and hope to welcome many visitors to play on our wonderful court and see the improvements that we have made.

Leamington By Andy Dixon

There have been some important changes over the last 18 months at the club. We had to say goodbye to our steward, Tom Gibson, who had been with us for six years. A favourite with the members, he will be sorely missed and we wish him, his wife Lucy and his family, all the best in their future endeavours.

The committee has a new look, with Guy Stanton stepping down as chairman after 10 successful years. Andy Dixon (formerly the club secretary) has taken up the reigns and has made a really positive start to his tenure in very demanding circumstances. His in-tray is full, not least coping with the demands of conserving the fabric of the entire building which, now in its 176th year, requires a substantial amount of refurbishment in addition to the usual rounds of maintenance.

On the Tennis front, despite all the closures and issues that every club has faced, we were able to host a few of the club tournaments in an effort to avoid too many gaps on the honours board. Robert Shenkman regained the Club Championship having not played in 2019, beating Tom Bomford 6/2 6/1 in a highquality match where the scoreline does not reflect the standard of play.

The season long handicap singles, the Charles Wade Cup, has also been completed with Ed Smith, making best use of his handicap advantage, beating Ben Andrews 9-7 in the final.

Alongside the Charles Wade Cup, we have a handicap bracketed version of the same thing, with Steve Brewerton winning the 40 and under division, and Peter Rollason winning the 55 and over division. The 40-55 final is right around the corner.

Our professionals, Ben Taylor-Matthews and Chris Aley, continue to be highly valued assets to the club. During the ‘lesson only’ period of lockdown, through their enthusiastic and innovative coaching, they kept members interested in improving their own game, even rekindling high ambitions in some! To the benefit of all concerned, this ensured a high percentage of courts were booked. Both Ben and Chris played their part by offering generous incentives to members so that Tennis spending would not get out of hand. Their contribution throughout the pandemic is greatly appreciated.

By Andrew Hamilton, Chairman

The year 2020 must go down as the most momentous in the Court and Club’s history. The honours boards will have several gaps with no winners to glorify. ‘Pandemic’ will join ‘World War’ as the bald explanation for the absence of winners of several competitions. Covid 19 has offered us all few positives but an important one for the Club was the opportunity to replace the floor during the first lockdown. The Board took the bold decision to initiate works earlier than planned which resulted in less play being lost. I cannot compliment Bruce Paxton enough for his incredible management of the project which encompasses his background research of materials aided by an expert in the field Professor John Murphy, the hiring of top quality contractors and his assiduous supervision of them, ably supported by Simon Hobson. When contractors have confidence in the project manager – the likelihood of disaster diminishes.

I will never forget walking down the dark chip boardprotected corridor to be greeted by the scarred war-torn devastation of Joseph Bickley’s lovingly laid concrete floor. It was a heart stopping moment. There was no going back! But I was supremely confident in Bruce’s ability to deliver … With great prescience, our ‘Comms’ boys, Martin Trees and Tony Branfield, organised time lapse and conventional filming of the works which entertained and horrified onlookers in equal measure. They have produced a unique record of the restoration of a Tennis court floor no longer fit for purpose, an ideal template for future restorations and new builds, a wonderful contribution by the club and members for the future of our game. Do watch the footage on the Club’s website.

The million dollar question, of course, was ‘How will the floor play?’ Who better to ask than the two current World Champions Rob and Claire Fahey, the first to cast their rackets over the new floor. Rob immediately tested the floor with his shoes – Oh dear, the shrieking squeakiness could have been heard in down town Moreton Morrell - a problem surely? Definitely not he averred and both were, mercifully, effusive in their praise of how the features of a Bickley floor had been successfully replicated. What has changed is the behaviour of the ball off the back wall, which will take some time to come to terms with after 55 years of playing on the court! If anyone had suggested that the only problem we would face was flaky paint on the chase lines, we would have taken that gratefully.

The overall cost of the project was £103,000 – significantly less than if we had employed a project manager. Thanks to the good offices of Bernie Spratt, a £20,000 grant was secured from Sport England, our governing body the Tennis & Rackets Association generously backed us with a £10,000 grant (and £8,000 for the research work carried out in 2019), members have to date generously contributed in the region of £20,000, a special £10 per month levy after 3 years will have raised £25,000 and our reserves covered the shortfall. All in all, therefore, the successful delivery of the floor project was a triumph, which required organisation and many hours of effort, for an outcome of which members can be rightly proud. We fervently hope that the Real Tennis fraternity will wish to test the floor when normality is restored.

The decision was also taken to refurbish the windows during lockdown. Those on the east side were completed in 2020 and the exteriors of those on the other side will be completed in the spring of 2021. It would have been aesthetically pleasing to have had clear glass but dazzle from the sun at various times of the day was considered too much of a health and safety hazard and a film was applied which is tidy and we hope long lasting. We are once again indebted to Gavin James who most generously funded the restoration work – the court looks so much more attractive as a result.

To aid our finances in the future, the Club followed in the footsteps of other clubs like Petworth, Jesmond Dene and Hyde to secure charitable status which was achieved on 26 October 2020. Martin Trees took on the project which he drove effectively and quickly. Tony Branfield is to be commended for his tireless efforts in dealing with the extra burden of paperwork demanded of being a Charity and a limited company. We are all suffering from a slow death by Zoom meetings but at least Zoomed AGMs and EGMs have encouraged more members to participate. Before the pandemic took hold, I am sure there are plenty of us of a certain age who would have had no idea what Zoom was … but at least we have been vaccinated!

counter-balanced by the period in November and December when apart from family bubbles, members could only go on court with one of them. It was quite a physical challenge being on court for up to five hours a day (and probably mentally demanding with some members!) but many of us benefited from one-to-one coaching. Lloyd has settled in as Tom’s assistant very well and brings interesting thought processes to his coaching from the world of academia. They work successfully as a team and their efforts have been much appreciated during the year.

There were only three months of tournaments from January to the end of March. The Garland Cup was a real ‘bandit fest’ as the usuals ‘graced’ the old floor – Jon Lambdon, Tony Branfield, ‘Pablo’ Smith and Professor John Murphy. Let us hope some different names grace the new floor in 2021! The final of the season-long Amicus trophy, kindly sponsored by Steve Walsh, was a fantastic spectacle between club champion Tom Bomford off a handicap of 14 and young Gus West off 60 – a mind dizzying handicap difference but Tom displayed superb concentration to reach 1 set all 5 all and 40 all. No Spanish Archer (El Bow) from Tom who clinched the ultimate point: handicap Tennis at its very best and commiserations to Gus! The Owen-George Cup sponsored by Blythe Liggins for players with handicaps below 35 was also won by Tom in great style as usual. After our highly improbable victory in the first round of the Pol Roger Cup in November 2019, MMTCC’s meteor crashed to the ground against Queen’s Club in January when the Londoners’ firepower was too great.

After many years as Hon. Secretary John Miller has retired after dealing uncomplainingly with all the documentation required for which many thanks and he will now be concentrating on practising his serves at all times of night and day!

2020 was indeed an extraordinary year but one of great achievement. As I write, we are still beset by Covid restrictions but let us hope that the vaccination programme will result soon in a ‘proper normal’. As a charity, there is much more involved now in the management of the Club but we are fortunate to have a hard working, thoughtful, dedicated and capable Board to continue to move us forward and react to any unpleasant curve balls served at us.

MURTC

By Nick Hamilton

Like every club our competition year was completely interrupted by Covid. The courts were as busy as they could be in the nonlockdown months and we are indebted to the University for their support in keeping access to the court open when we could play, and to our Pros, Chris and Will, who worked hard to ensure the court and club areas were safe for members. It would be amiss not to thank our members who continued to pay their subs during the lockdown periods enabling the club to support our Pros. A word of thanks as well to the T&RA who worked hard to ensure the best possible interpretation on the complex rules. The year was not wasted as during it we revised our constitution, revised some of our financial structures, and established the framework for a new Management Committee. Following elections, we now have a committed and vibrant Management Committee. This meant that we were able to take advantage of the Sport England Crowdfunding initiative who matched raised funds with £8,000 giving us a total raised of over £23,000. This will be used to upgrade the club areas, support schools and student Tennis, and provide free lessons A word of thanks as for potential and well to the T&RA who new members. We also gained some worked hard to ensure sponsorship from the best possible commercial sources interpretation on the for the first time. complex rules. Members of the club and Chris were also involved in helping to design the IIP programme and the club was proud to engage with the T&RA and the IIP programme to take the first IIP trainee in April. Jack is proving to be a great success and he will also work with our student Tennis captain to lead student Tennis and our schools’ initiative. A year certainly not wasted, but it would have been absolutely great with more Tennis!

Newmarket

By Hugo Johnsen, Chairman

All is well here at Newmarket. We have survived Lockdowns 1, 2, & 3 and are now shaking the dust off our trainers and checking for moths in the cupboards…

We have taken the Lockdown was of course opportunity to terrible for the club, upgrade the club but my goodness did it area. The lighting has spawn an unbelievable been improved and opportunity for the the seating made students to engage. With more comfortable. the Club excluded, every We are currently installing a new year group participated, kitchen which has and the court was fully been made possible utilised and without the by the generosity of availability of team sports our recently retired Real Tennis has thrived. committee member: Ian Lindsey. The plan to knock an entrance in the side wall at the level of the post is progressing but old photos and preliminary drilling suggest that there was an old roller door in exactly the right place where cars were driven in when the property was previously a garage. If this is the case, we should be able to reinstate some form of opening which will allow us to get powered access lifts

Oratory

By Simon Wetton

Ohhhhhh, what a year… Not to bemoan the nightmare that is Covid and the havoc it has wreaked on us all but for ORTC it has been a phenomenal opportunity that has reinvigorated interest.

Lockdown was of course terrible for the club, but my goodness did it spawn an unbelievable opportunity for the students to engage. With the Club excluded, every year group participated, and the court was fully utilised and without the availability of team sports Real Tennis has thrived. Claire Fahey, as head of rackets, embraced the opportunity and is well on the way to building a junior team worthy of competing again with the other schools and filled with aspirations for titles and silverware to grace the trophy cabinet. Rob Fahey took the opportunity for surgery and is now back on court a new man…… frightening given how well he was playing whilst being in need of surgery. With the club now returned to semi-normality we are faced with the next challenge managing all this new demand and satisfying everyone. Not a challenge we are worried about as it is great for the sport and fulfils the ambitions we set ourselves with the school when we agreed to the future path for Real Tennis, it has just happened five years ahead of the plan….

In the meantime, the club goes from strength to strength with membership growing daily, Rob back from surgery is on court again, and Levi Gale is assisting in satisfying the demand for lessons and new members. Ironically, Covid has brought a surge of new members with more time on their hands, and fresh inspiration, to the doors of ORTC and our next target will be to extend our opening hours and welcome back fully competitive Tennis and tournaments.

and other machinery into the court. This will enable us to repair and maintain the court without having to use expensive scaffolding.

This season we will have been effectively closed for 7 of our 12 months, nevertheless we are hoping to complete our two handicap competitions by the end of the season. We also plan to organise a couple of fun weekend competitions during the summer months, depending on how many people are around and appetite for indoor sport during the summer.

Oxford

By Neil Mortensen

Petworth

By Robert Dolman

We have little to report other than to say we have kept everyone safe and are glad to be resuming the great game.

In October 2020 we played off our Knight Cup competition – this is our open level club championship. In a close and exciting final, Stewart Licudi beat Mike Henman 5/6 6/3 6/5. The deciding set was an epic struggle right up until the last point.

We have used the Court closure as an opportunity to clean, refurbish and decorate the court and club room. Our thanks to past President Derek Williams who put together a working team of volunteers who did a brilliant job with the repaint.

The chance to meet old friends during lockdown in a permitted fashion might have had something to do with it. We have also taken the opportunity to have a strategic look at our long term funding for student and club Tennis. Graham Harding and Andrew Davis have put together a plan for a rejuvenated Railroad club for former University of Oxford players, and we are establishing a Unicorn Fund for major building works.

We have just heard that the delayed Varsity match will be able to take place at Lord’s in July and look forward to our annual tryst with Cambridge. Sadly, as a result of the pandemic, there is very little to report from Petworth, as none of our competitions, tournaments or events took place.

Through a combination of the assistance provided by the Government and the generosity of many of our members, we were pleased to have been able to support our excellent pros Tom and Louis throughout the various lockdowns so that we hope they have not suffered financially. But difficult to report much else not connected with Covid other than the fact that we are happily up and running again now, racquets have been dusted down and we are all trying to remember how to play the game we love ( some with more success than others!).

Busy at Oxford with court cleaning, decorating and refurbishing. 62

Prested

By Mike Carter Prested

Tennis Club

Another 12 months of Tennis inactivity to report, but plenty of action behind the scenes.

The “new season” saw the introduction of an amended, co-operative team of Professionals, all managing games for padel as well as Real Tennis, and even a bit of lawn tennis, which is ripe for development.

Mark Hobbs finally joined us properly after a few short periods as a locum over the last 20 Years. Ged Parsons stays on as part-time assistant, while the increasingly popular padel is now headed by former Real Tennis professional, and trainee Lewis Williams and Zack Smart respectively.

All were ready to go, with August and September bookings breaking all records, only for COVID to strike again. At the time of writing, nearly a year on, things are looking more optimistic, and it’s hoped there’ll be no more closures.

The World Championship, scheduled for 2020 has been postponed twice, and is now listed for September ’22, by which time Rob will be a sprightly 54!

Our own Pro-Invitation event has yet to be launched; third time lucky perhaps in June ’22. It’s scheduled for the w/e of 17/19th, and we’re inviting the best four UK-based pros, and offering serious prize money. Do come and watch!

The ‘19/20 season’s club tournaments have been re-constituted, 20/21 abandoned, and 21/22 is just starting, and Mark’s got it all under control! Still rumbling on is my attempt to gift all Prested’ eight Tennis courts to the members to run for themselves. We’re nearly there, and hopefully before the end of 2021 a newly appointed management team will allow me to retire!

The Queen’s Club

By Alan Giddins

Real Tennis at The Queen’s Club is in good health. We have three outstanding professionals, Ben Ronaldson, Bryn Sayers and Neil Mackenzie, a record number of under 28 members and two courts in excellent condition. The latter being one of the few benefits of Covid in that the club was able to bring forward a number of maintenance projects while the courts have been closed.

Sadly there has, however, been significant disruption over the last 15 months. We made the decision to cancel the 2020/21 club tournaments and focus on completing the 2019/20 season. As of writing this review we are into the finals stages on all tournaments, with a much anticipated final of the men’s singles between Jamie Douglas and Jamie Giddins.

For the upcoming season we have a very full fixture list of matches against other clubs, for which huge thanks is due to Astrid Drayson. We will also be holding The British Open, the Amateur Championship, the Henry Leaf and the British Junior Championship, as well as hosting a number of other clubs/ associations including the British Army, Hurlingham Pigeons, The Bar and the Jesters.

Jonny Whitaker will once again be captaining the club in The Pol Roger. We will also be entering a number of teams into the National League. We have a Rackets Fellow joining us in September, and will be hoping to host an IiP trainee later in the year. We also have a growing junior programme, which is in large part thanks to Ben Ronaldson’s enthusiasm and ability to encourage young players onto the court.

Two members came off the Real Tennis Committee this year, Corin Jenkins and Graham Defries, both of whom have made significant contributions to Real Tennis at Queen’s during their six year tenure. We have welcomed three new members onto the committee, Tara Lumley, Tony Friend and Charlie Horrell.

Finally I would like to thanks the Board of The Queen’s Club for their continued support for the game, something which has been hugely evident over the last 15 months.

Radley

By Maggie Henderson-Tew, Club Chair

This past year has reminded us all (not that we really needed much reminding) of the joys of the game of Real Tennis and the importance of maintaining mens sana in corpore sano. While frustrated by the blanket treatment accorded to indoors sports as different in court dimensions and player proximity as squash and Real Tennis, we recognise that caution has been necessary. Criticism of under-protecting players would have been at least as great as that of over-protecting them, had infection rates mushroomed as a result of Real Tennis courts being in use.

Radley College Tennis Court has needed to conform to national guidelines for leisure clubs and for schools, and these were not always the same. There have been times when the Radley boys have been allowed to play while our senior club members have not. While it has been tantalising for some of us, it has been splendid to see the juniors playing so much and maximising their time on court. The school created additional opportunities for socialising and exercise when the shift back from ‘Virtual Radley’ occurred in the Hilary Term and the boys returned to the campus. The replacement of evening Prep. time by more sport and activities was predictably popular and meant that the court was crammed with cheerful and enthusiastic players from early afternoon until 10pm every day, which was a joy to behold.

Tournaments and inter-club match play are a rather distant memory for most of our players. An exception was the Junior Open Championships, split into different age categories, that was co-hosted by Wellington and Radley over the weekend of 20/21 November 2020, between Lockdowns. Henry H added to his previous age category titles by winning the U14 Division on his home court, with a win over Henry W from RTC. The matches were all playing in admirably sporting and competitive spirit. Considerable ambition was shown by all the players who played ‘up’ an age category, as well as in their own. Congratulations to all involved.

During the past season, the Radley court has run, as usual, at capacity, as our members eagerly took advantage of every available day during which Tennis could be played. The court remained open throughout the Christmas season, including normal court hours (0800-2200) on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, although not on Boxing Day, when Lockdown III commenced. We can proudly say: “We never close (except when forced to by a pandemic)!” The sincere thanks of the team that runs the court and club (led indefatigably by Chris Ronaldson, with the support of Nino Merola, Mick Dean and Mike Henman on the court and Maggie Henderson-Tew off it), go to Radley College, which has continued to demonstrate the depth and quality of its support for the Real Tennis Court, Club and its staff throughout a most challenging season.

Henry, Winner of the U14 Junior Open Championship

By Michael Day CVO, Chairman

In this strange, troublesome year, most of our efforts have been focussed on survival. The year will ultimately stand as a record of the commitment and devotion of our members to their Club, to the fortitude and determination of our Professional team, and the skill of the Board in steering the Club through this difficult time. In between lockdowns, through last Summer and into the Autumn, we managed to play a few League matches and get some of the Club’s internal competitions under way. However, we could not host our usual activities and social access to the Club was out of bounds.

The 2020 AGM, postponed from May, was finally held in a two-part format, including a successful online Members’ Forum in October attended by around 40 people and proxy voting on all the necessary business. On-line was also the only place where we could socialise and many of us came together virtually for two successful RTC quiz nights. After the second lockdown through the winter of 2021, we reopened in April for coaching and solo practice, with more normal operation resuming in May - all of these steps taken in full accordance with Government regulations and T&RA guidance.

Throughout the year, the Board has given priority to securing the Club’s long-term future and to protecting the health and livelihoods of our professional team. Although we lost a significant chunk of our court fee income, the 2020 annual accounts show that we managed, through a number of careful steps, broadly to break even - through help from the Government’s furlough scheme, the flexibility of our Professional team and concentrating expenditure only on essentials. However, most important has been the marvellous way that our loyal members have responded, almost all of whom continued to pay their subscriptions at the full rate and some even offered to make additional donations.

Looking forward, we fervently hope that the return to play this spring can progress into the Club operating with all our normal playing and social programmes resuming later in the summer. We have plans in place to make this happen and so to get RTC back to its much-loved vibrant best as soon as we possibly can.

The outside of The Royal Tennis Court and the Palace garden in bloom. Photo credit to Clare Buckingham

Seacourt

By Simon Flynn

Seacourt is now back up and fully operational post the restrictions being lifted. We were fortunate in being able to offer the membership an opportunity to test their hand eye coordination when lawn tennis was cleared to restart.

A bumper couple of months of court usage, complemented by some great weather. On the Real Tennis court, Seacourt was admirably represented at a number of the Junior events that were held. In the Peter Luck-Hille Cup, Evie Tambling, James Walker and Liam Ireson defeated RTC 2-1 in the final at Wellington.

In the Junior British Open, Max Trueman competed in both the under 16 and under 18 events. Winning the under 16s and close runner up in the 18’s to William Flynn. Max must have also caught the eye of the Duncan family, and was awarded the Nat Duncan Memorial racket at the end of the tournament. In addition to the under 18 title, William Flynn was presented with the Greenwood Trophy, awarded to the most improved men’s, ladies professional or amateur player for the 2019/20 season.

We look forward to a resumption of a normal calendar in September and can’t wait to welcome visiting sides to Seacourt and the Hayling Costa.

July weather!! Will Flynn mops up after the Real Tennis court at Seacourt was flooded after the water table rose during a massive storm.

Wellington

By Simon Roundell

We started the re-opening process of WRTC with a classic April fools joke- “We now have the facility to be an open air court! We have been working hard during lockdown with a local engineer and designer to create a roof system that opened and closes and most importantly is now classed as an outside facility which means we are able to book (outside) singles which is in keeping with the Government Covid regulations! We are delighted with new concept and join Falkland Palace as the second open air Real Tennis court in the world along with the prestige of Wimbledon’s number 1 court. Courts are available for booking from today T&RA - Online Court Booking System (realtennisonline. com) and to celebrate all members and players from other clubs are welcome to book a game. Lastly a huge thank you creative director and architect Ruth Donafool without which this project would never have taken place.”

We were very lucky to be able to offer the Wellington students access to the Real Tennis court from 22nd March which they took full advantage of with the club averaging 50 hours a week of coaching, match play, house competitions and the chance to introduce the new intake of yearlings (120) to the beautiful game. From the 12th April the club was open to the members and we introduced beat the professional off full handicap and a skills event: Beat the professional was a brilliant way to play competitive Tennis, with a creative points system based on games won and lost plus it was great fun playing all the members off full handicaps. Lots of very close games, we had a few grumpy members who lost to myself and Adam and a few very happy members who managed to crush us!! Great fun and I am pleased to announce Simon Roundell won the event with the maximum points! (Bandit). Simon enjoyed the prize, although it didn’t last long!