A bit of a reality check this week, with all results going against us. The Ladies and Men’s seniors lost by just one game and two games respectively, with rubbers and sets being exactly equal! This is a shame, because the Ladies are likely to have been leapfrogged by Cleeve Hill for the runners-up spot, so results in the last three matches will be key.

The results for both Mixed teams have severely dented any aspirations of promotion for the Seconds and being runners-up for the Firsts.

Men’s Seniors lost 6–4 at DL Westbury Seconds, Ladies Seniors lost 6–4 at home to Cleeve Hill, Mixed Firsts lost 8–2 at Backwell, Mixed Seconds lost 10–0 at home to Bath Firsts.

In the Men’s Seniors against DL Westbury Seconds, Nigel Hellier stepped in for an injured Pete Caddick, and re-kindled his successful partnership with Mark Finch. They warmed up for a good half an hour on DL Westbury’s new carpet courts before Chris Cox and Andy Jeffery turned up. Even then, it was another quarter of an hour before the second Westbury pair turned up, and we went straight in at 6.30 p.m.

Chris and Andy had few problems against Doug and John, and with Chris’s angled forehands and blasted volleys, we won easily 6–2, 6–3.

In their second rubber, Chris and Andy could not believe the outrageous gamesmanship exhibited by Simon and Phil – long discussions between each point when serving, extravagant delays to clear balls, questionable line calls, etc. Chris counselled Andy not to rise to it, which worked well, and we won 6–2, 6–2.

Nigel and Mark found adapting to the carpet and close side-netting very difficult, and could not seem to hit the top form they showed in August at Central. With them losing 6–2, 6–3 to Simon and Phil, which put the two teams identically level, the half-time team-talk was all about just winning games. Unfortunately, they had a bit of a nightmare against Doug and John, and lost 6–2, 6–0.

Whilst this is our first loss of the season (albeit by just two games!), four points away from home is still a good return. The two promotion spots are now between us, DL Westbury and Downend, with Downend favourites to win the Division.

Next match takes place on Friday, 23rd September, home to Kings: Simon Brand, Chris Cox, Pete Goldsmith and Andy Jeffery.

In the Ladies’ Seniors against Cleeve Hill, the prompt arrival from the four Writhlington players, Janie Bullus, Jane Benney, Pauline Medhurst and Paula Cuthbert, but not from our opposition. We waited, warmed up, and waited some more, and they arrived at 6.42 p.m., just in time to avoid us claiming the first sets.

Jane and Paula paired up to play Jackie and Anita, and should have done better against the unremarkable but steady play, unfortunately losing 2–6, 2–6, though the scores in the games were much closer than the final score reflected. We were outplayed in the second rubber against the hard hitting and competent pair of Kelly and Gill, just getting the one game. However, in our defence, they do play in Division Two of the Ladies summer league and their second pair play in Division Five!

Janie and Pauline paired up, being known to each other from a previous life! Cleeve Hill arrived just before 6.45 p.m., saying they had got lost, so generously we allowed them a short knock up and then we took on their first pair. Kelly hit the ball forcefully, both groundstrokes and net play, but fortunately, more were out than winners and we won 6–2, 6–3. We were warned the second pair were steady and the slow pace fooled. We lost the first game, but got ourselves together and won 6–1, 6–0.We rued the loss of that game as overall, we also lost the match by just one game! Unfortunately it was a 6–4 loss in points, but it was a friendly and fun evening of tennis which everyone enjoyed.

Next match takes place on Saturday, 24th September, away at Kings (BS7 8JG): Louise Derrick (C), Janie Bullus, Jenny Perez and Mandy Stonier.

Mixed Tennis: Backwell 8 Writhlington Firsts 2

Sam Thompson and Alex Hull (considering this was our first match together) played a really good first rubber against Backwell’s first pairing of Ali and Ben. However, it wasn’t an easy ride – we quickly found ourselves making mistakes, but thankfully managing to hold serve. With some great serving from Sam and myself, we pulled through and won the first set, 7–6. With Ali and Ben clearly frustrated, they upped their game and came back in the second set to win 6–4. Keeping consistent allowed us to finally pull through and win the tiebreak, resulting in a 7–6 third set win!

Unfortunately, we lost against the older, but much more tactical players of Backwell’s second pairing of Peter and Zoe. Peter was great at the net, due to his height and consistency, which made it practically impossible to have any sort of rally. Luckily, we still managed to get a total of seven games off the pair and with some strong return of serves and baseline rallies, we managed to keep level in games for a while. However, Zoe’s slicing got the better of us, which provided a completely different style of tennis as opposed to the first match. With Sam struggling a little with a wrist injury that happened in the first match, we quickly found ourselves making more mistakes and creating lots of opportunities for Peter. A 4–6, 3–6 loss. Alex Hull

James Brocksopp and Sarah Dawe took on Peter and Zoe in the first match and raced to a 4–0 lead. But the Backwell pair took the next four to pull it level. Writhlington managed to hold on and claim the next two games and the set, but our mistakes added up and we ended up losing the set, 6–4. The third set was much the same as the second, passages of good play from us, but passages of bad too, which eventually cost us the third set, 6–4 and the match.

In our second match against Ben and Zoe, we thought the extra pace would work in our favour. While it did in some ways, the consistency coming from Backwell worked against us, as we couldn’t match that. Some great rallies throughout, but we couldn’t do better than a 6–2, 6–2 loss. Our next match is at Knowle. James Brocksopp

Writhlington 2nds 0 Bath Firsts 10

Karen Miles, Louise Derrick, Callum Nowell and James Brocksopp formed the team to take on a visiting side from top-of-the-table Bath. It was likely to be a strong side that arrived and proved to be when Broose and Corin walked through the door. Broose will be known to our Men’s Third team as a regular fixture in Division Five last summer, while Corin was keeping our Firsts company in Division Two. The Bath Ladies also played in Divisions One and Three.

James and Louise paired up and took on Corin and Lauren first. We were slightly disappointed not to make more of this match, as we felt there were weaknesses we could have exploited more, but just didn’t make the most of. Having said that, those chances were few. Corin was quick to intercept at the net and missed very few volleys. Lauren was solid, a stronger forehand than backhand. It was, however, hard to isolate her backhand with Corin waiting to pounce. I thought we played better than the scoreline suggests, but still came away with a 2–6, 1–6 loss.

James and Louise’s second match against Broose and Lynn was another tough one. The early games went with serve, but then the Bath pair pulled ahead. They were very clever at simply moving us around the court, creating the gaps and making the winners. It took the first set for us to find a game plan that might work, eventually we did, and went up 4–2 in the second set. But a lapse in focus let Bath pull it back to 4–4. They then pulled away and that was that! Final score, 2–6, 4–6. James Brocksopp

Karen and Callum took on Broose and Lynn in the first match. Callum, in pain from his first rugby game of the season, did well to walk onto court! Brooke’s serve spun away from the receiver, which took some getting used to and the first set disappeared quickly, 6–0. The second set was better with some actual rallies! They were very consistent, which we were not, and we lost 6–2. Despite this, the game was played in good spirits.

It was obvious from the outset we were outclassed in the second match against Lauren and Corin, and Callum’s match tactic of managing to last twenty minutes seemed to be an optimistic goal as the first set went quickly, 6–0. In the second, Callum managed some classy aces, but not enough to save us from a 6–0 second set as well. Callum took heart from his major victory in the rugby. Karen took refuge in Louise’s flapjack. Next match home to Sodbury. Karen Miles