Heavy losses for three teams and a slim win for one added up to make this a less than ideal week for Writhlington’s tennis players. On the positive side, the Men’s Seniors finish as champions if Downend fail to win next week, and the Mixed Seconds are assured of staying in their division. On the negative side, the Ladies Seniors are knocked off their runners-up position by Knowle, and the Mixed Firsts are now embroiled in a relegation battle, with the last match likely to be winner-takes-all.

Men’s Seniors

Downend 4 – 6 Writhlington

Despite the long trip, Chris Cox, Derek Beg and Andy Jeffery arrived at a prompt 6 pm, only to find Mark Finch and our opposition already waiting for us! A beautiful, still evening on their new courts provided the perfect setting for this championship decider.

Derek and Mark took on Adrian and David. Things seemed to be going ok with a steady start to 2–2 but with a break of serve and some poor shots on key points, we found ourselves 5–2 down, eventually losing the set. The second went pretty much the same way, finally losing 6–3, 6–2.

Annoyed with our performance to date, we started well against Phil and Simon. Less tentative, and finishing off games, we raced into a 5–2 lead. How we then lost the set, 7–5, we aren’t quite sure, but we were even more annoyed with ourselves now.

Finally, it all came together and we walked the next set, 6–0! All down to a third set then. Phil and Simon got their game back to standard and we matched each other, game for game, to 4–4. It was clear neither side wanted to give anything away, chasing every lost cause. Even Mark was running around! 5–5 and the break of service came, sadly to Downend. Still at love 40 on the Downend serve a championship tie break was looking good. Was it tiredness, was it the pressure or was it two completely inept forehands from Mark – who knows? As had been the story of our evening we somehow found ourselves losing the game and thus the rubber, 5–7, 6–0, 5–7. Report by Mark Finch.

Chris Cox and Andy Jeffery took on the A pair of Phil and Simon, and despite lots of deuces and close games, we won rather flatteringly, 6–2, 6–1.The second rubber against Adrian and Scotsman, David, was a very different affair. They were so quiet in their line calling and score keeping that Chris and I were confused. This came to a head at the end of the first set. At 5–4 and deuce, Andy hit a good ball to the baseline and nothing was said. Facing, Andy called the score at “Our advantage”, we won the point, and Chris and Andy high-fived and started preparations for the second set, but David lined up and called the score at deuce. A row followed, and in exchange for agreeing a deuce score, Downend agreed to call the lines and score much louder. We won the next two points, so it didn’t matter!

We suffered many more dodgy line calls in the second set, and were 5–0, 30–15 up when Chris hit a good ball to the baseline which was called out by David. This was the last straw for Chris, and another row followed. We eventually played a let, but lost the game. However, we won the next for a 6–4, 6–1 win. Certainly in the bar after they were very conciliatory and we actually had a good time!

Our record this season is won seven, lost one, and 56 out of 80 points. Thanks to the fourteen players (Chris Cox, Mark Finch, Simon Brand, Richard Chapman, Stan Janiek, Derek Beg, Pete Goldsmith, Pete Caddick, Nigel Hellier, Ray Clarke, Andrew Tibber, Chris Palmer and Dean Taylor), and if you could all play one or two more matches next season, we could have two Seniors teams! Report by Andy Jeffery.

End of season for us – Downend need to win 6–4 at DL Westbury next Friday to climb above us to be Champions.

Ladies Seniors

Writhlington 0 – 10 Knowle

Marie Craig and Tracey Stephens took on the first pair and tried not to get distracted by the rather Sharapova-esque grunting from Sue on the other end. She was extremely athletic as well as noisy though and covered the court exceptionally well. We didn’t really get to grips with not sending the ball back to her. When we did, her partner, Cathy, just popped it away at the net. A 6–2, 6–1 loss.

The second rubber was a little closer. We lost the first set 6–2 to Mary, but rallied, winning the second set 7–5. The championship tie-break went their way, though, unfortunately, which meant we lost the match.

Mixed Tennis

Writhlington 1sts 2 Bristol Lawn 1sts 8

In the first rubber, Pat Lodge and Mandy Baldwin played a good pairing of Rachel and James who both hit the ball with good pace. We dominated and took command of this match from the first point and we won 6-2, 6-4.

We then took on the pairing of Emma and Matt, and lost 1–6, 6–4, 9–11. Pat and I found it difficult to adjust to the consistent pair, who didn’t hit with the same power as the first pair, but they didn’t miss anything. Matt took advantage of his height at the net – he was difficult to pass or lob. A very enjoyable and well-fought match. One point that sticks out in my mind was when we were match point down, 8–9, in the final set, Pat managed to retrieve a ball at full stretch and played a majestic well placed lob through the rafters, landing on the baseline which Matt smashed into the net! Report by Mandy Baldwin.

Alex Hull and Oli Leatham had a tough opposition in Matt and Emma for our first rubber against Bristol Lawn, who are top of Division One. With too many unforced errors, we quickly found ourselves 3–0 down unfortunately, quickly resulting in a 6–0 first set loss. Matt was particularly good at the net, likewise, his partner, Emma, was very strong at the baseline. We decided to change our tactics, and although this helped, we could only get two games off the pair in the second set. Resulting in an unfortunate 6–0, 6–2 loss.

Knowing that our next match would be a tough one (playing the first pair) we decided to go in with a good attitude and try (easier said than done) to limit our unforced errors. Fortunately, we had a much better game. With some effective serving from Oli and myself, we managed to take three games off the pair in the first set. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to pull through and win. Final score 3–6, 1–6. Report by Alex Hull.

Bristol Lawn Seconds 10 Writhlington Seconds 0

The team of Alex Hull, Mark Finch, Sarah Alexander and Andy Jeffery were expected to struggle against top-of-the-table Bristol, who have only lost once all season. We arrived on time, and got warmed up on the hard courts (the astros were wet and slippy), and within two minutes of starting the matches, the heavens opened and we had the first of four downpours that marred the matches. Each time we had to suspend play, then begin brushing the water off before play could restart.

Sarah and Andy had lots to contend with against both pairings – outside conditions, wet, heavy, less bouncy balls, puddles on the court creating bad bounces, occasional bright sunshine that reflected on the wet court to make visibility impossible, the rain creating stop-start conditions, and very slippery tarmac in certain places. Oh yes, and we were both rubbish! This resulted in 6–2, 6–2 and 6–1, 6–1 defeats. Report by Andy Jeffery.

Alex and Mark took on the first pair, with a quick discussion of tactics. We faced the young pair of Lee and Sophia, who were fairly strong. I started serving and won the first game, shortly after running for shelter because of the rain. Unfortunately, Lee was very good at the net and we found it difficult to keep it away from him – before we knew it, we lost the first set, 6–2. I knew we could beat them, so after some pep talk with Mark, we battled through, but again, could only manage to get two games off the pair. Resulting in a 6–2, 6–2 loss.

Unfortunately with the rain still very on/off, we had a similar experience with our second match. Having to play a couple of games, run for shelter, then coming back on. It took Mark, in his own words, "Twenty minutes to get back into it," and with a few too many unforced errors from both of us, and David being able to run everything, and I mean everything down, we lost the first set, 6–1. I wasn’t going to let us lose without a fight, so we upped our game. With some fantastic serving from Mark and some tactical play from myself, we managed to even the games. At 5–5, the pressure got the better of us, knowing we just had to keep the ball away from David, but he would appear out of nowhere! Unfortunately, we lost the second set 7–5. Report by Alex Hull.