LANSDOWN 2nds 10 WRITHLINGTON MEN’S 1sts 0

Travelling to Lansdown is a good away fixture, but the uncertainty of which surface you are playing on gives the home team a serious advantage.

Playing on the clay against Simon (ex-coach at Writhlington) and Steve were Luis and Nathan. The courts were super slippery due to the hot weather and a lack of water. Even the home team found it difficult to stand; the rallies were fine until wrong-footed! 6-2, 6-2 to Lansdown.

In the follow-up match, Fred and James decided to use the death-by-drop-shot, which Nathan is not a fan of! 6-0,6-4 Lansdown.

In the meantime, Sam and Pat paired up again. Against Fred and James the Writhlington team were slow to get going but battled hard, losing a closely-fought game 6-3, 6-2.

The same could be said in the following match against Simon and Steve. Sam and Pat, playing better on the clay, lost their first set in the time Nathan and Luis finished their second rubber. Close!

The same pattern sadly followed. A long second set but 6-2 to Lansdown. Points mean prizes and the First Team desperately need some!

Patrick Lodge

WRITHLINGTON MEN’S 2nds 8 CLIFTON 4ths 2

The resurrection of ‘The Four’ of Darren Thompson (after weeks of knee injury), Chris Cox, Graham Steer and Andy Jeffery was celebrated with the mandatory pre-match caramel vodka!

This did the trick for Chris and Darren, who romped to wins of 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4, 6-2 over the B&A pairs, respectively. Darren supplemented his strict training regime with several sprints down the length of the court to retrieve lobs, which the watching crowds appreciated.

Much like the rest of this season, Andy and Graham did not have an easy ride. The easy 6-2 first set was followed by a disastrous 1-6, and then a season-defining 4-6 loss, caused by glaring errors on their part. They had the satisfaction of a 6-1, 6-2 whipping of the B pair, but even that should have been a double-bagel!

Having lost the reverse fixture 10-0 earlier in the season, the eight points earned are a godsend, and could signal a change in fortunes for the Seconds, who could escape what looked like certain relegation a few weeks ago.

Andy Jeffery

WRITHLINGTON 3rds 2 DOWNEND 4ths 8

Another fine evening for the the quartet of Sam Thomson, Steve Lawrence, James Brocksopp and George Penna at home.

The regular pair of Sam and Steve had a relatively straightforward win against the Downend pair of Harry and Ben.

A comfortable 6-1 first set led to a degree of complacency in the second, but the home pair held on for a 7-5 straight sets win. The second match against Chris and Simon was more of a challenge. The first set went the distance and the tie-break went Downend’s way this time.

After moving indoors, the Writhlington pair dominated the second set, but with time against us, were forced to play a third-set championship tie-break rather than a full set, which would have been preferable. There was never more than a few points between the pairs until Downend snuck the last two points for a 10-8 win.

It was a disappointing night for James and George, who never really got going. We were 40-15 up in two of the first four games against Chris and Simon and lost both of them, which seemed to set the tone for the evening. Scrappy games throughout, and although we managed to win the second set, self-inflicted errors contributed to the overall loss – 3-6, 6-3, 1-6.

Unfortunately, the second rubber was more of the same against Harry and Ben. Despite this we managed to create, and convert opportunities, but not enough to prevent a 6-4, 6-3 loss.

James Brocksopp

KNOWLE 5ths 10 WRITHLINGTON 4ths 0

‘Inside the line’ and ‘on the line’ is “out” apparently, according to Knowle – something they must teach from a young age, too!

Not the best of the night’s tennis with a 10-0 loss, but there were positives, and not just the glorious weather!

Toby Cole played his first match for the club, partnering Colin Page. Given the circumstances, Toby played very well, and he and Colin managed to play some great tennis. Their scores were 0-6, 3-6 and 3-6, 0-6.

Bryn Jones and Callum Nowell managed to get a few extra games, plus a few bruises and scrapes. Callum did his usual dive-and-roll and Bryn was hit several times by the ball! Body shots are expected, so no problems there, but when a player is hit on the head after a member of the opposition smashes the ball down the court in temper when he lost his service game, then you do object to that! Bryn and Callum scored 1-6, 2-6 and 2-6, 3-6.

Bryn Jones

WRITHLINGTON LADIES 1sts 4 REDLAND GREEN 6

As we were looking for revenge against Kirsty and Viv, Mandy and Ces were pumped for this match.

The first set went with serve until 4-3; we broke them to go 5-3 up and served out to win the set, 6-3. The second set was closer, and we came through, winning it 7-5.

The second pairing of Amy and Emma was a close match from the first point to the last. We won 6-4, 6-7, 10-5 in a championship tie-break.

The highlight of the match was Mandy bending a ball round the post to hit a forehand winner down the line. I must say a big thank you to Lisa (Duty Manager at Writhlington), who had to wait till 10.20 p.m. to lock up!

Sarah and Alex played pair number two first, a young pair who proved quite steady and liked to hit the ball hard – much to Alex’s advantage! Unfortunately, we lost 3-6 and 4-6. They had obvious weaknesses, but we couldn’t pull it together and unfortunately lost this rubber.

The positive of this match was that we did better than when we played them at their place! Although Sarah and Alex put up a good game - they unfortunately lost against a very experienced pair, 2-6 1-6.

Sarah Dawe

KNOWLE 2nds 10 WRITHLINGTON LADIES 2nds 0

The return match to Knowle saw us face some strong opponents, which resulted in a 10-0 loss for Writhlington.

The Knowle team were half the average age of the Writhlington team, and on a hot summer’s evening, that proved to be an advantage too far. Writhlington managed to win only three games against the first pair, but gained a few more against the seconds. An enjoyable game nevertheless, and nobody keeled over with heatstroke!

OLVESTON & TOCKINGTON 2 WRITHLINGTON LADIES 4ths 8

The long drive was definitely worth it on Friday to arrive at the amazing new Olveston and Tockington clubhouse and courts surrounded by fields, on a gorgeous June evening.

Ali and Jacqui took on Nicky and Jenny, and as usual it took a while to settle, but we pulled back from 0-3 down to go ahead and then win the first set 6-4.

Ali put in some great serving, whilst Jacqui didn’t do too badly at the net for once, and the combination seemed to work! The sun was still high and the temperature pretty hot as we started the second, trying to drink plenty of water.

We didn’t go down in this one, but stayed level until we broke again for another 6-4. Cerys and Tracey had long since finished their first as we finally had brief break for more water and much-needed Percy Pigs, before swapping pairs and ploughing on.

It had finally cooled off a bit as we started against Ali and Catherine. The pace of the tennis was slower, and as they made more mistakes than us, we steadily racked up the games to win the first, 0-6.

Just as the double-bagel became a possibility at 0-3 in the second, a bit of a dip in concentration put paid to that of course, and we lost the next two. We did pull ourselves together and won it 2-6.

Earlier in the evening, plans to stop at the pub in the sunshine on the way home had been hatched. However, O&T had other ideas, as they took Tracey and Cerys into a third full set. A long sit by the side of the courts was the option instead, although the tennis was close and really good to watch.

The Writhlington pair unfortunately lost it on a tie-break after battling so hard. As compensation for the pub, we were offered a very welcome glass of wine and finally started on our way home around 10 p.m., happy with the 2-8 win.

Jacqui Grainger