Tennis Talk: Jamie Murray Scoops Doubles Title at Queen’s

When Andy, his younger brother and defending champion, got knocked out in a shock first round defeat it was left to Jamie Murray to win a trophy at this year’s Aegon Championships held at The Queen’s Club in London.

Murray and partner Bruno Soares lift the doubles trophy on Sunday after beating French duo Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 6-3 in the final. Not only was it a great victory but one for the history books too as Murray the first British man to win the Aegon Championships doubles title since Jeremy Bates back in 1990.

The final was the pair’s second match on Sunday after they first won an unfinished semi final clash that was previously interrupted due to rain against Marin Cilic and his partner Marcin Matkowski 1-6, 6-4, 10-8.

Singles champion was Feliciano Lopez, 35 who became the tournament’s oldest winner in the Open Era beating fourth seed Cilic 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(8) with a crowd thrilling final set on Centre Court. Top seed Andy Murray, second seed Stan Wawrinka and Milos Raonic ranked third all made unpredicted early exits from the tournament.

Photos used with courtesy of www.lta.org.uk/

Totally Tennis Hampshire Court News

The Totally Tennis Hampshire Court coaching team, who run weekly sessions at Old Basing Tennis Club and an after school club St Mary’s Junior School in the village, were part of last weekend’s annual Old Basing Carnival. Free mini tennis sessions for juniors and adults were offered encouraging lots of of people of all ages to get on court and try tennis.

In other news, the coaching team are running a summer term exclusive at Hampshire Court for junior players. For the remaining six weeks of the summer term players can play for just £30.00. Spaces are limited so be sure to book quickly – once they are gone, they are gone!

Adults players aren’t forgotten either with all new players offered a FREE session. Whether you are planning on returning to tennis or are a keen regular tennis player, it’s time to dust off your racket as we have something for everyone every day of the week!

As if that wasn’t enough it’s also competition Time! Like and share the Totally Tennis Hampshire Court Facebook page with your friends and be automatically entered into a free prize draw to WIN a racket bag! Competition closes on Sunday 25th June!

To find out more information call Totally Tennis on 01256 358816 or e-mail shyam.vithlani@totallytennis.co.uk

U10 Team Win the Aegon Team Tennis League

The Totally Tennis U10 team have won the Aegon Team Tennis Hampshire & IOW 2017 10&U Mixed Division league. The team of Oliver Alemany, Eddie Lakatos, Daniel Ward, Ollie Steer and Faith Tompkins were up against teams from David Lloyd Southampton, Winchester and Portsmouth Tennis Academy.

They won their first match against David Lloyd Southampton 8-4 with Alemany, Lakatos and Ward all winning their singles to be 3-1 up and then Alemany/Lakatos securing overall victory by winning their doubles match 4-2, 4-2. Unfortunately Winchester then withdrew from the division so the deciding fixture was against Portsmouth Tennis Academy who had already beaten David Lloyd Southampton.

 In the fixture against Portsmouth Alemany and Lakatos both won their singles matches 4-0, 4-1 and Steer won 4-0, 4-0. In the doubles Tompkins/Steer won their three set match 4-2, 0-4, 1-0 to secure another 8 – 4 victory and win the league.

Head coach James Macintosh said, “Well Done to Oliver, Eddie Lakatos, Ward, Ollie and Tompkins who were all part of the team that won the division. It’s a fantastic achievement for all the players and we hope to continue to have more success in future team tennis events.“

Congratulations to all the team!

Open Days Proved a Great Success

Hundreds of children visited the indoor centre last weekend to play in the club’s tennis Open Days. After the success of last week’s Schools Tennis Roadshow that visited local schools across Basingstoke, Totally Tennis opened its doors on Saturday and Sunday to offer primary school age children the opportunity to play on the full size tennis courts in free fun sessions.

Phil Leighton, from the Tennis Foundation, who ran the roadshow visited ten schools and saw over 1400 children throughout last week and with another ten schools distributed the flyers to their pupils about the free open days, the anticipation was high for fun weekend packed full of tennis. The roadshow introduced tennis to a large audience throughout the week highlighting that it’s not only a great way for kids to get fit and healthy but also develop important motor skills and learn sportsmanship all whilst having lots of fun.

Tennis Director Nigel Long said, “I’d like to thank Phil, the Tennis Foundation, the whole Totally Tennis team and our squad players for helping us to provide so many children with the opportunity to play in our Open Days last weekend.” he added, “There were a great success with so many of the children deciding to take up tennis in our junior squad sessions.”

Over 300 children visited Totally Tennis over the course of the sunny weekend to participate in the mixed sessions with Leighton and club coaches James McIntosh, Jordan Frederick, Shyam Vithani, Andrew Dingwall, Simon James and Steph Catlin. The mini tennis sessions offered the groups of players ten different activities from hand-eye coordination to basic tennis skills. They rotated around the stations to try the different skills including throwing and catching, racket skills, target throws, speed of serve and more fun activities. In addition to the free sessions a special roadshow offer encouraged many of the young players to sign up to play in the Pirates and Indians squads which are part of the club’s Junior Development Programme.

Head Coach James McIntosh said, “All of the coaches and helpers over the weekend did a fantastic job in making the open days such a success. I would like to say a big thank you to all the squad players who generously gave up time over their weekend to be involved.” he added “Also a big thank you to Jill, Emily, Karen, Anne, Claire, Kerri, Penny and Sandy for all of the organisation and selling of refreshments over the two days.”

A large team of squad players gave up their time to be involved in the event encouraging younger children to enjoy playing tennis. A big thanks to Daniel Prickett, Aaron Dawson, Oliver Alemeny, Eddie Lakatos, Dylan Hall-Jones, Isla Hignett, Jas Bromilow, Dessi Bratinova, Liam Hignett, Miles Bromilow, Harry Feast, Louise Mallozi, Lucy Groves, Elinor Banks and Danielle Beckett.

Steph Catlin (pictured above coaching) added “The roadshow this weekend was a huge success. Speaking on behalf of all the coaches, we had a lot of fun exposing the best sport in the world to hundreds of little ones this weekend.

“We can’t promise that the weather will be as beautiful, but we hope to see them all in our squads to continue the learning and fun! A big shout out to all the current TT players who helped out, they played a huge part in the running and success of the weekend!”

The Tennis Foundation is Britain’s leading tennis charity that strives to make sport inclusive and accessible to everyone. The aim is to provide opportunities to encourage people to maximise their potential through tennis by working closely with the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) and a wide range of partners from across all sectors to deliver their vision and aim. For more information visit www.tennisfoundation.org.uk

For more information about Totally Tennis please telephone 01256 358816 or e-mail tt@totallytennis.co.uk More information about the junior squad programme can be found here and read all our latest news on our blog here

Girls Win Premier 14 & U Aegon Team Tennis League

The Totally Tennis performance players have been completing in the Aegon Team Tennis Premier league in a series of home and away fixtures. The girls 14 & under team have won the Premier 14&U Girls Tier 2 South West (East) League after drawing on points with second place Woking but winning on number of games won.

The team of Tillie Reid (3), Kirsty Da Silva (4), Isla Hignett (1), Jasmin Bromilow (2) got off to a tricky start after losing their first fixture in the  against Woking LTC 8-4. Bromilow was the only player to win her singles 6-4-6, 6-2 and with partner Hignett their won their doubles match 6-3, 6-3. The additional two member son the team are Amberley Chapman and Atinuke Adelakun.

(L to R) Tillie, Kirsty, Isla and Jasmin

The girls then had a tense fixture against Oxtails Tennis Club were they won on a shoot out after the scoreline was tied. Bromilow and Reid both won their singles 6-1, 6-3 and 6-2, 6-4 respectively but Hignett and Da Silva lost, in the doubles that followed Reid/Da Silva won their match in three sets 6-7, 7-5, 1-0 to secure victory for the team after Hignett/Bromilow were beaten.

In their final fixture played at the weekend in Oxford, the girls beat White Horse 8-4. Hignett and Reid won their singles 6-0, 6-0 and 6-2, 6-3 respectively but with Bromilow and Da Silva losing the score was level. In the doubles Hignett/Bromilow won in three sets 6-3, 2-6, 11-9 and Reid/Da Silva won 6-4, 6-4 to secure overall victory.

Donella Hignett said “The team finished as winners in the premier division, with Woking finishing in second place.  This is the first time the girls have played in the premier league, so it’s an amazing result.”

Congratulations girls 🙂

The Totally Tennis 18 & under boys team of Dylan Allenby-Ryan, Miles Bromilow, Alex Dawson, Liam Hignett and Josh Lawson have been competing in the Premier 18 & Under Boys (Tier 2 – South East). The boys lost in their first fixture against Westside Lawn Tennis Club (LTC) 8-4 with only Hignett and Bromilow winning their singles matches. They bounced back to beat Woking Lawn Tennis Club (LTC) 10 – 2 with Hignett, Bromilow and Allenby-Ryan all winning their singles and the team winning both doubles matches. The team’s next fixture is against DL Raynes Park.

Aegon Team Tennis is a singles based team competition that provides players of all ages (8&U – Open) with regular league matches, against similar standard players in a competitive team environment. A total of 6,158 teams from over 1,050 venues are playing in Aegon Team Tennis 2017, last year there were a record number of 9,837 fixtures completed across the country. The Premier 12U-18U tier provides the opportunity for teams to compete outside of their county on a regional and national level. This allows stronger players and teams to play in a more appropriate league. Teams are accepted to the Premier 12U-18U events based on the ratings of nominated players at entry stage, there are three age groups 12U, 14U and 18U.

 

Aegon Championships | The Queen’s Club

Summer is officially here with the start of the grass court season. World and British number one Andy Murray, who is also defending champion and top seed, will be looking to win his sixth title at this year’s Aegon Championships which starts at The Queen’s Club in London today until Sunday 25th June.

Murray who won the title in 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 will begin the defence of his title against fellow British player Aljaz Bedene tomorrow. Thirty two players are competing in this year’s event including  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5), 2012 winner Marin Cilic (4), John Isner, Nick Kyrgios (9), French Open runner-up Stan Wawrinka (2) and last year’s Queen’s Club runner-up Milos Raonic (3). Other players to watch include British number two Kyle Edmund and wildcards Cameron Norrie and James Ward.

In the doubles Scottish-Brazilian pairings Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, fresh from winning the Mercedes Cup doubles title in Stuttgart, are third seeds with Murray’s former partner John Peers and Henri Kontinen ranked number one. French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are second seeds and former world number one pairing of brothers Bob and Mike Bryan are seeded fourth.

The Queen’s Club, named after Queen Victoria, was established in 1886 and hosts the world famous Aegon Championships on its 28 outdoor grass courts. The annual event on the men’s professional ATP World Tour was started in 1890 and is held in West Kensington every June in the run-up to Wimbledon that starts this year on 3rd July. The tournament attracts the world’s best male singles and doubles players, this year ten of the world’s top twenty players are competing. Along with Murray, tennis legends such as Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras have all lifted the iconic winner’s trophy.

In other tennis news, Judy Murray has been an awarded OBEs in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List. Murray, who has worked to grow tennis across Great Britain, has been recognised for services to tennis, women in sport and charity.

British number one Johanna Konta, 26 missed out on her first grass court title after she finished as runner-up in the Nottingham Open final after losing to Donna Vekic from Croatia 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5.

Information and photos sourced from www.lta.org.uk and www.bbc.com/sport/tennis

 

Cooper Kirby Wins Winchester Open Title

Totally Tennis performance player and Sherfield School tennis scholar Dean Cooper Kirby recently won the 14 & under Boys Winchester Spring Open 2017 title. After a bye in the first round, Cooper Kirby beat Christian Yeates 6-1, 6-1 in round two followed by Louis Bowden 6-4, 4-6, 10-6 in the quarters and then Joshua Parsons in the semis 4-6, 6-4, 10-5,  he then defeated Oliver Fernandez 6-0, 6-2 in the final.

Cooper Kirby and partner Ayaan Haneef then won the 14 & U Doubles title beating clubmate Aaron Dawson/Louis Bowden 4-1, 4-1 in the semis and James Johnson/Alexis Paris in the final 5-3, 4-0.

In the Easter Grade 4 Tournament at Kings House, Chiswick Cooper Kirby won the 18 & U singles titles and was runner-up in the 16 & U event. In the first round of the 16 & U competition he defeated Alexander Pennycooke 4-1, 4-1 followed by wins against Bailey Mcatee 4-3, 4-0 and Warok Rai 4-2, 4-1 but he finished up in second place after losing in the final against Nicolas Sperat Czar 4-3, 4-0. In the 18U’s Cooper Kirby beat Adam Wilkinson 4-1, 4-2 in the quarters and then beat Laurence Woodford 4-0, 4-2 in the semis. In the final he defeated Mathieu Betto 5-3, 4-2 to win the event.

Cooper Kirby is also part of the Sherfield School sixth form team that has won the Hampshire/Dorset/Wiltshire knockout stage of the Glanville Cup. The team has now qualified for the National Finals that will be played at Nottingham Tennis Centre from 11th – 14th July.

First photo used with courtesy of the Basingstoke Gazette