Crowthorne Tennis Club's annual club championships came to their climax with the Finals on Saturday 20th July at St.Sebastian's Field. With the new clubhouse installed last September, spectators in the new viewing area spent most of the day basking in sunshine and the field around the courts was dotted with family groups enjoying a picnic while watching the tennis. There were some new faces in the finals this year following an upsurge in membership during the preceeding 18 months and a new innovation was the introduction of junior members as ballboys and ballgirls.

First on court were Zoe Hardy and Caroline Atkinson to contest the ladies' singles. After an opening game lasting almost 15 minutes, Zoe broke Caroline's serve and thereafter gave last year's runner up little opportunity to get onto the score sheet as she tirelessly ran down shots and relentlessly returned the best that her opponent could throw at her to win 6-1 6-1.

Next was the ladies' doubles with Joan Reynolds and Gill Smith facing Kathy Cockburn-Smith and Jackie Castell. This was a good all court game with every shot in the book being played as Joan and Gill showed flair as well as power in winning 6-2 6-4.

Everyone had been waiting expectantly for the men's single final between two new members, Chris Dexter and David Walter. David, a left-hander, possessed a powerfull serve, unreturnable at times, plus a topspin forehand and a wicked deeply sliced backhand, but Chris, the master tactician, had the edge in steadyness and control, with the ability to unleash the surprise block buster serve or forehand when it really mattered. After conceeding the first set 6-3, David found himself 4-1 down in the second set and dug deep to save match points and take it to a tie-break which he won. In the final set Chris regained his composure to take an early break and this time he held on well to take the set 6-4 and the title.

The mixed doubles saw the return of the new ladies' champion, Zoe Hardy, this time with husband Chas, against men's runner up David Walter and club captain Moira Macbeth. Zoe and Chas once again showed the resilience and accuracy that had got them to the final and despite a valiant effort from David and Moira who never gave up, the title was theirs 6-2 6-2.

In the men's doubles final, the four contenders were two established pairings, Jim Hawes and Mike Smith, last year's winners, and Ed Berridge and Andy Johns, who regularly play together in matches, so a close fought match was expected. Mike and Jim got away quickly to establish a 5-1 lead but despite numerous set points, they could just not quite clinch the set as Ed and Andy raised their game to win six games in a row and take the opening set 7-5. In he second set, Mike and Jim had to dig deep to prevent their bad run continuing and they succeeded, winning the opening game and getting the first break of serve. This time they held on and despite fierce opposition from Ed and Andy they took the second set 6-3. The final set followed the same pattern with several games going to ten or more deuces, but the defending champions we now on a roll and they took it 6-2 to retain the title.

Finally two annual awards were presented by club president and founder Geoff Lee. These were the award for services to the club which went to John Rippon and the award for most improved player which was presented to Hilary Walker.