May League Match roundup

Our Veterans teams have had a tough start to their season with all three teams yet to get a point.

Ladies’ O40 are finding it hard in Division 2 starting with 4-0 defeats away against Wokingham B and at home against Maidenhead A.  Against Maidenhead, Ravinder Norman & Jenny Sheppard fought well in their first set against Claire Roberts & Anne Chance but lost it 4-6 before losing the second to love. Jenny Partridge & Alison Nicholson had no answers against Nasreen Brittain & Catherine Botwright, losing 1-6 1-6 and it was a similar story in the second round with both pairs losing in straight sets. Still, the team can be proud to have reached Division 2, and they may fare better against Maidenhead B and C who they have yet to play.

Men’s O55 started with a trip to David Lloyd Newbury and it looked good for the Crows as Jim Hawes & Richard McCully took the first set 6-4 against Rob Sim & Sandy Balfour and the second 6-0.   Andy Stone & Steve Stow then narrowly lost 4-6 4-6 against Bruce Letham & Simon Middleton before narrowly missing out against Sim & Balfour 2-6 5-7.  Hawes & McCully had a poor start against Letham & Middleton, losing the first set 2-6, but they came back strongly to win the second 6-1 before failing to clinch the deciding tie-break – the final score 1-3 to Newbury.  Against Maidenhead B, Hawes & McCully lost against the home first pair 5-7 in the second set after losing the first 0-6 but they redeemed themselves in the second round, winning thier rubber on a deciding tie-break.  Steve Stow & Mike Smith had some good spells in both of their rubbers but were unable to clinch points at vital moments going down 2 and 2 in both rounds.

It’s been a good few weeks for our junior teams, however, with our 18U Boys winning their third and final match 2-1 against Wokingham.  Although Owen Lawrence lost 2-6 3-6 against Alexander O’Keefe, Dan Rippon thrashed Gregor O’Keefe 6-0 6-1 and the pair won the doubles 6-4 6-2.   Having lost their previous match on the deciding tie-break in the doubles against Ascot, our 14U Boys, George Loverdos & Alex Trill, had a 3-0 win away at Slough.

Last weekend was the 3rd round of the Team Tennis Berkshire league and both of our teams had wins, the 1sts 10-2 against Wargrave 1 in Division 2 and the seconds by a single set against Bracknell  5 in Division 5A.  Crowthorne 1’s Matt Paxton, with his relatively high rating, came up against a very strong Jeremy Morgan who won 6-0 6-0, but it was all wins apart from that, although none of the singles were plain sailing.  Chris Torkington at 2 had a close 2-6 6-1 1-0 win against Paolo Pederoda, David Smith at 3 won 6-4 7-5 against Colin Johnson and John Phillips at 4 won 7-5 6-1 against Christopher Brims.  In the doubles, either Morgan or Pederoda decided to go for an early lunch so the top doubles wasn’t played but Smith & Phillips emphasised the win with a 6-4 6-0 win over Johnson & Brims.   Away at Bracknell, for Crowthorne 2, Russell Finch got the team off to a good start by defeating the home number 1 player Navid Eila 6-1 6-3.  At 2, Vince Brooks had a slow start, losing the first set 1-6 against Danny Miller, but he came back with a bang to take the second 6-0 only to concede the deciding tie-break.  Mark Callaghan won 6-1 6-2 against Barry Lacey but Steve Stow lost 2-6 1-6 against Rowan Sinclair to give the Crows a set lead at the end of the singles.  With a win for Finch & Brooks and a defeat for Stow & Callaghan in the doubles, both in straight sets, the Crows had held on to their one set lead to take the match 7-6.

Places must be booked in advance via the Members’ Area and selections will then be confirmed on the morning or evening before the event.  Please do not turn up if you have not been selected as you will be turned away. Players are selected on a first come first serve basis usually in multiples of 4 players.  Note that none of these sessions is suitable for beginners.

  • Note that the Committee tries to accommodate the wishes of members, within the constraints of time and 4 courts, but a session for each ability level is the guiding principle.
    • The Friday session is for recreational and higher players and runs from 6pm to 8pm
    • The Thursday 5:30 session is for intermediate players and runs from 5:30pm to 7:30pm.
    • The Thursday 7:30 session is for intermediate and advanced players including potential team players and runs from 7:30 to 9:30pm.
    • The Tuesday session is for advanced players and runs from 7pm to 9pm. 
    • In all cases you must commit to the full two hours.
  • Before the session you will have been told by the organiser your starting court, your partner and your opponents.
    • These will take into account each player’s normal playing standard with the best players starting on court 1 and, with 16 players, the least able players on court 4.  However, the organiser may occasionally decide to organise it differently such as a “lucky dip” for starting court & partner.
    • In addition, for the Thursday 7:30 session, the organiser will take into account any pairings for matches at the coming weekend.
  • Play is split into 3 rounds lasting 40 minutes each.  Play 1 set with normal deuce scoring.  If you finish early either carry on or mix in your 4.
    • If you haven’t finished the set after 40 minutes and the scores are level, play a sudden death point
  • At the end of the 40 minutes the winners of the first set played move up a court, the losers move down a court (court 1 is the top court). Winners on the top court stay, as do the losers on the bottom court. If you didn’t finish your set then the pair winning at the time moves up.
  • Pairs then split partners with the pair joining them and you play a second round.
    • Partners are selected by spinning rackets or using common sense to try to get a balanced 4.
  • Exactly the same happens for the third round.

Drop-In club nights are, as the name implies, more informal sessions than the bookable ones and you can arrive and leave when you like.  Those attending organise themselves, changing who plays with whom after most present have completed a set, although there’s often a more senior member present who  will take charge if needed.

We are currently running 2 Drop-In  sessions for all levels from Starter upwards…

  • The Tuesday session has recently been rebranded for All Levels and runs from 5:00pm to 7:00pm.  If you want to sit out and watch, maybe with a drink, you can do that too.  If you’ve arrived early for the 7 o’clock session, you’re also welcome to join in.
  • The Wednesday session is for all levels of player including beginner and usually runs from 7:30pm to 9:30pm.
    • You can expect members attending adult coaching to join in.
  • The Sunday session is for All levels and runs from 3:00 – 5:00pm.

This is a template for a popup activated by a link anywhere on the website.

Pop-up settings are from the LH gearwheel at the bottom left.

More settings from RH menu bottom right.

  • Display Conditions: Include Entire Site
  • Triggers: Default – all NO
  • Advanced Rules: Default – all NO
    • Show on devices: Default shows on all but can remove, say, mobile. if required.

In Pop-up Settings Advanced tab, under Open by selector, add anchor trigger shortcode – a[href=”#link-popup”].  Make sure you DON’T CHECK open in new tab.

Apply this link (#link-popup) anywhere on website.

If you try to duplicate this from the list of popups, it turns into a page.  This is a fault that was flagged up over a year ago but not yet fixed.  There are several ways round, one is…

  • Export popup to a file
  • Import the same file
  • It appears with the same name but different date so change the name.
  • Need to change Display Conditions to Include Entire Site as this is lost.  Otherwise OK.