Blue Court back in action after the lights came crashing down

Late on Saturday the 22nd as Malcolm Howlett was gently returning serve the ball connected with the main-wall end of the set of lights nearest the dedans. The housing of this light fractured at the mounting points and fell to the ground, where but for the nimbleness shown there might have been a serious injury. The falling housing dragged down the one next to it, which also fell to the floor, and this in turn dragged two more to be left dangling in space, hanging like electrified swords of Damocles.

For health and safety reasons the court was out of action until the lights could be reinstated. However, the fact that they came down at all raised concerns that the other lighting may be in a similar state and so the electricians worked hard Monday and Tuesday to add extra strappings to the lights.

Time with the court out of action has been frustrating for those who would like to play but it also made a serious dent in the clubs finances as it cut in half the available court fees for the week and a half that the court was out of action.

The blue court is back and available for bookings.

Rob Fahey, World Champion and almost annoyingly all-round nice guy held a masterclass for six of our top players sharing some of the tips, tricks and techniques that have made him the undisputed Real Tennis World Champion.

Our National League players and two of our pros (between the six of them a handicap total of around 100) showed visible improvement as they explored concepts like 'moving the shoebox' and stepping to where you want the ball to go, not where the ball is coming from, whilst playing what Rob called 'running golf'.

Kees has half-booked a number courts during the week starting 6th February for anyone wanting to support his Asian Tsunami Fund. All his pro-fees will go to two devastated schools in the south of Sri Lanka - the place of his birth.

If you would like you to participate just pick a time and book yourself in. The pro-fee is £20, which is payable on the day. His target is 20 lessons.

The christmas tournament was warmly enjoyed by all who were able to make this christmas traditional event, so ably organised by John Trapp. The format this year was a doubles triplet, followed by a singles triplet for each player, so everyone played two doubles matches and two singles matches, the points from these totaling up to determine the first round winners. These eight went on to a knockout competition to determine the overall winner: Richard Holt

 

Nick Chrimes	6
	>	Nick Chrimes	4
Howard Richardson	4	|
			>	Richard Holt	6
Fiona Brown	2	|	|
	>	Richard Holt	6	|
Richard Holt	6	|
					>	Richard Holt
Keith Harding	6	|
	>	Keith Harding	4	|
Peter Singleton	2	|	|
			>	Gillian Moore	2
Gillian Moore	6	|
	>	Gillian Moore	6
David Thomas	3

David Woodman achieves scratch

After his fine effort in the British Open at Queen's where his last match was against the World Champion on the 18th Nov' there was a fair amount of comment about David in the club house with several members voicing the opinion that he would soon reach zero handicap - perhaps they did not realise quite how soon.

On 21st Nov' David played for Cambridge against Hatfield in the Field Trophy and, although beating Kieran Booth two sets to one, actually saw his handicap deteriorate by 0.4. On 25th Nov' he played Andrew Lyons of Holyport ( +3 handicap) in the M & G National League Premier Division and lost two sets to one which had no effect on his handicap. The following day he went back to Queen's to M & G National League Division 1 for the Burroughs against Ivan Snell whom he defeated 6-2, 6-1 which ranked as a win! And reduced his handicap to the magic figure zero.

Many, many congratulations from all members of CURTC to David on this great achievement. At the same time it must give immense satisfaction to Kees Ludekens who was originally responsible for introducing him to real tennis and who has not only provided him with all the coaching skills at his command but has also, with the invaluable help of Nigel Brown, given him the opportunity to play M & G National League with Rob Fahey. The benefits are evident and since we are only half way through the season there could well be scope for further improvement. Let us hope so.

Richard Kimber

In their final fixture before Christmas Cambridge received Holyport represented by Nick Wood, ranked number three in the world and Andrew Lyons, professional at the Queen’s Club. The two had met the previous week in the second round of the British Open where Andrew had only succumbed 6-5 in the fifth set, thus presenting a strong challenge for David Woodman who had himself performed heroically at Queens, beating the number eight seed Andrew Fowler and taking five games off the World Champion in the quarter finals.

Andrew had only played once or twice on the Cambridge court and David took full advantage, getting off to a fast start and taking the first set 6-2. He lead 3-1 in the second before Andrew, becoming increasingly at ease on the court, levelled at 3-3. He is an unorthodox player being ambidextrous and able to play one handed or two handed as he wishes, and was beginning to adapt well to David’s game, particularly with his excellent volleyed returns of forces to the dedans. He took a longish seventh game (strangely, there were plenty of long rests but not too many long games throughout the evening) to lead 4-3, and although David quickly levelled at 4-4 Andrew ran through the next two for one set all. In the decider David looked tired, perhaps mentally as much as physically, and Andrew increasingly dominant, ran out the winner 6-0, only two games going to deuce.

Rob Fahey, having quickly recovered from his aberration in losing to Chris Bray at The Oratory, had won the British Open on Monday without dropping a set in the tournament and in the process beating Nick Wood in the semi final for the loss of three games in each of the three sets played. Much has been written of Rob’s supreme skill and athleticism, so that not much room is left for comment, except to say that when he is in this form it is a bit like watching Australia play cricket and wondering when someone will succeed in beating them. On this occasion with only two games going to deuce, Rob beat Nick 6-2, 6-2.

This left the match depending on the doubles, as at Oxford and The Oratory, but with the difference that David was replacing Roman Krznaric as Rob’s partner. He is relatively inexperienced at doubles and also lacks the lawn tennis background which is of great help in the volleying department. Nevertheless, he picked himself up magnificently from what must have been a slightly demoralising defeat in the singles and played his full part in the staccato exchanges which characterise real tennis doubles. Cambridge led 2-0 and were caught at 2-2. Holy port lad briefly at 4-3 before at 4-all Cambridge managed to win two games running for 6-4. At 6-5, and deuce, Cambridge on the first advantage point hit two consecutive shots to the fore hand corner of the hazard end succeeding with the second of them to lead 7-5. They won the next and final game to 15, finally pinning Andrew Lyons to the tambour to win the match. Once again Cambridge had managed to pull out something extra in the last two or three games of the doubles. Long may it continue – if necessary.

Three Cambridge players progressed to the finals of the British Open at the Queen’s Club.

Firstly Peter Paterson who had lost narrowly in a qualifying match at the Burroughs Club, was catapulted back into the main draw courtesy of a late withdrawal, (It is, perhaps, better not to mention the views of the Head Professional who thinks that the concept of a “lucky loose” could only have been invented by the Poms, and is, in fact, an oxymoron.) However, undeterred, Peter proceeded to the Queen’s Club to take on Alastair Lumsden whose home club it is, and who had recently been defeated there by David Woodman, playing for the University. Peter won a close first set 6-5 but then Alastair got going and took the next two by the same score, 6-2. It was looking ominous for Peter but to his great credit, he fought back strongly to take the fourth set, also 6-2, and lead 3-2 in the decider. Unfortunately Alastair then managed to find a little bit extra and ran out the winner by 6-3.

Next up was Roman Krznaric who had performed so heroically for Cambridge in the M & G National League the previous week. He was faced by the daunting prospect of the Oxford first string Spike Willcocks.

Spike won a slightly scrappy first set 6-3 but then Roman really found his rhythm. Spike is the sort of player where opponents must wonder where they can place the ball so that he cannot reach it, particularly on a court like Queens. Nevertheless, Roman, in an inspired spell, forced a succession of untypical errors from Spike and won the next two sets 6-1, 6-2.

He lead 2-1 in the fourth before Spike began to reduce the errors count and levelled at two sets all, taking it 6-2. In the fifth, as they say on the racecourse, there was no petrol left in the tank and Spike took it 6-1, but it was a superb effort by Roman against the number two amateur in the world.

David Woodman, the third Cambridge representative had actually began two days earlier in a first round match against Mark Hobbs (another with Cambridge connections) an against whom he had recently played a series of challenge matches at Cambridge.

David has a habit of giving his opponents a four of five game start but on this occasion it was the other way around and he lead 4- 0 and then 5-3 in the first set. Mark then fought back well to take it 6-5. David took the second 6-3 before suddenly finding himself 4-0 down in the third. Presumably, he had enough of the wild fluctuations and produced some excellent tennis, mixing his powerful forces with some accurate ground strokes which made Mark do a lot of running and retrieving. David took six consecutive games, and the set, and by then was looking much the stronger – Perhaps, squash has its uses after all. David won the fourth set easily 6-2 but Mark should not feel too disappointed in the light of David’s subsequent progress.

David’s next match against Andrew Fowler the number eight seed, whom he had defeated in a shock win the the French Open at Fontainebleau last September, followed Roman’s (with a brief delay for Rob Fahey to play his first match). Andrew, naturally, wanted revenge, played well to take the first set 6-4, but David, completely unphased, won the second 6-3, and a close third set 6-5.

Andrew then lead 5-3 in the fourth before David, playing a fine run of three games, closed out the match with great determination surprising most spectators who fully expected yet another five set match.

David explanation for not wanting a fifth set was that he had a bad foot – perhaps he should have one more often. His prize for this fine win was a match against Rob Fahey in the quarterfinals.

Rob one 6-1, 6-3, 6-1, but David was not overawed and, indeed, early on hit the dedans, the grille and the winning gallery in rapid succession. Rob paid him the compliment of his full respect, not entertaining the crowd to an exhibition, as he sometimes does, but playing a succession of ground strokes to a immaculate length to chase a yard or better which inevitably eventually produce errors. David felt that he could have done better which is natural, but the general opinion in the club-house afterwards was that he had done exceeding well to make such an impact in his first appearance.

One interesting sidelight is that manufactured, as opposed to hand made balls, are being used for the first time in a championship. One very senior professional’s opinion was that they were hard, tending to pop up in the corners and thus tending to produce long rests, but tending to soften somewhat if the match was a long one.

This was intended to be the final competitive appearance in front of his home crowd of Jonathan Howell whose career spans three decades, but unfortunately he had suffered an injury in the previous league match and was replaced by Mark Eadle who took on Roman Krznaric.

Roman served and won the first game immediately countered by Mark with a game to love. From 2 – 3 down Mark levelled at 3 – 3 with a shot to the grille and went ahead at 4 – 3. Roman came back to 4 – 4 in a deuce game with a shot of his own to the grille at advantage point and then won the next spectacularly with two consecutive main wall boasts taking him to 30 - love and then, changing ends at 40 - love, finding the grille again to lead 5 – 4. In the tenth game at 40 - 30 and facing a chase of half a yard Roman missed a main wall boast by inches and was brought back to 5 all. The deciding game went to deuce but Mark gained an advantage point and then found the grille to win the tightest of sets.

Apparently not in the least disappointed Roman went swiftly to a 4 – love lead in the second set, only for Mark to level at 4 - all. The next game was crucial. Roman saved two advantage points by finding the dedans and then laid two chases. He won the first for advantage and then, playing off chase better than second, saw Mark hit into the second gallery! The tenth game also went to deuce with each player holding an advantage point, but on his second advantage Roman managed to force Mark to hit out of court for 6 – 4 and one set all.

The deciding set began in curious fashion. At deuce the marker, for reasons known only to himself, called 15 – love. When this had been corrected it seemed to unsettle Mark more than Roman who again established a 4 – love lead. Mark appeared to tire slightly and attempted to shorten the rests by powerful forcing. He got back to 2 – 4 but in the seventh, another deuce game, Roman won on his first advantage point with a lob from the hazard end. In the final game at 40 – 15 down Mark netted a service return to end nearly two hours of most exciting tennis.

To put the second match between Rob Fahey and Chris Bray into perspective Rob was playing on the court where he has won the last three Pro Singles Tournaments beating all comers including Chris. In addition, less than two months ago Rob beat Chris in the final of the French Open for the loss of only two games in a best of five sets match, so when the former opened an early lead of two love it looked a little like the mixture as before. However, Rob had not found the range with his forces and was also making far more errors than usual. The wood of his racket saw more use, probably, than for a very long time. Chris played his usual immaculate and composed tennis and on this occasion Rob was unable to disturb his rhythm. From 0 – 2 Chris won five consecutive games and although Rob won the eighth with a final rare shot to the grille Chris was not to be denied and took the set 6 – 3. The second set was level at 3 - 3 with Rob beginning to find the target with several main wall boasts, but Chris won the seventh game to 15 and the next by the same score, finishing with a fine shot against a chase of two yards which forced an error out of Rob on the floor. Rob immediately countered with a quick game also to 15 but Chris was always ahead in the next winning it to 30 for a 6 - 2, 6 – 4 victory.

Even Roger Federer can have an off day, or maybe Rob was trying to create a bit of interest in the British Open next week. Nevertheless, Chris Bray deserves many congratulations – it is not every day that one beats the world champion. There should be a full house at Cambridge to see Rob take on Nick Wood on the 25th November.

Roman Krznaric, watching from the gallery at the start of the second singles, looked very relaxed, presumably looking forward to a fun doubles in a tie already decided. Suddenly, he was forced into an abrupt readjustment, finding himself in the same situation as at Oxford two days previously. To his credit he played his part resolutely especially since his partner was not in the form of the first occasion.

Cambridge led 2 - love but were brought back to 2 – all. They led 4 – 2 and were again brought back to level. Oratory then went ahead for the first time at 5 – 4, spurred on by their enthusiastic supporters, but it was at that moment that the world champion redeemed himself. At 30 – all in the next game he hit two consecutive returns of service into the dedans to level at 5 – all.

The final 3 games passed quickly and smoothly in Cambridge’s favour, highlighted only by one spectacular backhand volley force to the dedans from Rob. There was almost a sense of anticlimax which must have been very disappointing for the Oratory fans, and produced much sense of relief among the small Cambridge contingent.

Richard Kimber

The first two strings Spike Wilcocks and Rob Fahey began the match, the latter making only his second appearance on the small and idiosyncratic Oxford court.

Rob won the first two games but Spike fought back with a delightful mixture of forces and floor shots, particularly cross-court. He prevented Rob from finding the openings and at the end of the match the tally was 3 to 2 in straight shots to the dedands and 4 to 2 in main wall boasts both in Spikes favour. Rob hit two grilles to 1, but he knows better than anyone that there is more than way to skin a cat and began to work his opponent around the court with his armoury of ground strokes. From 3 – 4 down Spike recovered to 5 – 4 but the long tenth game of 13 rests turned the match with Rob, having double faulted on the fourth, finishing the game with a neat shot to the base of the tambour. He won the next game to love in five rests and the opening game of the second set in four. The final score was 6 – 1 to Rob, but it should be mentioned that from 2 – 1 up it took him a total of 45 rests to win the next four – a tribute to Spike’s determination.

The second string match between Nicolas Victoir and Roman Krznaric of Cambridge began sensationally, Nicolas won the first game fairly easily but Roman levelled at 1 - 1 on his third advantage point in a game of 30 rests, Nicolas having held five advantage points of his own.

Play was very level up to 3 - 3 but in a long seventh game Roman unfortunately served a double fault when holding an advantage point. Nocolas took his chance and the game to lead 4 – 3. He then proceeded to play a succession of cleanly hit strokes, particularly on the volley, which allowed him to dictate play and put Roman on the defensive. Nicolas won the next seven games before Roman clawed one back, and ran out the winner 6 – 3, 6 – 1, and squaring the match at one all.

The doubles was, therefore, all important, pitting Roman and Rob, playing together for the first time, against Spike and Nicolas who know each other’s game and the court like the back of their hands. It is, perhaps, fair to add that Rob is the World Champion at Doubles as well as Singles which evens things up a bit. The vociferous Oxford and two lone Cambridge supporters were treated to a display of spectacular tennis. In several rests the ball was not allowed by the player to touch the floor at all for what seemed like lengthy periods – a little reminiscent to beach volley-ball, though with certain subtle but fundamental differences.

Rob began serving to Spike with Roman at the front facing the tall intimidating figure of Nicolas. Cambridge won the first well contested game but Oxford quickly levelled at 1 – 1. Roman then really came into him own, holding his next two service games which, added to Rob’s continuing run, put Cambridge 5 – 1 ahead.

Roman scarcely put a foot wrong, combining with Rob like old partners, and putting their opponents, particularly Nicolas, under great pressure. The latter began to make a few errors, and then the form of the two players almost looked like a reversal of their form in the singles match.

Of course, you can never write Oxford off and they fought back to 4 – 5, spurred on by their supporters, and then to 5 – 6 and 6 – 7. Cambridge then, with Roman serving, forced several defensive errors and won four straight points for the game and the match.

Richard Kimber

The Ladies/Belles match against Newmarket on November 7th began well and finished better. The Cambridge team were totally unfazed by playing away. They rolled off a succession of convincing wins, all in 2 sets, although Helen Prandy of Newmarket was unlucky not to take Linda Fairbrother to a third, losing the second set 5-6. Perhaps Newmarket were confused by the presence of Peter Kullar, every inch an honorary Lady in his natty alice band.

Overall Cambridge found the tambour better than their opponents, and stayed cool in some very extended rests, even though the Newmarket team definitely had the advantage of experience.

Gill Houston and Helen-Frances Pilkington were specially to be commended in their first inter-club match for steadiness under fire. And the captain Charlotte Pawlyn found the power to out-shoot her male opponent.

So five-nil to Cambridge Ladies (and Peter).

The National League Premier Division match against Hatfield was overshadowed by an horrific accident to Jonathan Dawes during his match against David Woodman.

Jonathan had led 5-3 in the first set before David fought back to take it narrowly 6-5 largely from the hazard end where he varied his natural forcing game with some well directed floor shots (possibly under the tutelage of Rob Fahey ?).

David then led 2-0 in the next set with the second game of 14 rests and 4 changes of end. However, Jonathan then recovered to take the next three games fairly quickly before, serving a left handed railroad he suffered a triple fracture of the upper left arm, thus ending an intriguing match in a very sad fashion.

In the top match Rob Fahey beat Andrew Fowler 6-1, 6-4. Andrew played a good match against such formidable opposition, and Rob kept the large crowd entertained by including his trademark shot off the tambour while at the hazard end.

The doubles was, naturally, abandoned.

Penalty shoot-out at CURTC

The purists sat with clenched gluteals as Woodman forced time and time again from the hazard end, depriving them of rallies. It was clear that the outcome of the match was going to be determined by Woodman's success rate in this single area.

Krznaric, the goal keeper, watched the ball sailing over the bar for the first 6 games of contest - dispatching kill shots under the grille.

At 5 -1 to Krznaric, Woodman's early nerves settled and the game became an even contest. Krznaric's serves became a bit deep - finding the back wall too often and Woodman got into a groove with his forcing - unleashing a series of undefendable rockets. Arguably the best game of the match was at 5-2 - both players having game points. After saving 2 set points Woodman eventually took the game and then followed this by rattling off 2 more in quick succession. Woodman started with the serve in the final game of the first set, and led 40 -15, but Krznaric set a chase of better than 2. The 40-strong crowd expected a Woodman force but this would be an understatement. The ball was struck with accuracy and with such venom that it broke Krznaric's Xtratec racket!

Woodman kept his nose ahead throughout the second set. It continued to be a close contest but the crowd didn't fancy Krznaric's chances of equalising. The final score was 6-5, 6-4.

The newcomers in the crowd got 15 minutes play with the Marker, Mr. Paterson, who did a superb job. Well done to all mentioned previously and to Charlotte Pawlyn, Simon Fox, Leonie Wykes, Richard Kimber, Joss and Ellie Poulton for their contribution to a fun evening.

A video (2.5Mb, average quality) is available of the final game. A shorter video (270Kb, average quality or 3.1Mb, higher quality) is available showing Roman playing David's return of serve straight onto the Winning Grille.

Club Night

Club Night is on every Thursday evening and it is a very good way to improve your tennis and to meet other club members for a bargain price. On the last Thursday of the month Peter Singleton arranges some food and drink to make it even more sociable. Players of all abilities are present. Backgammon is sometimes played.