December 19, 2025
- Riya Bharwad wins the LRTA Under 21 singles at Radley
- Godsill and Glasscock (almost!) win the Doubles Double
- CAMBRIDGE WIN AWAY AT MIDDLESEX!
- National League on Friday (17th)
- East Anglia Cup, 28/6/25 at Newmarket
- East Anglia Cup+ 2025 @Newmarket
- FLM IRPTA National League, Division 9: Final
- Leamington Visit Redux
Cambridge 2nds beat Oxford
The Cambridge men’s and women’s 2nd teams performed at a very high level to beat Oxford at Oxford yesterday.
The men were just too strong, especially with James Watson (18) playing at first string. The strength in depth was obvious as the team of Watson, Ali Hakimi, Nick Wright (c) and Kunal Dusad took all the matches, winning 6-0, with only the minor hic-cough of the loss of a set.
In a nail-biting match, the women also won, largely due to the excellent play and leadership of captain Julia Clarke, who did not concede a set over the two day contest.
At 3 matches all a deciding doubles was required to determine the winner. All four ladies played a vital part to achieve the victory – Pippa Tregear in the 3rd string singles, Jess Nicholls in the 1st string doubles but it was Julia’s contribution, with the excellent volleying of Clemmie Briance, in the deciding doubles, 6-2, 6-4, that separated the two teams.
Congratulations to all who played and many thanks to the spectators, who were mostly Team Cambridge. Oxford were gracious in defeat and were excellent hosts.
The 1st team matches are in two weeks, at Lords. Cambridge aim to achieve a repeat of last year’s clean sweep.
2007 Christmas Tournament
Unfortunately the Blue Court was underwater on the day, and so the byzantine and elaborate formula of play that had been used hitherto for the tournament was replaced by a straightforward doubles tournament; the organizer had proposed a mixture of tennis on the Green Court and synchronized swimming on the Blue, but it was felt that some would drown.
The first round robin produced a win for each of the three pairs, and Fiona Brown and Michael Womack sneaked in. In the second round robin, Alasdair Poore and David Pimblett (last year’s winner) swept all before them.
The final was a truly epic affair with never more than one game different, until the end. Alasdair and David looked in good form at the beginning with the betting on David reclaiming the trophy, but they made too many errors, giving Fiona and Michael strokes on a plate with watercress as decoration.
Scores
Round robins
Gillian Moore & David Herbert xx 8 4: 12
Fiona Brown & Michael Womack 6 xx 8: 14 Winners
Malcolm Howlett & James Miller 8 2 xx: 10
Andrew Petrie & John Trapp xx 2 8: 10
Alasdair Poore & David Pimblett 8 xx 8: 16 Winners
John Hodge & Martyn Downer 4 5 xx: 9
Final
Fiona Brown & Michael Womack beat Alasdair Poore & David Pimblett, 8–6
Field Trophy away at Queens – 9th December
Cambridge unfortunately lost their first match in this year’s Field Trophy, being knocked out of the competition by Queens in a match reminiscent of their semi-final defeat in the same competition two seasons ago. Cambridge was represented by Duncan Colquhoun, Burak Salgin, Robert Hird, Nick Brown, Hugh Tomlinson, Charles Harcourt and David Mills.
The day started hopefully with Robert pulling off a convincing win over the experienced John Prenn. Robert, playing with such determination and with outstanding retrieving, pressurised John into making many errors, and it was Robert who ended up looking the more experienced! We have another excellent prospect at the University.
Duncan and Charles were evenly matched against a new Queens pairing but failed to make their mark at crucial times towards the end of each set. It seems the time has come for an injection of fresh talent after another disappointing performance from these stalwarts.
In possibly his last match for this side, Burak began in outstanding form and demolished Harry Eddis in the first set. Burak has been very busy with work and his possible lack of practice saw the match turn completely in the second set, Harry well on top. So to the final set, and Burak regained his focus and confidence to storm to a 4-0 lead and surely had done it. No such luck: Harry stopped making errors and Burak could not finish off his determined opponent, not managing to win another game. Thanks from us all to Burak for his enthusiasm, availability whenever required, and for all those nail-biting times watching him play. We’ll miss you.
So we now had to win the final two matches, and first it fell to Nick to try and upset the much lower handicapped Tom Seymour-Mead. The first set saw Nick fight back from 5-3 down to take it 6-5. He had taken a lot out of himself, and it was Tom who now took control. Despite good efforts to fight his way back in, Nick was unable to disturb Tom’s composure and both Nick’s result and that of the team were decided. Nick has landed himself with very demanding fatherly commitments and has not played that much recently, but he is another prospect who will surely improve with more experience.
Our final pairing of Hugh and David proved too strong for the Queens pair. How we had hoped the result would be decided by the final match as this is such a good doubles partnership.
Results
| players | result | score |
| 2nd singles | Robert Hird beat John Prenn | 6-2 6-4 |
| 2nd doubles | Duncan Colquhoun and Charles Harcourt lost to Ben Bomford and Andrew Reid-Thomas |
4-6 3-6 |
| 1st singles | Burak Salgin lost to Harry Eddis | 6-1 1-6 4-6 |
| 3rd singles | Nick Brown lost to Tom Seymour-Mead | 6-5 3-6 1-6 |
| 1st doubles | Hugh Tomlinson and David Mills beat Dom Wilson and Dominic Wright |
6-4 6-2 |
Premier League match and Club Christmas Dinner
The National League match against Burroughs was an eagerly anticipated game, with Rob Fahey, fresh from victories at the British Open and the IRTPA championships, was matched against Nick Wood, who just missed being one of the World Championship contenders for 2008. Jamie Douglas was up against Rod McNaughtan, who played for Cambridge 2 last year.
Unfortunately the conditions played the greatest part in the match. Jamie started well against Rod, taking the first set, but the Blue Court started to sweat and the match transferred to the Green Court. Rod obviously preferred the conditions there and took the match 2-1. However the players were not happy with the state of this court either, and so it was decided to attempt the doubles rubber, rather than the number 1 singles, back on the Blue Court. It started well, but the players moved more and more gingerly until the match was called off due to the dangerous conditions.
The spectators were obviously disappointed but managed to lift their spirits by going for a splendid meal and fortifying drinks at the Rice Boat in Newnham, where a good time was had by all. The Spirit of Christmas was invoked by a beautiful reading from Dylan Thomas’s A Child’s Christmas in Wales, by Nigel Brown, who was in fine voice….
Jeremy Davidson triumphs in the first of the Season’s Category Tournaments
This season the Category Tournaments (for players within set ranges of ability) are being held in order of descending handicap. The 60+ competition kicked off proceedings on Saturday 1st December with a series of close-fought matches played out amongst 7 members each of whom clearly fancied lifting the trophy and getting his or her name on the Honour Board. Jeremy Davidson won through from the Blue Group to contest a final against Mike Whibley, winner of the Green Group. This was only after a close run where in a round robin game against Gillian Moore, Mike had lost 6-5 against the handicap. Gillian used any opportunity to place a return of serve into the backhand corner, and made Mike work very hard not to go down 6-3, which would have put his route to the final under threat. When Gillian triumphed, the crowd (all 2 of them) went wild whilst Mike went to have a lie down.
And so to the final. In his own inimitable style Mike ruled himself out of the reckoning, citing exhaustion, malfunctioning surgical supports and beer deprivation. Jeremy soon found his range and was peppering the tambour to take an early 3-0 lead. But Mike gritted his teeth, girded his loins and climbed back into the final, taking his opponent to deuce on several occasions and entertaining the crowd with two consecutive shots which floated majestically into the dedans. In the end though Jeremy showed a standard of gentle controlled play that will no doubt worry many in the 50’s handicap range, and had just a bit too much for Mike. He came out a worthy winner, six games to two.
Congratulations or commiserations to all who took part.
Forthcoming Category Tournaments – watch the notice board for sign-up sheets.
50-59 Sunday 20th January
40-49 Saturday 15th February
30-39 Sunday 16th February
20-29 Saturday 16th March
Gerald Smith
Giraffe Club Introduction (updated, 2016)
The Giraffe Club was set up to keep ex-university players and supporters in touch with the club, informed as to what is happening in the club and to keep them involved in real tennis. Our aim was for Giraffe Club members to receive an annual newsletter giving information on the past season at the club and news of upcoming events. Giraffe Club members are invited to the Cambridge Weekend, which will be held on the 17th and 18th of May 2008. In 2007 the club welcomed members back to Cambridge for a weekend of enjoyable tennis and social events. As one of the premier events on the Real Tennis calendar, the Varsity Match attracted many Old Blues and has benefited enormously from the continued and passionate support of ex-players and Alumni. Giraffe Club members are also invited to attend the tremendous on-court post match meal.
The 2005/06 season has been the most successful in the history of student tennis at Cambridge. The men’s team defeated Oxford 6-0 and the women’s team made their mark with an unexpected 4-2 victory, the first Cambridge success since the contest was begun. There have also been many outstanding individual performances including David Woodman becoming the Amateur champion.
The Giraffe Fund has been able to make a significant contribution to these successes. For example, it provided bursaries to cover the cost of rackets and membership for newcomers to the women’s team. All the Giraffe funds are dedicated to the continuing development of student tennis and have been invaluable to the success of both new and current players – this year’s Varsity match saw us field the men’s team with handicaps of +5, 7, 7 and 10. The newsletter reports further on what we have been able to achieve with your help and your continuing generosity is greatly appreciated.
Membership of the Giraffe Club is £** and this fee goes into the Giraffe Fund. Life Membership is available for £***. If you feel able to make an annual donation, please use a banker’s order as below. Your generosity will be very much appreciated. I hope to hear from you soon.
Yours sincerely,
Charlotte Barker & Burak Salgin
Women’s & Men’s Captains, 2006/7
** The suggested minimum donation for membership is £40
*** Please contact the CURTC Pros for further information
FOR MEMBERSHIP OF THE GIRAFFE CLUB
BANKER’S STANDING ORDER – ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION
Please set up a Banker’s Standing order to pay to Barclays Bank, Sidney Street Branch, Cambridge the sum of £40 (suggested minimum) immediately and thereafter, annually, on the 1st of October until further notice, the sum of £40 (suggested minimum). Please contact the CURTC Pros (pros@curtc.net) for the bank account details and confirm when the Banker’s order has been set up.
Cambridge make a great start to their Premier League Title Defence
The third National League Premier Division match of the season took place at Grange Road on Thursday 8 November. Once again Cambridge 1 is represented by
6 pm – Jamie Douglas versus Rod McNaughtan
7:15 – Rob Fahey versus Drew Lyons
8:30 – Doubles
9:30 – CURTC Christmas Dinner at the Rice Boat
Jacob Abrahams, the owner of the Rice Boat in Newnham – serving excellent food from Kerala – has booked out his restaurant for us and has selected a special set meal.
The special Christmas price to cover the whole evening: £35, which includes Dedans or Sponsors room tickets and drinks, Dinner and drinks. Please book your tickets for the match, the dinner, or both with Kees.
CURTC is grateful for the support of our Sponsors…
 |
…and Supporter!
 |
Giraffe Club: CURTC Alumni
You Told Us….