Johnny Marray won the British Wimbledon Qualifying Wildcard Event, which puts him through to the main Qualifying Event against Kevin Kim (USA). Draw details here.
Anna Fitzpatrick starts her qualifying campaign against Youlia Anne Fedossova (France) tomorrow.
The club newsletter, Summer '08 edition, is now available in PDF form. Click here to download it.
The annual upgrade of the squash courts is now complete. Hopefully everyone can enjoy their squash and racketball on probably the best courts in Yorkshire.
Anna added her third title this year in Mexico last month. See her pictured with Jason Torpey (Hallamshire Head Tennis Coach) at www.mtacademy.com.
A brilliant weekend as two Hallamshire Members won the Men's & Ladies titles at the LTA Tour event at Tipton. For Johnny Marray, it was a case of "back in the swing" after 12 month bedevilled by injury problems, but for Jessica Ren it was breaking new ground as she picked up her first tour title. At the tender age of 13, Jessica has long been earmarked for stardom - this is another step along the way.
Full details on the LTA web site.
Two Hallamshire tennis players have been selected to play for England in their respective age groups in the annual four-nations competition over three days in May, at Wrexham. Three-man teams will play opposition from Wales, Scotland and Ireland, Wilf Jessop being in the Over 60s side, John Andrews in the Over 65s. Veterans' tennis is well supported throughout the UK with age groups up to Over 80s.
It was team Rosario with the youth of James and the experience of Derek (mind you if you saw how many double faults he did you might have to question this), that won the first Hallamshire Academy of Tennis event of 2008.
Derek and James were in excellent form as they went through the whole event without losing a match which finished with them winning an excellent and very tight final 13-12 against John and Edmund Burke, up till the final team Burke had also made it through without losing a match, one of the main reasons for this was thanks to John's double handed slam dunk volley's which had never been seen on a tennis court EVER before.
In the 3rd and 4th place play off Steve and Declan Quince finally defeated Pete and Andrew Ellwood 15-14, with a superb return of serve by Steve turning out to be the match winner.
The draw brought up two very interesting groups, with Group A being contested by John and Edmund Burke, Lynne and Kirsten Reilly, Pete and Andrew Ellwood and John and James Ledger in their first ever professional event. In group B was Derek and James Rosario, Caroline and Rob da Costa, Judith and Mark Eastall and Steve and Declan Quince, Declan was looking extremely confident especially as his football team had won 8-1 in the morning.
Both of the two groups were extremely well contested with everyone trying their hardest to make it through to the semi finals.
In group A John and Edmund were able to win all 3 matches to qualify in first place, this left 1 place left to the semi final and after all the matches it was team Ellwood that just made it through, it must be said that they were lucky to have been there at all after not one but both of their cars had broken down on the way to bringing Andrew back from scout camp in the afternoon (really what are the odds). Pete and Andrew and Lynne and Kirsten both lost to the Burke's and defeated the Ledgers who it must be said put in a great effort having never played doubles before and John was able to take the award for shot of the day from his backhand drive volley which seemed inspired especially after him and James appeared to have had a slight argument after the point before (remember Dad is always right). This meant that the final match in the group was the all-important one and Pete and Andrew just scrapped through winning 16-15. Both Lynne and Kirsten looked disappointed to have gone out but on the positive side Lynne looked delighted to have discovered table tennis.
Group B was also very tightly contested and after it was all finished it was Derek and James who were undefeated and Steve and Declan Quince who qualified. In the first round of matches Derek and James beat Caroline and Rob, the other match was drawn between Judith and Mark and team Quince, this was to prove very important in the final standings. In the second round Caroline and Rob defeated Judith and Mark by only two points and team Rosario marched on with a big victory against the Quinces, so this meant that going into the final round it was still all to play for. Firstly Steve and Declan just beat the da Costa's 16-15 to keep them in the contest, this meant that the Eastall's knew that a victory would put them through due to their better points difference, but the Rosario's were in the zone and it ended up being heartbreak for Judith and Mark as they lost 15-14, one point the other way and they would have been through.
In semi final 1 it was to be John and Edmund against Steve and Declan, in the other match it was Derek and James against Pete and Andrew, who was starting to look very tired after his scout camp, I'm guessing he had very few hours sleep the night before. It was the two group winners who were to make it through to the final and remain undefeated. It must be stated the tournament referee was ready to give Derek a drinks test before the semi final after rumors circulated that he had had a pint of bitter, but, Mr Rosario was able to prove himself (buy the referee a drink) and he was allowed to continue.
This meant that the final on show court three in front of a capacity crowd of 5 was between Team Rosario and Team Burke, on court 4 Team Ellwood and Team Quince battled it out for 3rd place. As it turned out it was the Rosario's that were crowned overall champions and received their Hallam Sports vouchers and the Quince's who took 3rd place.
It was a great event with everyone getting involved in the tennis and table tennis. It must be said though that the younger members of the teams handled the pressure much better than their team- mates, who seemed to struggle with the heat of the battle and this resulted in a very high number of double faults from the Parents!
Keep your eyes peeled around the club for news of more up coming events.
Hallamshire's Nick Matthew Nick Matthew made it to the final of the English Open Squash Championship but lost to number one seed, James Willstrop 9-11 11-9 11-6 11-6. For more details check out www.squashsite.org.uk.
Anna Fitzpatrick has been named as the Lawn Tennis Association's Female Junior Player of the Year in recognition of her outstanding results in 2007.
The 18-year-old Hallamshire player, who captured the public's imagination by reaching the semifinals of the Junior Wimbledon Championships in June, received more than 50% of the online votes on the LTA web site - a clear margin of more than 30 percent over fellow nominees Laura Robson and Jennifer Ren (both Hallamshire players).
"It's really nice to win an award like this, especially as the public were able to vote for it on the LTA web site," said Fitzpatrick. "It's been a decent year for me, and reaching the Wimbledon junior semifinals was a good result and a great experience."
Fitzpatrick, a member of the Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy, made her only junior appearance of the season at the All England Club in June and impressed the nation with her victories over Melanie Oudin, Ksenia Milevskaya, Ksenia Lykina and Gail Brodsky en route to the semifinals, where she lost in two close sets to Urszula Radwanska.
The current British No.8 has spent the majority of the year breaking through on the ITF senior circuit, reaching the final of the $10,000 tournament in Sunderland as well as semifinals in Nottingham and Calgary on her way to a career-high No.365 on the Sony Ericsson WTA rankings. Last week, Fitzpatrick qualified for the $25,000 Zubr Cup in the Czech Republic and reached the second round. She also captured the doubles title with Ana Veselinovic in Calgary in July.
"I am still some way from where I want to be, but I'm lucky to have the backing and guidance of everyone at the Monte Carlo Tennis Academy and I'm going to keep working hard to try to make the transition from junior to senior success," added Fitzpatrick.
David Sammel, the Director of Coaching at the Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy, said: "Anna has just qualified and won a round in a Challenger. I know that she is making tremendous strides towards winning a Challenger and an award such as this all helps the confidence and the desire to justify people's faith in her by working extra hard on taking the next step. Our aim is for Anna to be in a position to be nominated for the senior award in 2008."
Her exploits have garnered much attention by the media, with BBC online giving her a regular column throughout the year while London Sport Magazine featured her as the cover story in its pre-Wimbledon issue.
Anna will receive the LTA award at a presentation ceremony at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton on 18th December.
Dates for your diary...
Saturday 28th June 2008
Can you make all the right moves? Would you like to be Mister Hot on the dance floor or Little Miss Snake Hips?
Sign up Now!!! Tickets from Reception - only £6 including Food.
The famous Hallamshire Squash & Racketball Summer League starts on Monday 16th June.
With 36 teams of eight players (288 players plus 25 reserves) it is probably the biggest club Summer League in the country. John Mullins, Alex Cutts and their team of helpers have done the maths, the handicaps are set and now is the time for some serious (& probably not so serious) action.
It's great to see so many new players this year along with the old hands. Good luck to all players, old and new.
...takes place from 9-14 June 2008. This is good standard tennis and spectators are welcome. The Men's & Ladies finals take place at 10:30 on Saturday 14th June.
Get ready for your summer holidays now by enrolling in our special BEACH BLITZ promotion. Get the full benefit of a specially targeted workout to make you look good in the sun. Also, you can add an optional treatment with Poseurs Salon to give yourself that final touch.
Contact gym staff for full details or ring 0114 266 2153.
Go on - you know you're worth it!!!
The inaugural Tennis Team Challenge started on Wednesday 9th January. If you want to be part of this exciting fun team event, sign up on the board in Reception or see one of the Tennis Coaches as soon as possible. Places are limited so sign up now to avoid disappointment.
Hallamshire members can join British Tennis FREE!
Of the Yorkshire Large Clubs (over 400 members), we are third out of nine on total conversions and joint second out of nine on percentage conversions. Clearly, we are one of four large clubs that are achieving similar conversions while the rest are way behind.
| Club | Members | Joined BT | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ilkley Lawn Tennis Club | 953 | 184 | 19% |
| Thongsbridge Tennis Club | 732 | 163 | 22 |
| Hallamshire Tennis Club | 651 | 138 | 21 |
| Queens Sports Club | 526 | 114 | 21 |
| Chapel Allerton Tennis Club | 736 | 50 | 6 |
| The Academy Harrogate | 528 | 38 | 7 |
| Next Generation York | 475 | 23 | 4 |
| David Lloyd Club Hull | 518 | 18 | 3 |
| David Lloyd Club Leeds | 604 | 14 | 2 |
The figures covering all clubs are a bit distorted because they include clubs with as few as 10 members but our figures still hold up well. We are the fifth highest of 153 clubs on total conversions and 24th of 153 on percentage of members.
Click the link above and join on line today for FREE!