Category D Open Championship (Level Singles for Handicaps 30-39) 2014
Sep 26, 2014 - Sep 28, 2014 Hatfield J Dawes
Category D Singles Report
Hatfield once again had the honour of hosting the Category D Singles event for players between 30-39 and as in previous years the event was split into 2 divisions 30-34 and 35-39.
In the 30-34 section we had a new winner of the event and someone who is very likely to go on to bigger and better things in Real Tennis. James Green who has recently become a Professional at Seacourt managed to see off 2 Hatfield players on his way to the title, first seeing off Silas Manhood in a very tight and at times brutal semi-final 5/6 6/4 6/2. James started at Seacourt as a Lawn Tennis coach and has a phenomenal volley which Silas decided to attack at every opportunity, leading to some long rallies where the floor didn’t get much of a look in. In the end youth and fitness won the day as Silas visibly tired in the middle of the 2nd set and James progressed. In the final James would face another Hatfield player John Savage who had himself come through a tight tactical battle with Matthew Webb from RTC 6/3 6/4 and the final was to prove another very close match. John was trying to keep the ball on the floor but James was getting more used to the court and took the 1st set reasonably comfortably only for John to battle back really well in the 2nd set to take it to a decider. In the final set there were many long deuce games and the match was always in the balance until the end but finally James ran out a worthy winner 6/2 5/6 6/3.
In the 35-39 section play started on the Friday where Sav Cremona, over from Australia, failed to get value for his flight losing 6/0 6/0 to James Hay of Hatfield and on the way managed to take a memento of his visit in the form of a bloody and potentially broken nose after an attempted boast off the back wall went slightly wrong and ricocheted back into his face.
Happily that was the only bloodshed in the tournament as last year’s winner Martin Richards of Hatfield managed to defend his title with tight 3 set victories over 2 other Hatfield members firstly David Hudson 3/6 6/5 6/4 in the semi-final and then Johnny Borrell 4/6 6/1 6/3 in the final. The final in particular saw 2 very different styles of play with Johnny playing a very classic style of play cutting the balls into the corners and Martin taking a slightly more brutal approach, forcing well for the targets along with some extremely powerful boasts. It was a really entertaining match for the crowd and both players deserve full credit for a really competitive match.