tennis Fixture

Club Handicap Singles Winners (Chetwood Trophy) 2013

Entry form

Draw and results here

Once again the RTC welcomed the country’s club handicap champions for the Chetwood Trophy, and again a talented young prodigy claimed the spoils

With the competitors being made up of the finalists from each club’s handicap singles competitions, the Chetwood Trophy brings together players of all ages, abilities, shapes and sizes and has a format that makes it hard to predict any of the results. Last year saw a hugely entertaining finale, with 15-year-old Henry Mullan of Bristol beating a 12-year-old in the final. Master Mullan has continued his improvement, bringing his handicap down from 28 to 17, but an injury sadly meant he was unable to defend his title.
The host club was represented by Peter Mather. In other circumstances he might have been expected to thrive on his home court, but the draw left him giving up gigantic handicap starts and it was too much for Peter. After more than two days of round-robin play, the final four had a distinctly Anglo-Russian Hendon feel to it, with student Irina Dulbish and fellow Middlesex member Zuzana Botkova launching a joint assault. Irina, the captain of her university’s lawn tennis team, is still learning the nuances of the royal game but displayed a talent way beyond the 49 handicap she was playing off here, especially if anyone was foolish enough to feed her volleys. In her semi-final she was too good for Pete Rose (52) of Prested Hall, who battled away and took his 6-4 defeat very graciously. Zuzana (70) was then up against John Balfour-Lynn (60) of Hatfield House. This match was nip and tuck, but John’s relentless side-wall serve won him a lot of easy points on the way to a 6-4 win, ending the hopes of a Middlesex final. In the early stages of the final Irina held the service end and dominated, making light work of the handicap allowance she was giving up. At 4-1 (in a match to 8) she was cruising.
After two 40-all games were shared, however, Irina lost her focus and John smelled blood. He spent more time up at the service end and was rewarded with a 6-6 scoreline. Honours even – but Irina was going through a crisis of confidence.
She played a strong game to go 7-6 up, and the next game went all the way to 40 all – championship point. Attacking a hazard chase, Irina netted.
Remarkably, a tense final game also went to 40 all! After a few cautious strokes from both, John, at the service end, hit a ball to Irina’s backhand side. Stretching to get it back, Irina looped it up, and the spectators in the dedans saw it dropping towards them with a
sense of inevitability. John saw it too, but too late. The ball nestled into the dedans netting and Irina was an elated and very relieved champion.
It was a fitting climax to the weekend, and great credit should go to Nick Wood and his professional team, who dealt with all manner of logistical challenges before and during the weekend and marked with authority and patience.