* Henry Leaf 2022

The 100th Henry Leaf Competition took place this year on Sunday 16th October at The Queen's Club. Despite a rather low entry level yet again, there was still some wonderful tennis on display and some very close fought battles.

The first semi-final was terrific, with Freddie Dixon and Chris Kroeger of Warwick really taking the game to Jamie and Rory Giddins of Eton. Despite some big winners from the Warwick duo, ultimately the Giddins brothers proved too strong and progressed with a 6-1, 6-3 win.

The other semi saw the big hitting partnership of Johnny Whitaker and Henry Mulan of Clifton College take on Adam Dolman and Tom Drayson of Charterhouse. After a closely contested first set, Whitaker and Mulan turned the screw in the second to take a solid 6-5, 6-0 win.

The final was some of the best amateur doubles I'd seen in a long time. It was the Giddins who started off well in the first set but Clifton weren't far off them and after losing the first set 6-4, deservedly took the second set 6-5. And they raced into a 4-1 lead in the third set. The defending champions looked to be in trouble as Whitaker and Mulan hit dedans after dedans but some clever tactics to negate the force slowly saw Eton creep back into it. At 4-4, Eton were in the ascendency and went on to win the crown for the 3rd year running 6-4, 5-6, 6-4.

It was a great shame that no pairs from Wellington, Radley, Canford or the Oratory managed to enter yet again and I hope we we can change that next year, but it was great to see two relative newcomers in the semi final and final this year (in Warwick and Clifton College) and congratulations again to Jamie and Rory for retaining the title.

*Write-up provided by Adam Dolman