* Over 80s Singles and Doubles 2024

Day one (Wednesday) is singles qualifying for the finals and plate. First round winners progress into the knockout stage, with the first round losers going into the plate competition. Our first match on court saw Vaughan Williams kick off his campaign in fine form with serving accuracy and venom, pinning Harry Saint at the receivers end, and taking the victory by an impressive 8 games to 1. Next up, Richard McGregor faced off against David Brazier, the former starting slowly before improving his rhythm and retrieval. However, David’s quality on serve and return was the difference maker and secured his victory. Willie Wilks started strongly with an 8/2 victory over Bernard Anscomb, who threatened early with some big hitting but Willie was able to weather the storm and take the win.

Our knockout matches saw Williams face number one seed John Ward, seeded through to the semi finals. Ward was relentless with high serves and boomerangs, dominating the service end and booking his place in the final by 8 games to love. After a tentative start in his first match, Wilks was warmed up and improving his form. Despite some excellent hitting form David, Willie stormed ahead and booked his spot in the final (Friday) with a combination of short chases and a tenacious defence. In the plate competition, Saint, McGregor and Anscomb battled in a round robin handicap group with all players keen to finish the day positively. Harry Saint was our plate victor, showcasing impressive serves and quality hitting to take the win.

Day two is doubles, with the singles finals players Ward and Wilks teaming up to make a formidable pairing as the number one seeds. They were too string for Vaughan Williams and Richard McGregor who, despite playing well, couldn’t create the upset. For a time, the match seemed one sided as Ward and Wilks went 7/1 up, but Williams & McGregor fought hard and justifiably earned a selection of games before going down 5/8. The second match saw Harry Saint team up with Bernard Anscomb, facing off against David Brazier and Richard Dalzell, in what transpired to be a tightly fought and excellent match. There was nothing between the two pairs, alternating games with all players in fine form. Both pairs played well enough to win, but it was Saint and Anscomb who won the key points at the right times, upsetting the second seeds with an 8/6 victory. The plate final would be contested by Williams/McGregor and Brazier/Dalzell where, in an overall very even match, Williams and McGregor would take the victory 8/6.

Both the singles and doubles finals on Friday featured exemplary performances. In the singles, Ward and Wilks faced off, with Ward in flawless form. Losing count of the number of unreturnable giraffe serves, paired with excellent cut shots to create chases, showcased perfect serve and return play. This limited Wilks ability to use his movement in the rallies, and kept the tie firmly in his favour. John Ward romped home to victory dropping a game, winning 8/0. This pattern would be repeated in the doubles and Ward and Wilks then found themselves on the same side of the net, facing Saint and Anscomb. The first game was closely fought with many deuces but ultimately went the way of Ward/Wilks, who then went from strength to strength and claim the title with another flawless 8/0 performance.

We congratulate John Ward (Singles and Doubles) and Willie Wilks (Doubles) on their victories, and thank all the players for their competitive efforts over the three days. The winner’s trophies were presented by David Weston, with thanks going to David Brazier for his donation of the singles trophy, followed by a thank you to Robin Barlow who donated a fantastic trophy, new for this year, for the doubles victors. Robin is a stalwart of these competitions and missed this year with a knee operation. The presentation was finished with an appropriate word of remembrance for Michael Seymour who passed away this year, and is sorely missed by all who knew him.