Harriers Racquet Report - 06/09/15

The long awaited and eagerly anticipated (by some) Harriers tennis tournament was blessed by an absolutely glorious morning of blue skies and sunshine; would the assorted Harriers' tennis skills be equally as dazzling!

The answer to this was never in doubt and with Samantha and Liz there to do their official sports photographer roles the proof as they say is in the “pictures”. I think they thought they were on a bonus per picture taken as there are a delightful number of photos to browse through, just make sure you have some time to spare before clicking on the links supplied below. Normally I would put some captions to appropriate photos but in this case words fail me and we could have a caption contest with no problem, quite honestly the mind boggles. On the whole these were definitely not posed but more your actual “action” man /woman scenarios.

Anyway the format was simple, we had 16 professional tennis players, and 4 courts, result – Doubles matches to keep everybody amused at all times, as all were Harriers, (Frank ,Jean and Shirley made associate members of the club for the day) there would be no problems with fitness for the number of matches to be played. It may be the fact that most, if any, rallies were short that there was not too much running in evidence at any one time.

Rules; each player to serve for one service game and at the end of 4 games points awarded for the number of games won. The doubles partnerships were rearranged after each 4 game match and after 7 matches the 8 players with the most points moved into a semi final and final play off.

The initial partnerships were drawn out of the “hat” and after that Eddie did a great job of new pairings, ensuring nobody played with the same partner twice.

Eddie also kept a note of the scores and the running point’s total, so while we were all enjoying ourselves he was left with pressure of keeping things moving according to schedule and mental arithmetic to cope with. As usual Eddie did not disappoint and deserves sincere thanks for his efforts on the day, especially as we know he was desperate to play but had been ruled out by injury.

The initial 16 were whittled down to the 8 for the semi- finals and there were a few surprised and pleased faces when the names were announced.

The crowd of Ruth and Emma swelled by the late arrival of Geo were just delirious with excitement by this time!! Even Sandra was out from her catering duties to be amazed by what was on offer and Samantha and Liz could hardly stop their fingers from clicking in anticipation of what was to come. The cream of the crop was on display, what would be the outcome of this clash of giants from the tennis world.

Well the semis were played in a tense atmosphere, a cauldron of pressure to equal Andy Murray playing for Wimbledon and the finalist turned out to be The Pocket Rockets  - Hugh and Billy against the Boy Band Jim and Phil.

Well the answer would have been in the final photo but one of the Winners was shy of publicity and had to leave sharply, so the answer is that the Boy Band of Jim and Phil were on song and are the worthy Champions of the Harriers Tennis tourney 2015.

A final thanks to Sandra and Eddie for their sterling support on the day. Without you both, things would not have went nearly so smoothly. Also to Samantha and Liz your photos speak volumes to your dedication to your profession. And the final "finally", a huge thanks to Alan McLellan, without whom this tournament would not have taken place. Alan arranged for us to have access to the tennis courts and loaned us rackets and balls, even coaching some of the players (who did not win). Were it not for a cycling injury (see Harriers trying other sports!), he would have been there umpiring too. So a big thanks to Alan.
Billy

Samantha's photos here.
Liz's photos here.
Results: