New West Heath Message Board

Post your own tournament comments on the West Heath message board by clicking here.  You will need the ID and password supplied in the 2004 Newsletter (paper copy only - the information is not on the web site version).  The first time you wish to post a message you must supply your email ID, a password and your name.

Tournament News and Gossip

Saturday 24 July - Finals Day
- The spectators were treated to a wealth of glorious tennis with plenty of suspense, and the additional bonus of the deciding set of the mixed.  With the exception of the Ladies' Singles, all finals went to 3 sets, and we had the completely new experience of the Men's Singles being decided on a third set tie break.  
- There was standing room only in the spectators gallery.  If you didn't have a handbag to reserve your place between matches you were likely to lose it!
- The umpires did a splendid job, but some of the baseline lines persons were observed to be reading or smoking at changes of end, while a certain Mr Marsh on one of the court 2 sidelines had to be cross examined on more than one crucial call before he would venture an opinion either way (see Men's Final match report).
- Before handing over the trophies to the winners Kevin Ryan reminded the crowd that this is the 30th year for Sultan as men's team captain.  This is an amazing achievement and one for Sultan to be proud of.  Our special thanks go to Sultan and his co-referee Jane Boyle for the smooth running of the tournament.
- The Finals Day tea was second to none.  Thanks to all those who organised it and provided food.  How Elena keeps her figure when she eats that lot I will never know.
- The Finals Day Barbecue was well attended, and thoroughly enjoyed by everyone.  In fact Sultan had to throw everyone out at half past midnight or a select few might have carried on partying all night.
- The web site had a very good tournament too - around 350 visits over the two and a half weeks of the tournament, averaging about 20 visits per day, compared with around 10 visits per day last year and an average of about 4 visits per day for the preceding 6 months (including members, potential new members, Google and other search engines periodically re-indexing our site).  Sultan and I believe that the up-to-date tournament information from a PC at home or work helps to maintain a level of interest and excitement that keeps us all enthusiastic and involved in the tournament, which is naturally the highlight of the club's year, supplementing the effects of West Heath uniques such as the final week's Gourmet Dinners.
- By contrast we have had only 2 postings on the new web site message board, though this was implemented rather late in the run up to the tournament, and is less accessible than I would wish, requiring knowledge of the ID and password just to read the messages.  I was hoping to be able to use it for tournament enrolments, but we were too late for this.
- We all know about assertive ladies who book their partners very early for next year's mixed, but how about this one.  Kevin Ryan was overheard saying to Elena Valarche that she was the most improved player at the club (as well as, by common consent having the best figure, the most shapely legs and the highest level of determination).  He proposed that they should play together in the 2005 mixed and ventured that, with practise over the next 12 months, they might even prevail!
Friday 23 July - Ladies Semi-final
- Considering the good turnout and level of spectator interest for the other weekday evening matches in the second week, the top ladies semi-final took place at a quiet club.  It saw Rachael Gangji and Marie Woodthorpe take on Elena Valarche and Christine Thompson.  In the first set Rachael and Marie were dominant, and easily won with a 6-1 score.  In the second Elena and Christine played much better, and took it to a tie break, though their opponents previously had 3 match points which they let slip by.  Elena and Christine took the tie break to win the second set 7-6.  In the third set Rachael and Marie were again dominant and raced ahead to a 5-1 lead.  However, they were subsequently broken, reducing the lead to 5-2, but won through for a fine 6-1 6-7 6-3 victory.

Thursday 22 July - Mens Semi-finals and Mixed Final
- A warm welcome to Carol Jardine's aunt Judy and her (possibly mythical) nephew Murdo.  Judy, Carol asked me to apologise to you that she had been unable to visit you at the weekend because she needed to play her tennis club tournament matches.
- The top semi-final in the mens singles was Mark Stapleton vs Jamie Darling.  Both players played well and the match was very tight and competitive, and enjoyed by players and spectators.  There were no service breaks at all in the first set, though Jamie had set point on Mark's serve (5-6, 30-40) but failed to convert.  Then Jamie found himself 1-4 down early in the tie break, which Mark took 7-4.  In the second set there were again no breaks of service until 4-all, but then Mark broke and held to close the match out 7-6 6-4.
- The bottom semi-final was between Cedric de la Chaise and Stan Fletcher.  Cedric has been working out regularly this year, presumably with a view to improving his tennis, and took a tight first set 7-6 on a tie break, during which he raised his level when it mattered.  He managed to maintain this during the second set for a fine 7-6 6-1 victory.
Wednesday 21 July - Ladies Semi-Finals - A super dinner of fish pie and fruit brule was prepared by Mary de Jong and Edward, and there were some good matches to watch.
- In the ladies singles Marjan Denis took on Jane Boyle.  Marjan found Jane's leftie serve difficult to cope with and her sliced ground strokes were impossible to return.  Jane took the first set 6-1.  Both players said that Jane was playing really well, though Marjan also commented Jane got the luck of the bounces to go with it for a fine lead.  In the second set Marjan dug in and tried to come to the net more, which gave Jane less margin.  In particular the uneven bounces made it more difficult for Jane to hit her power passing shots, so she was forced to give Marjan a number of volleys.  Marjan managed to take the set to a tie break and even the score with a narrow 7-5 victory in the tie break.  In the third set Jane started to tire, and Marjan was able to take full advantage.  By her own admission Marjan was also getting most of the benefit of bad bounces at this point, and took the third set 6-3 for a fine, but unexpected victory.
- Carol Jardine versus Christine Thompson ended with a victory for Christine.  Carol reports that Christine played brilliantly, but that Carol played defensively and was lucky to get a set.  Christine plays Marjan Denis in the final on Saturday.
- Mark Stapleton arrived late for his mens semi, which meant he and Sultan Gangji had to start immediately. Mark never got going against strong opponents David McBride and Jamie Darling, so Sultan and Mark were always on the back foot and David and Jamie claimed their place in the final 6-4 6-4.
- It was a similar picture in the mixed for the Gangjis against Jane Boyle and Cedric de la Chaise. Rachael, in particular never got going, and Sultan was not really on form. It did not help that he called a ball out on match point that landed well in, and Jane and Cedric earned their place in the final with a fine performance and a 6-2 6-2 victory.
- In the other mixed semi Stan Fletcher and Marie Woodthorpe took on Mark and Ludmilla Stapleton. The match was very tight, but Mark had recovered from his slow start in the men's doubles and played well.  The first set got to 4 all.  In the second set Mark and Ludmilla were 5-2 up, but Stan and Marie immediately broke. Ludmilla toughed out Stan's power shots, and did not change when he hit her with one - the ungentlemanly cad!  Mark and Ludmilla upset the odds by breaking one more time than the opponents in each set for a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Sunday 18 July - Another lucky day when the weather looked inclement, but turned out well enough to enable play on grass.  There was a crowd of about 20 to watch the afternoon matches, and the occasional social game
- Sally Tornow and Jamie Darling took on Jane Boyle and Cedric de la Chaise. The first set went to Jane and Cedric 6-1, but the second was a harder fought affair. The set went with serve until 4 all. Sally was serving in the critical game and made a few errors to go 0-40 down, but then the game swung and she pulled it back to 30-40. Having noticed that Jane (leftie) missed her service return on the forehand ad court Sally wisely chose the same serve on the third break point.  Jane's return was straight to Jamie at the net, but, having played solidly for the rest of the set, he missed the volley and it was all over.
- Stan Fletcher and Cedric de la Chaise always had the edge in their match against Andrew Brodie and Paul O'Flynn.  Andrew was not playing as well as in the previous round, and the pundits around me reckoned he was a yard slower than normal, and, being short of match practise, was not familiar with the pace at which the balls were hit, so gave some easy balls to the favourites on the other side of the net.  Paul played better, but could not achieve the consistency needed to make an impression on Stan and Cedric, but the underdogs won some fine points, and Paul commented afterwards that the 6-1 6-2 score was a moral triumph.
- Sandip Sen had assumed he was playing Huw Crompton on Monday, but the tournament organisers needed the next round match playing on Monday.  Originally Sandeep had been defaulted, and Huw put through on a walkover, but Sandip turned up on Sunday later afternoon, whereupon he was immediately seized on to play Stan Fletcher - and Huw was defaulted instead.  Sandip lost 6-1 6-1, but must have had a fun match.  Tomorrow evening's arranged match between Sandip and Huw will now become a friendly!
- Fareed Samad nearly didn't get to play in the singles tonight.  The organisers were just getting ready to default him so that the baying centre court crowd could have another match for their evening's entertainment, and Paul O'Flynn vs Cedric de la Chaise would have fit the bill nicely.  Paul had 19:00 in his diary for the match against Fareed, but Fareed had 19:30 and turned at that time with a bunch of supporters. So the planned match went ahead and proved to be a cracker - most enjoyable for the spectators, and the participants.  Fareed took the first set on a tie break (7-6) and the second on 7-5.  Congratulations to both for a fine display.
Saturday 17 July - It is disappointing that no-one has posted anything on the message board yet.  I assume this is because no-one can remember where they put the April 2004 Newsletter.
- The day started poorly with a downpour around 10:00, but improved steadily thereafter.  By mid-afternoon the grass was in use and quite a few matches got played.
- Charles Rubinstein played a number of good shots against Mark Stapleton, but Mark always had the capability of stepping it up when necessary for a 6-1 6-1 victory.
- Barnard Deliege continued his onward march with a 6-4 6-2 victory against Jeff Fine for a place in the quarter finals.  But he now has to play Mark Stapleton (club champion), so the going gets rather tougher.
- Jamie Darling had a good competitive game against Kevin Ryan.  Jamie's serve and volley game served him well on a court that was rarely bouncing true, and his sound volleying technique allowed him to come through .  They both enjoyed it so much they had another set afterwards just to make it worthwhile.
- Liz Goodfellow had a Ladies doubles match on Friday night and had not been very fresh for her encounter with Carol Jardine.  However, Carol is a slower starter, and Liz took the first set 6-1.  Carol came back well to take the second by a similar margin, and all was set for a final set show down.  With both players tiring, the final set turned into a tactical battle.  Carol played some short shots which Liz just failed to get to, and Liz threw in the odd unforced error for good measure, to give victory to Carol by 6-4.
- Andrew Brodie and Paul O'Flynn continued their winning ways to beat Brian Coffey and Jeff Fine 1-6 6-4 6-2.  Andrew played much better than previously, and Paul is a strong competitor when roused (which he usually is), but it obviously took them a which to get going.  However, they will not be able to afford this luxury if they have to play Cedric de la Chaise and Stand Fletcher in the semis.
- Vince Sudbery and Derek Councell put up a bit of a fight against against Sultan Gangji and Mark Stapleton, getting to 40 on a number of games, but somehow they managed to avoid converting this on any occasion, losing rapidly 6-0 6-0.  It was noticeable that Sultan was not very mobile in this match, but we do not know whether this was because his hip is giving trouble, or he felt a win would be secured even if he left a number of balls to Mark.  Again, Charles Rubinstein played a number of good points, but Derek was a little less consistent, though neither fact probably affected the outcome much.
- Dudley Leigh put up a good fight against David McBride.  David took the first set 6-1, but Dudley hung in to take the second set.  However, the last set went to David 6-2.  Dudley commented afterwards that David's explosive topspin shots on both wings were difficult to handle, and that he had managed to poke the ball back on a number of occasions, but that David had been able to put the ball away on the next shot.
- I have discovered the secret of Sultan's success, on the court, and will reveal this shortly.
Friday 16 July- I missed Jane Boyle and Sarah Jane Wilson vs Liz Goodfellow and Sue Ehr, but it must have been a ding dong battle because the score was 2-6 7-5 6-4.
Tuesday 13 July - a few matches played today.  Thankfully the weather was a little better than it has been over the weekend.
- Sue Ehr beat Moira Duncan 6-2 6-2.
- Sultan Gangji beat Vince Sudbery 6-1 6-0.
- The West Heath message board is now fully operational, so you can post your own message or observations on the tournament to the web site.
Monday 12 July - only 2 matches played today.  
- Mary de Jong got one game off Liz Goodfellow.
- Vince Sudbery and Aruna Gunasekera must have had a hard-fought game as the eventual score was 6-0 5-7 6-3 to Vince.  It looks like Vince's experience and medium-paced consistency told over Aruna's pacey, but more error-prone game.
- Come on Madam Chairman. Yours are the only outstanding matches in the first round of the ladies singles and mixed!
Sunday 11 July - Yesterday's rain meant the grass was still wet so all play was on shale again.
- Andrew Brodie, having lost convincingly in the singles, was bolstered by his partner, Paul O'Flynn, who had just won the "BeBrauwn Ear Nose and Throat" tournament in Liverpool.  They put on a good show to defeat Ahmet Ratib and Jason Maratos 6-3 6-0.
- Kevin Ryan and Anhmet Ratib decided discretion was the better part of valour, and abandoned any attempt at queuing for the shale, preferring to play at the Cumberland instead. With the home advantage, Kevin won 6-2 6-4.
- The Mixed was the scene of a number of cut-throat battles today. Firstly Cedric de la Chaise and Jane Boyle played more consistently than Elena Valarche and Charles Rubinstein to win 6-1 6-0. Though Elena and Charles won a few fine points, they were not consistent enough to convert them into games.
- The match between Liz Goodfellow and Jeff Hiday, and Sue Latimer and Paul Rubie was a real ding dong battle, which could have gone either way until the last two games.  Sue and Paul were 3-2 in the final set with a break, but neither side could hold serve until Jeff finally managed it for 5-4 up, whereupon Liz and Jeff put on a final spurt to win 5-7 6-1 6-4.
- Carol Jardine and Jeff Fine played Sally Tornow and Jamie Darling as the last match on court 5.  Apparently Jeff was the one with the hangover (according to Carol), but independent witnesses say that Jamie Darling had to resort to dinks and lobs to get the ball past Carol and Jeff.  Sally and Jamie won 6-7 6-3 6-1.  Congratulations to the victors. "We wuz robbed," said the losers.
Saturday 10 July - Rain and hail washed out the grass, leaving only one shale court playable.  At one point it hailed so much it started to look like Christmas (see picture right).
- Andrew Brodie got whitewashed by Bernard Deliege, playing on shale.  Bernard joined the club specifically to play on our shale courts, so he must have been delighted with the weather, though no-one else was.  The margin of victory means that Bernard must be a competitor to be watched.  He has to play Jeff Fine next, then Mark Stapleton, so watch this space.
- Marjan Dennis and Carol Jardine beat Sally Tornow and Gill Green.  I don't know the score for sure, but the losers were heard to complain that the match took a long time.  This might have been due to Gillian's lobs....
Tuesday 6 July - This year's tournament has come around very quickly, and the arrival of Sultan's draw on the doorstep was somewhat of a surprise, but at least I had the evening spare anyway!  I only hope the grass courts will stand the extra wear that they will now get over the next few weeks after the sad death of Pepe and the month's delay in finding a replacement.
- A number of last year's finalist have LTA inter-club ratings.  Click here to find out more.