Herne Bay Lawn Tennis Club

Herne Bay tennis club’s Junior section held their final’s day at the weekend. This year’s tournament was bigger than ever with more juniors playing in all age categories, finishing in a sunny finals day with a bbq and plenty of support from families and friends. In the Mini Red tournament Rebecca Curland retained her title from last year and followed this up with a close victory against Matthew Shields in the Mini Orange final too. The Mini Orange event saw many players having their first competition experience and they all performed fantastically. In the Mini Green tournament, last year’s Mini Orange winner, Elliot Wraight, was victorious making the step up from Orange to Green with ease. In the 12+ hard ball categories, our U14 boy’s winner was new member Aston Gillette, who outclassed all of the opposition. In the U14 girl’s final Rebecca Wibberley came out on top against opponent Kimarie Fielder. In the mixed doubles final, Mollie Eyles and David Symons narrowly overcame Joe Ibrahim and his sister Ameerah in a well contested final. This was followed by more success for Joe in the boy’s doubles, with partner Will Brealy, against previous winners David and Dan Symons. The girl’s U18 final was a repeat of last year’s final with Mollie Eyles playing Emily Bundock and although Emily took Mollie much closer this year, Mollie just came out on top to retain her title. The last final of the tournament was the boy’s U18 singles which could have gone either way and was eventually decided on a tie break. Will Brealy won his 2nd title of the day when he just overcame David Symons in a great match. The trophies for the most improved girl and boy were presented to Rebecca Curland and Elliot Wraight.
Thank you to all the players and parents who came to support, and all of the coaches who helped on the day.

Sunday very a busy day for Herne Bay tennis club captain, Peter Elsden, as the club staged their Finals day. Not only was he defending 3 titles but he was also in charge of running the tournament and making sure that the day went smoothly. The 1st finals were the singles and Elsden was up against a much younger opponent, Nick Wibberley who is a coach. The match was very competitive with Wibberley pushing Elsden all the way with powerful ground strokes and Elsden responding with spin and accurate placement of the ball. The 1st set went to Elsden 6-3 with just one break of serve and the 2nd set followed the same pattern although Wibberley had his chances to break Elsden he could never quite achieve it and the 2nd set and match went to Elsden. The ladies singles was contested by Nicola and Kay Mileham –daughter –in- law versus mother-in-law and strained family loyalties throughout the close match. Both players were playing well and the 1st set consisted of long tiring rallies. Eventually Nicola’s more consistent ground shots prevailed and she took the 1st set 6-3. In the 2nd set Kay got off to a good start breaking serve to lead 3-1 but she was tiring and Nicola’s stamina and youth proved decisive when she took the next 5 games to win the match 6-3, 6-3. The mens single’s plate was a battle between youth and experience with teenager Daniel Walker taking on veteran Greg Pearson. The pair had many long rallies and Walker lead 4-0 before Pearson won any games. Eventually he got onto the score board but still lost the set 6-3. The 2nd set stayed on serve until Walker broke Pearson at 4 all to win the set and match. In the men’s doubles Elsden paired up with Ian Cooke against the powerful combination of Martin Beckley/Graham Miles. Elsden/Cooke made a tremendous start taking the 1st set 6-1 but Beckley/Miles fought their way into the match and won the 2nd set 6-4. In the deciding set Cooke proved to be the decisive influence by his rock steady play and he and Elsden won the match 6-4 in the 3rd set. In the ladies doubles final the Mileham’s joined forces to take on the defending champions Louise Tucker/Anne Gibbs. The match was very close to start with but after they broke serve in the 5th game, Tucker and Gibbs took control and won 6-3, 6-2. The mixed doubles was the last final of the day and was between Elsden/Tucker and Beckley/Gibbs. This was a long struggle with both pairs establishing a lead and then being pegged back. Beckley/Gibbs won the 1st set 7-5 then Elsden/Tucker the 2nd 6-3. In the 3rd set Elsden/Tucker led 4-1 but Beckley/Gibbs fought back to level the score at 4-4. The match finally went to Elsden/Tucker allowing Elsden to claim a hat-trick of wins. A big thank you goes to everyone who came to support the players and especially to Elsden for all his hard work.

The club held their Longest Day Mixed American Tournament on the evening of 21st June with 12 pairs taking part. After the round-robin stage 4 pairs qualified for the semi-finals, they were Kay Mileham/Dave Lawrence against Lesley Taylor/Bryan Packham and Nicola Mileham/James Wren against Paul Wood/Ian Cooke. Cooke and Nicola Mileham won through to play Lawrence and Kay Mileham in the final. After an very competitive match Nicola Mileham and Ian Cooke were the winners. The tournament was well supported by club members, especially new members and it was good to see new faces competing in the latter stages.

The annual mixed American Longest Day Tournament is to be held at the club on Tuesday 21st June. All members are welcome to enter. The tournament will start promptly at 6pm and cost £3 to enter. Please sign up on the notice in the club house or send an email to Anne (Anne Gibbs ). Partners will be drawn on the night and prizes awarded to the winning man and lady.

Herne Bay Tennis Club are holding open tennis sessions for children aged 5 – 18! The cost will be £6 for a 2hr session and there is no need to book.

Tuesday 12th April – 10am-12pm
Thursday 14th April – 10am-12pm
Tuesday 19th April 10am-12pm

All ages and abilities are welcome, and the sessions will include drills as well as fun games.

Any questions, please call Nick Wibberley (Head Coach) on 07792067279

The summer season begins on Saturday 2nd April at 1pm. Come along and help us have a good start to the season. Ladies bring savouries and gentlemen cakes, please.

A big thank you to all those who attended the quiz night last Friday and helped make it such a success. Thanks too to everyone who donated raffle prizes. We are delighted at the level of support this time both from club members and from friends and relatives – we even had a table from Margate tennis club – which meant we had 13 tables in total.

Not only did we all enjoy the evening (even though my table came last!!), but we made a massive profit of £712 – brilliant news.

And to all those who were unable to make it this time, don’t worry, there will be another one, possibly in the Spring, so we’ll hope to see you there.

The recently held Herne Bay Junior Tennis Club Finals were a triumph for the Walker family. Daniel led the way with wins in all 3 finals and sister Lauren won the mixed final and also the award for the Most Improved Girl of the Year. In the Boys Doubles final Jack Bissenden made his first appearance on club finals day alongside Daniel Walker and they matched up against reigning champion David Symons and his new partner Alex Thorne. It was another closely fought final with some great net play not often seen at junior level. In the end Daniel and Jack came out on top with a 6-4 win. In the Boy’s U18 Singles the players set a higher standard than in previous years, with every competitor giving a great performance which was really impressive to watch. Daniel Walker battled his way through to his third consecutive final, whilst in the other half of the draw Jack Bissenden fought his way through to set up a clash with his doubles partner. The two different styles of the players created a very close final which Daniel Walker eventually closed out with a 7-6 win. The Girls U18 Singles had 5 competing in it and concluded with the reigning champion from the last 2 years, Emily Bundock, taking on debutant Mollie Eyles. It was a well fought match but Mollie’s powerful ground strokes proved too much in the end for Emily and she won in straight sets. Lastly the Mixed Doubles final this year had the highest standard of mixed doubles play we have seen at the club for a long time. This was partly due to the stronger girls who are now coming regularly to coaching. The reigning champions and the family pairing of Daniel and Lauren Walker made the final again, this time competing against Mollie Eyles and David Symons. The final was a great battle, which eventually finished with the Walker’s retaining their title with a 7-5 victory and completing Daniel’s hat trick. The younger members of the club were also involved in finals which saw Rebecca Curland become the Mini Red Champion, Elliot Wraight the Mini Orange Champion and Harry Mounter the Mini Green Champion. The 2 awards for the most Improved Players of the Year went to Lauren Walker and Harry Carter.

Following the success of our last tournament, we are running another on Sunday 10th October starting at 11am – a splendid opportunity for everyone to support their club, raise some much needed funds AND have a great time. We are trying out a new format this time, so the day should be a lot of fun and there will be refreshments to keep you going!

We are hoping for a really good take up for this so book your places early.

The long awaited cleaning and repainting of the courts started on Tuesday 22nd September and is likely to last 2 weeks. To start with courts 1 & 2 will be out of action while they are thoroughly cleaned. The back of courts 3 and 4 will also be power washed at the start of the 2nd week. Once cleaning is finished the top 2 courts will be repainted and this will take 3 days depending on suitable weather conditions. It is hoped that everything will be finished by the 1st October but during this time there will be NO play on the 1st 2 courts.