Newry Tennis Club
NEWRY TENNIS TENS 2020
The second Tennis Tens started at 10.30am much earlier than last year as we had an entry of 18 men and we wanted to stagger the even due to Covid 19 and adhere to rules of separate balls and hand sanitising. With the new White Board in place it would tur out to be 11 hours of constant tennis.
Gp A
Shane had initially not entered this tournament but his competitive spirit got the better of him and he changed his mind to become the huge favourite with Tim absent. in his 5 Group matches the only person to get more than halfway against him was the big hitting shots of Neil. Unfortunately although he did well against Shane he was too inconsistent for this format and would lose out n qualification in what was the shock of this Group with newcomer Jonny beating him 12-10. Gary H had stormed through his Group in 2019 and he did so yet again with free flowing hitting and was second in the Group. In the decider Gary romped past Neil.
Shane 5 +33
Gary 4 +13
Jonny 3 0
Neil 2 -4
Alex 1 +9
David 0 -33
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Gp B
Like father like son as Malachy had an equally blemish free record in fact he lost he same amount of points, 17 as Shane and no one got more than half way. With Mal way out in front this came down to the other positions, Sean was under pressure when he lost 10-4 to Zihang but saved the day when he slashed through Brian in a tense decider. Both Michael and Zihag had their moments with wins to keep them in contention until the end.
Malachy 5 +33
Brian 3 +9
Sean 3 +8
Michael 2 -5
Zihang 2 -1
John 0 -44
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Gp C
Kieran was not to be outdone by what had gone before and he would accrue the same positive score of +33 and unbeaten as Shane and Mal in previous groups. Runner up would be James who had a scary moment beating Daniel 13-11 and Rory 10-8. Daniel got through to a 3rd place play off saving a match point against Russell which was his undoing. Russell had a 6-1 lead against Kieran but faltered from there on in.
Kieran 5 +33
James 4 +12
Daniel 3 +5
Russ 2 -2
Gary S 1 -25
Rory 0 -20
Play Off
Jonny had to delay reservations at the Yellow Heffer in Camlough to come back and beat Daniel in another extended tennis tens match. But in his first year at the club Jonny was a QF.
QF draw
Brian bt Mal 13-11
Kieran bt Sean 10-8
Gary bt James 10-6
Shane bt Jonny 10-5
In the shock of the tournament Brian saved 3 match points at 9-6 down to have the crowd ecstatic with his comeback to usurp favourite Mal. Brian showed no nerves at all in his victory. Kieran outlasted Sean in a close one. Gary hit through a lacklustre James and Shane had a tougher match than he thought against consistent Jonny.
Sf
Brian bt Kieran 10-7
Shane bt Gary 10-5
Kieran had won the Mixed and this was a match to many as Brian used his loopy topspin to great affect. In a repeat of the match at 10.30am now 10 hours latr Shane again beat th ehard hitting Gary.
F
Shane bt Brian 10-3
A one sided final as Shane added this to his list of trophies. Fresh from a Rostrevor title, Brian was now a Newry runner up.
Mixed Doubles
Due to unforeseen circumstances we were down to just 5 teas in the Mixed Doubles.
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The defending champs Pat and Anne were absent. Three of the 5 teams had a Campbell family member present and these would prove the most competitive encounters. We had a new participant in Clare who was a great addition keeping us all entertained with her stories. Husband and wife Kieran and Derval It would be bragging rights to Derval winning with James but they would lose out overall after a loss to Tommy and Eve.. Eve and Tommy would meet Kieran and Pauline in the final. Eve had a chance to win the tournament at 9-8 with a volley but missed and 2 points later Pauline smashed away the winner. Pauline was unsure whether she was able to compete until the night before but it was well worth turning up for his triumph.
Pauline & Kieran 3 +17
Eve & Tommy 3 3 +13
Derval & James 3 +10
Marie & Matthew 1 -9
Clare/Danielle & Gary 0 -29
Thanks to Danielle for standing in for an injured Clare
F
Kieran & Pauline beat Eve & Tommy 11-9
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2021
Gp1
1 Shane
2 Gary H
3 James
4 Sean
5 Cian
6 Brian
7 Alex
8 Marc
It was an early 10am start for the first 8 players and they played through extremely warm conditions of 23 degrees. There was a huge shock as Cian held onto win a 13-11 victory over No2 seed Gary having had mps earlier in the contest. The Group itself saw No1 in the entire club Shane who was supposed to organise but chose to compete destroying all opposition winning all 7 matches and scoring a new record +44 points. It would be very close for the second spot with James recording 4 wins in his first 5 matches and he was odds but in the match of this round having beaten Gary H 15-13 in a tens that lasted close to half an hour. A result which led to a change in rules to Golden Point at 12-12 in future. So James had emulated his fave player Mahut! That long drawn out impressive win took a lot out of James who then lost to Cian and Alex thus dropping to third. Cian had his own destiny too but lost to last years runner up Brian and he dropped. Gary gave Shane his closest match at 10-8 and due to other results leapfrogged into second. Sean and James ended up on the exact same score of 4 wins and same amount of points. As James was in the Mixed he withdrew to let Sean take the place in the Qf.
Gp2
1 Mal P
2 Mal G
3 Daniel
4 Johnny
5 Rory
6 Matthew P
7 Cormac
8 Michael r
Again the scorching sun was a factor as the 8 men had 7 mini matches. It went according to plan as both father and son Malachy eased through their matches. They were most challenged by 19 year old Daniel and his match with Mal g was one of the best of the day. Daniel went for his shots which isn’t easy in this format whilst Mal got everything back. The others in the group were all well matched but this is a great format for the consistent Johnny which was good enough for fourth. Daniel qualified for the play off.
Gp3
1 Neil
2 Gerry
3 Marty
4 Kieran
5 Justas
6 David
7 John W
With the withdrawal of returnee James Gallagher we were down to 7 and close to the end of the matches, young Daniel felt ill and did not complete. Neil was a shock casualty in the group phase of the 2020 event but this year he came out swinging. This was the Group of the wily veteran players so meant very interesting matches between Kieran, Marty and Gerry and it was the latter two who beat Kieran and that proved crucial. Dorothy setting up her fruit skewer stand asking for Kieran’s keys distracting him! But Neil hit through them all with his fh on top form.
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PO
Marty bt Daniel 10-5
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QF
Shane bt Mal g 10-2
Gerry bt Gary H 10-3
Neil bt Sean 10-6
Mal P bt Marty 10-5
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Sf
Shane bt Gerry 10-2
Mal P bt Neil 10-5
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F Shane bt Mal P 10-1
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Neil was 3-1 up on mal. The next point was a long rally up to 15 shots Neil hit 3 very powerful forehands in a row but mal was able to get them back and bring Neil to the net to get a passing winner. After the turn of ends 3-3 mal played his best tennis of the tournament. He was very attacking and didn’t give Neil any time on the ball to set himself. In the other semi Shane went for a very attacking approach in the heat and overpowered Gerry who looked to be hitting the ball very well.
Shane glided through the final as he faced his brother in a first final here in Newry. But Mal P does not play his best against younger brother and lost in a one sided match close to 11 hours after we started.
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Mixed
1 Pat & Pauline
2 Denise & Russell
3 Dot & Gary H
4 Anne Marie & Alex
5 Anne & Matthew Pe
6 Marie & James
7 June & Marc
8 Derval & Gary S
Pat had forgotten his racquet which meant his match with Pauline started late. That meant some other players went ahead with their second match and the schedule was blown! It also turned out to be a somewhat lucky omen for Pat as they survived a match point against Denise and Russell to prevail in their opening tie and then went on a winning streak, remaining unbeaten for another 6 group matches. It was much closer for that second final spot as three other teams ended with four wins. Dot and Gary might have been favourites but a 10-1 loss to Anne & Matthew meant their points difference was poor. Alex and Anne Marie won three matches at the sudden death 13-11 or 11-9 scoreline that coupled with a 10-3 loss to June and Marc meant they were also not high on points. So Russell and Denise came through as they won three of their four ties by healthy 4, 5 and 6 point deficits. So the final was a repeat of the first match. But this time it was plain sailing for Pat and Pauline. Pauline scored at least 5 volley winners whilst Pat hit an acute angle to win the title. So the 2019 winner Pat and 2020 winner Pauline join together for their second Mixed title each.
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2022
Gp A
1 Conor F 5-2 +23
2 Marc 5-2 +10
3 Alex 5-2 +8
4 Brian 4-3 +8
5 Gary H 4-3 +1
6 Jonny 2-5
7 Mike 1-6
8 James M 0-7
Three players ended up on winning five of their seven ties, but the ultra consistent Conor who amassed a huge 23 point advantage. Brian won his first four tens before losing the next 3 and dropped from first to fourth but held onto get the final spt ahead of Gary who was tho was the top seed for this group, by 7 points.
Gp B
1 Tim 7-0
2 Justas 5-2
3 Sean 4-3
4 James 3-4
5 Russ 2-5
6 Matthew 2-5
7 David Mcs 0-7
Tim returned to this event for first time since 2019 when he beat Shane in the iconic fina an won it. This time he breeed past his 6 opponents and was a huge favourite. Justas proved crucial in important latter stages of the tense tennis tens! Sean reverbed from losing his first tie to Russell to win four important ones. Whilst Russell was put out when losing from mp uo to Matthew Power.
QF
Tim beat Brian 10-8
Justas bt Alex 10-7
Marc bt Sean 10-6
James bt Conor F 10-8
sf
Tim bt Justas 10-5
James bt Marc 10-8
f
Tim bt James 10-8
There was a terrific QF with Brian8-6 up against Tim but double faulted before Tim hit his big shots. Marc took out an injured Sean but GpB had the other three semi finalists. James was in the form of his life and took out the winner of GpA Conor, making sur he went for his shots. Similarly he came back to pust Marc as he went for his shots more. Tim advanced against Justas who had a great days work. The final could well have been one sided but James took it to Tim and the audience who had been watching for 8 hours were rewarded with a tight 10-8 win for Tim. James had a chance with an overhead at 8-8.
Mixed
1 Shauna & James 5-1 +21
2 Dot & Gary H 4-2 +5
3 Deirdre & Russ 4-2 +4
4 Marie & Conor 3-3 +
5 Alison & Mike 3-3 +2
6 Peggy & Alex 2-5 -18
7 Rosie & Justas 1-6 -26
Shauna and James won all but one of their matches and that loss was against the heyvu hitting of Gary and net play of Dorothy and Gary got the other final berth after a 10-8 win over Russ and Deirdre to progress. The wind was very high maintenance and many matches were held on court 1 and 2 with the others discarded. Gary and Dot in fact never left the show courts and it paid off. The final was a repeat of the group match as Dot and Gary were too good in the clutch moments.
Winners Gary H & Dot.
