On Thursday 30th August 2018, our Club team travelled to Bournemouth for the National Finals of The Club competition. Starting way bank in April this was the culmination of 5 months of hard work by our team.
Seeded no 1 our squad for Fridays match v Lady Bay (Cardiff) was Jonny Gray, Evan Hoyt, Alexis Canter, Brandon Murphy & Alex Jhun.
Our team started well with convincing wins for Brandon Murphy over Tom Elliss 6-0 6-1, Alexis Canter over Finlay Milner by 6-0, 6-0 & Evan Hoyt over Joe Woolley by 6-3 6-2. However Jonny Gray was made to fight every inch before winning 6/7 6-1 7-6. A great start but bigger hurdles to cross.
Saturdays semi-final saw us drawn to play Dukes Meadow, a Chiswick based training centre who were promoted to the National Division this year. Our squad was joined by Jack Carpenter & Dan Smethurst. Brandon played our old friend Adam Thornton-Brown and won 6-4 6-2. Alexis then played an almighty tussle against Neil Bamford and won a very competitive match 3-6 6-1 6-3. Evan Hoyt eat Nick Nugent 6-1 7-6 and Jonny Gray recorded a good win over Finn Bass by 6-3 7-5. Another 4-0 & we were through to another National Final.
Sunday’s final saw us play Raynes Park who along with Roehampton have upped the stakes in recruiting top 100 ATP players. This is a tribute to the strength in depth of our Club that resources are being ploughed into Indoor Centres simply to beat Sutton Tennis & Squash Club.
We lost the final to four very good players. Jonny Gray lost to Liam Broady who had flown back from the US open 6-0 6-3. Evan lost to Mark Whitehouse 6-2 7-5, Alexis lost to Jamie Baker 7-6 6-1 & Dan Smethurst lost to Jonny O’Mara 6-4 6-1. Brandon was unavailable for the final due to sun stroke on the Saturday.
This was a great weekend for our Club as we maximised our talent against all of the teams. We were joined by so many supporters and enjoyed a great dinner together on the Saturday evening. We are the only Club who enjoys such support and special mention to Georgia Duthie who attended every single match this year. Our players recognise and hugely appreciate your support – it helps to make the event.
See you next year when our Ladies are joining us in the National Division.