National Junior Schools Handicap Tournament

Sunday 4^th March saw the Oratory Real Tennis Club co host the National Junior Schools Handicap Tournament. With 17 teams playing between the two courts of Oratory and Hardwick House a busy day of tennis lay ahead. Players at both courts enjoyed 4 sets with the highest scoring pair from each court joining together late afternoon for the final at Oratory. The two schools making it through to the final were Westbourne 1^st pair and Windlesham 3^rd pair. The two were very closely matched with Westbourne winning the set 5/3. A big thank you to Mick Dean (tournament organiser) and all the schools and parents for their time spent organising and travelling which made it such a great event.

Winners: Westbourne 1^st pair; Hugo Alun-Jones and Ned Renwick,   Andy Chinneck (Oratory Professional) and Runners Up Windlesham 3^rd pair; Teddy Maloney and Ludo Milne

Oratory Club Singles 2012

The Oratory hosted their yearly Club Handicap Singles Championship with group stages on Friday and Saturday. There were a lot of very close matches due to the handicap system working so well. The handicap is in place to give the tournament a level playing field no matter what your playing ability is.

Sunday morning was the start of the knock out stages. There was some top tennis played, some players having to give away massive handicaps. The 1^st semi final saw Christian Whittaker (h/c 29) take on a new member Melvyn Keen (h/c 69) The massive handicap meant Christian was playing more a mental game than a physical game but he won 6/3. In the 2^nd semi final Stuart Baxter played Michael Seymour off level. This was always going to be close. Stuart went 5/3 up. Michael saved 4 match points but Stuart kept his composer and won the game on the 5/5 - 40/40 point.

The Final was between Christian and Stuart. Christian had to give away a small handicap but managed to take an early 2/0 lead. Stuart played the better tennis in the final forcing Christian into a few errors. Stuart went on to take the set and the Championship 6/3. Congratulations to Stuart who is now Club Handicap Singles Champion.