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 1st 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 2nd 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.
