Clevedon Lawn Tennis Club were pitched against Southbourne in the first of their 2013 Men's Aegon Team Tennis championship matches which took place last Sunday at the Club in Princes Road. The competition, which sees teams from all over the South West region compete against each other, comprises of 4 singles rubbers, followed by 2 doubles.
The team were certainly looking the part, thanks to their sponsor, Piazza Cafe, who kindly provided the dark green tennis kit. Alex Allen had the toughest match, his opponent being an LTA rating of 3.2 and ranked no.10 in the country in the under 18 category. Alex, who is currently at university in Birmingham, played an inspiring game, taking his opponent to deuce on many occasions and was unfortunate to lose out to the Southborne player after battling for over an hour and a half. The final score of 6-3, 6-1 did not reflect how close many of the games actually were. In James Bassett's match he started strongly, taking the 1st set but was clearly struggling with a niggling shoulder injury which was exacerbated by falling off a chair during a change of ends in the 2nd set! After losing that set he was sadly forced to retire. The remaining two team team members in the singles competition, Greg Spink and Mike Dale, had better fortune, winning in straight sets which left the match tied at 2 all going into the doubles.
Sid Falconer and Greg Spink partnered each other and despite Sid being injured, they bravely took their opponents to a tie break after winning a set each and only narrowly missed securing a win. Meanwhile Allen and Dale, playing on court 1 were treating the assembled crowd to some sublime tennis, worthy of all the rapturous applause and encouragement. Having staged a magnificent come back from 4 games down in the 1st, they took the set, much to the delight of the crowd. The high quality of play was maintained in the 2nd set with both pairs showing , dexterous agility, superb technique and some amazing turns of speed. However Southborne just clinched the 2nd so it was yet another tie break situation. Sadly for Clevedon, the Southborne pair were now clearly on top of the situation and sealed the win and an overall victory of 4-2.
Despite the loss the Clevedon team remain positive and are hopeful that once Bassett and Falconer regain full fitness they will certainly be able to compete effectively at this level. Their next fixture is against Millfield School, at home on Sunday 21st April.
Clevedon Lawn Tennis Club offers tennis membership to all ages and standards of play and has an extensive junior and adult coaching programme. If you are interested in finding out more about CLTC please view the club's website: www.clevedonltc.co.uk or email clevedonltc@btinternet.com