The 2013 Bubbles linen service NSA beach Tennis Tournament was played this weekend at Fistral Beach, Newquay, Cornwall. 25 teams all competed in the Men’s and Mixed doubles for the £1000 prize purse.
Having moved to Fistral beach this year, the first thing that needed to be done was to flatten out an area large enough to set up 4 tournament courts, and with a huge 7.6 tide and 3-4 ft surf this proved quite tricky on the Friday night. Both the driver and machine were turned away due to the beach still being so busy at 8 pm. JCB and driver returned 5am Saturday morning and we got a nice terraced beach ready for play.
With 4 courts up and running 10.30 am saw the first games played. Saturday is such a great day of competition with a no lose day so that every competitor gets a full days practice in game situations, and allowing seeding to be done for the knockout draw played on Sunday.
With the tournament underway the “Have –a-go “courts were set up for anyone to try out each tennis. These were full all day with a 15 min rotation of players. Over 300 people tried out this fast growing sport, with the sounds of laid back beach styled music on this iconic beach.
11am Sunday saw the start of the main tournament with knock out rounds. The top teams now were getting more competitive looking to make it through to the Finals, and with a stacked draw of some of Cornwalls Top tennis players, the action began to draw a nice crowd. The weather however had not brought it’s ‘A’ game, with 20 mile an hour winds and regular showers. Players had to adapt and use the wind to its advantage, generally making playing into the wind easier to win points.
Defending champions Finn Leverton and Dan Stook got off to a great start but were then take out by Nick and Chris Peters, brothers from Redruth with their very offensive style at the net.
On the other side of the draw Liam Manning and Scott Sutherland comfortably won their first round game, to meet Dan Elston and Anton Roberts, and with only a couple of points the difference lost 7-6.Tim Webster and Ryan Fern were going to be a very strong team and with Ryan’s experience in squash and tennis, and Tim’s quick reactions and great ball placement they were on their way to the final.
All teams that lost the main draw went through to play in a consolation draw giving us 4 finals played on Centre court.
So with umpire sat on his chair and 2 linesmen, the first final was the Mixed doubles consolation with Anton Roberts –Annabelle Wilkins defeating Dave Blanchard – Carmel Blanchard
Mens doubles consolation final proved that having a sneaky Pint just before your game doesn’t pay off and Nick Jones and Steve Graves losing to Double Dave team.
Main mixed doubles Final was between Oshi Leverton and India Rojano, who had to play last years runners up Scott Sutherland and Louise Watson. There was nothing to separate the 2 teams with several 20 shoot rallies, the crowd were loving the action. Time ran out, and with the score at 6 a piece it all came down to the final game, Oshi and India proving that the trick of letting them make the mistakes was the winning formula.
Scott said “I cant believe we are runners up again……next year”
Mens final was between Ryan Fern and Tim Webster Vs the 2 brothers Nick and Chris Peters. The 2 brother were on the right track going up 2 love at the start but then a clash of paddles between brothers shifted momentum and left Nick clutching at his arm. Tim and Ryan took the next 3 games before Chris and Nick were back to playing at full strength. With Ryans defensive low well placed shots, the brothers were unable to play their effective offensive attacking game, and with a few errors the game started to slip away and even with a very strong finish it was too much to pull it back.
Chris said ‘it’s been a great 2 days on the beach, playing a great game with my brother. Its so different to Regular tennis, a lot more relaxed and I made £75 so pretty happy.”
Event Organizer Anton Roberts said “It’s been another amazing event here at Fistral Beach, I always love the Saturday as it is a no losers day, so all the teams bond and have so much fun and a great atmosphere. We have teams that play tennis at a very high level and we have teams that have been coming to beach tennis on the Tuesday sessions, all playing together and the sand levels out the ability which is good for introducing more people to play. The Sunday is the business end of the event. This is where the top players will focus and want to compete for every ball and win but because they have all played and met on the Saturday there is no bad sportsmanship, only graceful winners and losers. For me its about the having 2 days of value for the players, not turning up, playing a round, getting knocked out and going home. Instead they play 2 days of competition which is still highly competative,and to have put over 800 people through our have a go courts over the last 2 weeks is amazing .”
The organizers would like to thanks all of the sponsors and supporters of this years event, ‘Bubbles’ linen service ,Fistral Beach Bar, Start and Co and Tribute Ale, Tony Pryce Sports, Fistral beach for hosting and Ann, Hilary and Sue from LTA Cornwall.