Ladies did themselves proud in a tough group with great example of pride, determination and enjoyment.
The team did amazingly well last year in Bolton to secure promotion and we always knew it was going to be a tough shout at this year’s competition. We had gone up from Division 4 to 3 and had the home soil advantage playing at Sunderland Tennis Centre. Regular training sessions had taken place throughout the winter months leading up to the competition on Friday 22nd to Sunday 24th November. It was a tough selection process because a lot of the up and coming youngsters have been training hard over recent months and are starting to push the ‘golden oldies’ for places. Libby Fletcher made the call and selected, Claire Smith, Farah Abdel- Aziz, Lydia Perkins, Jo Cunliffe, Yasmin Tanfield, Emily Sim, Iona Amos and herself in the final 8 for the weekend.
Day 1 arrived and so did Lydia Perkins with her Thai ‘paunce (aka trousers)’ at the morning practice session. This was following a team challenge for her and Jo to wear them at Aegon Winter County Cup. Jo then went on to wear hers at team dinner on the first night and everything was ideal except having to wear flipflops in near minus conditions in Roker, Sunderland!
Our day 1 opponents were Hampshire & IOW who had travelled for over 6 hours to get to the sunny climates of Sunderland. Iona and Yas were first singles on. Yas was well down in the first set with a 2-5 mountain to climb but kept her focus and determination and took the next 9 games on the trot so winning 7-5, 6-0. This really proved how much Yas has developed as a player over recent months and shows the maturity to fight and never give up. Unfortunately Iona played an opponent who was stronger and lost 3-6, 2-6.
So next matches were Jo and Lydia. Lydia displayed some awesome tennis as always, pinning her opponent back and displaying the power that we are accustomed to witness. However after being up in the first set Lydia just lost it in a tiebreak (3-7), which was gutting for her because the difference between the pair was marginal. Pushing each other in the second set it could have gone either way but in the end her opponent, Selina Briggs took the match 6-7, 4-6. Lydia was gutted to have lost the match and this is a quality that even though she is going to be competing in the seniors soon she still cares about her tennis and the team, and losses still hurt!
Jo was on the next court to Lydia and played some awesome tennis. Tennis is a funny game, because some days you simply have a blinder and everything that Jo hit was either a winner or a great set up to finish the point off or put her opponent under pressure and cause her to hit a mistake. Jo took the match with a convincing 6-1, 6-0 score line.
So, matches were 2-2 and everything to still play for! Farah and Claire to go. Claire knew that the weekend was going to be incredibly tough because her rating is still the highest out of the whole team even though she is not playing much competitive singles matches these days, which means that she is always going to be playing at number 1. However with true team spirit she said that she would be happy to play at number 1 to help the team out and push the other players down to try and gain the win we so very much wanted. The important thing was for her to enjoy the experience and do her best. Claire’s opponent was simply too strong and took the match 6-0, 6-1. So all eyes were on Farah to see if we could get the tie back to 3-3 before heading into the doubles. Playing against an opponent who was difficult to beat because she just seemed to get every ball back. It was close throughout and Farah was a little bit disappointed that she didn’t take her opportunities when she got into the lead or when her opponent started to show signs of nerves. After a tough battle Farah lost 3-6, 7-5.
This meant we had to win all 3 doubles to take the overall match. Our doubles legend Libby came in to partner Yas and they blew their opponents off the court with touch shots, angles, lobs and anything else that was unmatchable! They took the match 6-0, 6-3. One down 2 to go! Lydia and Jo, the super team that are on an unbeaten run of around 13 matches over the last few Aegon County Cups. The first set was won with solid play and focused shot making. However with any tennis game when you lose focus things can change very quickly and they went 1-3 down in the second set. With a chat to remind themselves of going back to basics and do the simple things well they clawed it back and then went on to take the set 6-3.
Last match and it was 4-4. Claire and Farah were playing tough opponents but played unbelievable tennis, with solid volleys and positive play to take the first set 6-4. The number 1 from the opposition then started playing better in the second set and the 2 D&C ladies knew they had a battle on their hands. The rallies were fantastic to watch and spectators couldn’t believe some of the balls that were being retrieved! Hampshire and IOW took the second set back 2-6, which meant a match tiebreak to conclude the rubber and overall match! Spectators were biting nails and cheering both teams on and the D&C ladies went ahead initially so excitement was building. But the opposition continued to fight and simply refused to be beaten and they clawed it back and then went into the lead. Then their play just overtook team D&C and they took the tiebreak 5-10, which meant D&C had narrowly lost 4-5.
Although playing on home soil and therefore staying at home, the team headed out for team meal to continue to build the fantastic team spirit that has been developing over the past 18months and, although gutted, that fantastic spirit was still high because the players knew that they had enjoyed the day and given their all.
Day 2 – this was going to be extremely tough because Nottinghamshire had an outstanding team, which was strong from the number 1 singles to the number 6. Infact their number 5 held a 3.2 rating, which was incredible. Joss Rae, who competes on the circuit played at number one and Claire Smith was slightly nervous about the thought of retrieving her serve due to her slight height advantage of over 6 foot!!!!
First matches went on with Emily Sim making her debut for the ladies team at 5. However her opponent, Sarah Wright was unreal, playing with such grace and finesse. Emily really couldn’t have done anything else because Wright was simply too experienced for her but what was great to see was Emily coming off court, smiling and enjoying the encounter. Yas Tanfield, aka Tasmanian Devil, was on the adjacent court and wow did she play some unreal tennis to take the match 6-2, 6-4! Following on was Jo who started off well by going 3-0 up but then her opponent started to make more balls, with pace that Jo hadn’t experienced for a long time. Jo tried to find a way to get back but her opponent was too strong and after over 2 hours the Notts player won 6-3, 6-4. Lydia once again had a really tough challenge ahead and like the previous day the first set went to a tiebreak. Lydia continued to fight but lost the tiebreak and then the next set 6-3.
So on came Farah, determined to play as best she could and it was great to see her move forwards after the previous days tough loss. She took the first set 6-4 and then it was touch and go whether she would keep it a straight sets win and her opponent, Emily Crowe was relentless. However Farah held on to take the second set 7-5.
This meant the score line was 3-2 after the first 5 singles and next up Claire v Joss! Claire was really looking forward to the match. Its not often you get the chance to play against somebody like Joss and Claire took an early lead of 3-2 against the Commonwealth Gold medal winner. Unfortunately Joss found her booming serves and solid volleys and took the next 10 games to win 6-3, 6-0.
Again the match would go down to the doubles matches with D&C needing to win all 3! Unfortunately for D&C Libby and Yas couldn’t match their number 3’s, which meant the tie was over. The remaining 2 doubles went on with Lydia and Jo winning their match but Claire and Farah played against Joss and Sarah and lost their match. The end result being 6-3 to Notts (the winners after the weekend).
Last day and a day of relegation or stay for the team. We had a strong Scottish team to compete against and it wasn’t going to be easy. A few of the matches were agonisingly close and Jo played another match for over 2 hours and managed to battle out the win against their number 4. Only someone with Jo’s dedication, drive and team spirit would continue to push so hard on the final day when the body was already in pain, such a fantastic example and role model to everyone in the team (and other teams!)…..the consequence of this though was being unable to move for the next week but as Jo said ‘it was worth the pain!’
So, after the singles the Scots had won the match by winning 5 out of the 6 singles. Therefore the doubles matches didn’t take place.
Although gutting that the team didn’t manage to stay up in group 3 captain Libby, along with Vice Captain’s Jo and Lydia were thrilled with the attitude, determination and team spirit that the ladies displayed throughout the weekend.
“To lose is always tough but if you lose and play your best, play for the team and fight till the end I am happy to be part of things. The team did incredibly well and it was even commented on that our team spirit was the best out of all the teams! The team did themselves proud and I am very much looking forward to Aegon Summer County Cup next July!” Libby Fletcher, Team Captain.