The Woodford Wells Club welcomed 400+ competitors its 33rd annual open tennis tournament sponsored by Property Maintenance Company, Slazenger and Essex Tennis. Tennis players from Essex, East London and from further afield competed in the biggest tournament in Essex this year.
The tournament was refereed by Essex National Referee, Graeme Luckin, and assisted by club member Jerry Evans. The weather was unexpectedly balmy and through brilliant organization and the use of courts at Chingford School of Tennis and the indoor courts at Redbridge Sports Centre the tournament completed all the events in five days.
The home club were delighted when club member Anthony Wright won the under 10 boys singles in a draw of 32 youngsters. In the final he defeated the number 2 seed Tyler Yanagida. Anthony had to win 5 matches to win the championship and trophy. To make the day even better he then teamed up with fellow club member, Tibet Hanedan to win the doubles in the same age group. In the under 9 boys event there were 58 players. This event was won by Joshua Oakley from Buckinghamshire defeating Toby Terrell.
This year Woodford Wells Club is celebrating its 150th anniversary and this tournament was, fittingly, one of the most successful tournaments that it has run. All age groups were catered for up to men’s over 55 and club member Clive Schaller defeated the number 2 seed in the semi-final of this event before losing to Marcus Stapleton from Hertfordshire in a high quality final.
Club members gave a considerable amount of voluntary help in order to make the tournament so successful and that coupled with fine weather made this a highly enjoyable event on the Essex tennis calendar.
David Harston