Nottinghamshire men made the trek south to Eastbourne at the weekend for the annual ‘Tennis Rainfest’ otherwise known as the National over 35’s County Championships and guess what – it was non-stop sunshine, amazing grass courts and and great tennis all the way!
For anyone who’s too young to appreciate, the Over 35’s takes place on the sensational Eastbourne Grass Courts where Davis Cup ties have been played over the years as well as the top pre Wimbledon WTA televised event and yes, the venue that ‘nicked’ the ATP grass court tournament from Nottingham last year!
The Notts team arrived early Thursday to get some much needed grass court practice. The team this year was boosted by sneakily playing two 18 year old juniors called Jason and Justin Revill, well at least that’s what the opposition said every time they walked on court – the fact that they are also identical made it even more confusing to the opposing teams! The ‘boys’ grinded out some great singles wins between them, but unfortunately, Friday saw Notts end up a very close 3-2 down - losing out by a close tie-break to Suffolk.
Saturday again was red hot, the weather wasn’t bad either and this time we were up against Shropshire. Notts took a great 2-0 advantage in the singles, but again went down 3-2 with a third set tie-break not going our way – it was starting to become a bit like the England’s penalty shoot out scenario – only with tie-breaks!
Day 3 was even hotter - Notts were on the famous centre court against Northamptonshire and needed something special to avoid relegation, the centre court grandstand crowd started to swell – ok, maybe the two old couples just came to put their feet up for a bit! We had a great start with our two juniors playing some great tennis to win both singles without dropping a set to give us a 2-0 lead. But once again we lost out on 2 very close doubles to leave the score evenly balanced at 2 rubbers each - by this time, all the other county matches had finished and Devonshire Park looked quiet and deserted – even our 4 aged supporters had awoken and left for a night on the town.
The 3rd rubber was always going to go the distance and Notts didn’t disappoint – again we lost the 2nd set on a close tie-break, leaving the 3rd set as a – you’ve guessed it – 10 point tie-break. The twins played some heroic doubles play with Justin at one point literally climbing the back stop to retrieve a ball and win the point – not sure the under arm serve played for one point in the breaker was quite in keeping with the spirit of over 35’s – but I thought the Northants players took it quite well considering - they both left the court in one piece anyway!
So Notts stayed up in a tough group which on the ratings paper looked a good result. Lessons learned – play more juniors and must try harder in tie-breaks.
Thanks to the team of Jason Revill, Justin Revill, Ryan Williams, Mark Wright.
Tim Phillips, Captain.
Pictured left to right:- Jason Revill, Tim Phillips (capt), Mark Wright, Justin Revill, Ryan Williams