Following 3 days of unbroken sunshine, and highly competitive tennis at Devonshire Park, Sussex Over 35s Ladies have managed to capture the crown of National Champions for an incredible fourth year in a row. What makes this even more impressive is that, despite being a year older each time, the 6-player team has remained the same for the past four years!
The title seemed a very distant dream this year as Division 1 was feted with other counties boasting GB players, and even a World Champion. However, Sussex understand the significance of team-work and team-spirit. The ever-reliable Helen Mitchell served up a singles win to commence proceedings, followed up by an outstanding singles win from Steph Trill over GB player Jo Shepherd. Julie Hanger, Jenny Hughes and Kate Bloomfield all followed this example by claiming rubbers to kick off the Sussex campaign with a 5-0 win over Hereford and Worcester.
Saturday – day 2 saw Sussex grace the Centre Court at Devonshire Park and face a strong Leicestershire team who were high in confidence following an opening win over Lancashire. With the Sussex team missing Helen Mitchell for the first round of matches, staying injury free (and positive) was imperative. Team captain, Julie Hanger led by example with a straight set singles win, followed by another impressive (punching above her weight) victory from Steph Trill. Jenny Hughes and Kate Bloomfield followed this by claiming victory in the doubles to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the tie. With Helen Mitchell back for the afternoon, Sussex took the tie 4-1 and went into the final day as unexpected leaders of the group.
The structure of County Cup means that final days are rarely ‘done-deals’ and tend to leave all options open. Impressive victories on the first 2 days meant that Sussex did not have relegation fears, but victory was far from sealed. In fact, for opponents Lancashire, all options were still open. Should they beat Sussex 5-0, they would take the title themselves, a 4-1 win would see them as runners up and safe from relegation, but anything less would see them drop from Division 1. Unsurprisingly Lancashire came out with all guns blazing. However, Sussex had yet to reveal their secret weapon……
Enter Julie Hobbs. With other Sussex players nursing aching bodies and weary legs (held together admirably by the Devonshire park physio team), Julie was just the boost the team needed! Left-handed Hobbs teamed up with right-handed (with the occasional lefty-shot thrown in) Captain Hanger to take both doubles rubbers and seal the deal for Sussex.
Team Sussex would like to thank all the supporters (both human and canine) who patiently clapped, cheered and supplied tea and ice cream variously over the three days. To win 11 rubbers out of a possible 15 over 3 days is a worthy achievement, and a credit to all players; of all the 4 recent titles, this was possibly the most impressive all-round team performance.