Douai Park Tennis Club Blog

Attention: Boys aged 14 or under on 31 August 2012

This year, for the first time, DPTC will be entering one boy to represent the Club in the County Finals. The 44 County Finals winners, plus the 20 best runners-up will then have the opportunity to compete at the National Finals from 13-18 August 2012.

Requirements:

To enter you must:

1. be a member of DPTC for the  2012 season (Junior or Family)*
2. be aged 14 or under on 31 August 2012; and
3. have an LTA rating – details here

*As membership renewals have not yet gone out, we will assume that all entrants will be renewing their membership.

Timing:

We will be holding a closed singles event, which will be completed by 31 May 2012. Matches will take place during April and May.

The County Finals will take place during June and July.

Entry Form:

To enter, click here, print & fill in the form, and return it together with your entry fee of £2 (cheques payable to Douai Park Tennis Club) to Benedict Ely, The Lodge, Monksmead House, Upper Woolhampton, RG7 5TA.

Closing date for entries: Saturday, 31 March 2012.

I haven’t been able to watch any play at Wimbledon today, but I glanced at the Wimbledon Slam Tracker a moment ago and not only was Roger Federer being beaten in four sets by Tomas Berdych, but Rafael Nadal was 0-5 down in his first set against Robin Soderling.  What with Venus Williams going out yesterday this year’s Wimbledon has the distinct feel of change in the air.

Talking of new talent, all may not be so gloomy for British tennis. Not only is one of Andy Murray’s main obstacles now out of the way, but it seems our juniors aren’t doing too badly either. For a quick summary on the state of our junior tennis check out this report by the BBC here. May yet be grounds for optimism.

Yes, it’s here at last, our annual super-fix of all things tennis, the Championships at Wimbledon.  With only a couple of British men (neither of them English) in the draw we might be limited in whom we can support, but who knows this might be Andy Murray’s year. We’ll be following the action here, reporting and linking to anything of interest to our members.  As a starter, why not check out the draw for the first day here on the always excellent official Wimbledon website.

No one can fail to be excited by the return of Rafael Nadal to win the French Open for an incredible fifth time. Add to this his previous wins in the Australian Open and at Wimbledon, a total of seven open titles, and the prospects for this year’s All England Club Tournament look very exciting.

Much as one cheers for the Brits, one can’t fail to be excited by Nadal’s raw energy and talent. Hopefully those DPTC members with tickets for Wimbledon will soon be seeing that at first hand.

Full report on the final here.