Racquets Director’s Diary

Tennis updates and latest information

Important changes to Club social sessions

Ladies’ Tennis Morning

Ladies’ Morning is a fun and social session held every Thursday morning, open to all female Members of any age and ability.

Led by a coach, this session provides a great opportunity to meet fellow Members and enjoy friendly doubles matches.

To make the session more inclusive and accessible, we are introducing some exciting changes starting Thursday, 27th February:

◊ No pre-registration required – simply drop in on the day.

◊ No player limit – everyone is welcome to join.

◊ Flexible participation – stay for the full 90 minutes or just pop in for a game.

The session will take place on Courts 2 to 5, with play both indoors and outdoors as needed.

I would love to see as many ladies as possible at the first session under this new format on Thursday, 27th February, at 9:30am.

Tennis Club Night

Tennis Club Night is the main social evening for all tennis Members—a great opportunity to meet fellow players, enjoy organised doubles matches. Led by a coach, this session ensures a mix of opponents and plenty of good games.

To make the session more inclusive and accessible, we are introducing some exciting changes starting Wednesday, 26th February:

◊ No pre-registration required – just turn up and play.

◊ No player limit – all members are welcome.

◊ Extended session time – now running for two hours (6pm – 8pm).

◊ Flexible participation – stay for the full duration or drop in for a game whenever it suits you.

The session will take place on Courts 1 to 5, with play both indoors and outdoors as needed.

I would love to see as many Members as possible for the first session under this new format on Wednesday, 26th February, from 6pm to 8pm.

Email Dan Lott, Racquets Director at dan.lott@roehamptonclub.co.uk with any queries.

Tennis coaching rates 2025

The Tennis Committee has agreed to an increase of the coaching rate from January 2025. Click here for a breakdown of rates

Tennis National Club League Finals

Congratulations to the Roehampton Club Men’s First Team who won the Tennis National Club League Finals in Bournemouth on 8th September retaining the title they’ve won in 2019. 2022 and 2023.

Click here to view the draw and keep up to date with the results

Roehampton Club Men’s Over 30s Champions

Congratulations to the Men’s Over 30s Team who won National League final on Sunday 8th December in Birmingham.

Team: Alex Ward, Matt Short, Oli Golding and Bojan Jelovac.

The team have now qualified for the European Championships in Turkey next year.

Surrey Success

Surrey beat Yorkshire on Sunday 27th October in the final of the 60s ladies County Cup to become national champions.

Team

Susie Reid (Captain) Roehampton Club
Joy Tacon Roehampton Club
Alison Taylor Roehampton Club
Hayley Watts Limpfield

Reserves

Bim Newton TWC
Jane Burniston Surbiton

Nice so many Roehampton Club players involved and that Surrey bought home the win!

Roehampton Club Ladies vs. The Seniors of GB

September 4th 2024

Many thanks to the Roehampton Club Team: Mikaela Parker and Rosalind Vincent, Vanessa Walker and Susie Reid, Joy Tacon and Hannah Ward

On a glorious September afternoon, with our grass courts dazzling in the sunshine, we welcomed a team from The Seniors of GB Club. This ladies fixture comprised of three pairs and over two hours we played a set against each pair and the odd 10-point tie-break to continue playing whilst waiting for other matches to finish. As usual, this event was friendly but competitive! Roehampton Club managed to secure the win this time with 45 games to 33 (tie-breaks not included) but as always, several tight deuce games were played – the advantage landing in our favour this time.

Afterwards, a chatty and fun tea was enjoyed on the terrace with a thank you speech from Bim Newton, the Seniors’ Captain, and the traditional small gift handed to all Roehampton Club players. This year it was a key-ring with a bottle opener attached. Beer and tennis next time maybe?

Roehampton Club Men’s Team: National Champions

Over the weekend 7th – 8th September Roehampton Club travelled to Bournemouth to compete in the LTA National Open Finals where the Men’s 1st Team were crowned National Champions for the third year running!

Congratulations Michael Shaw, George Houghton, Alistair Grey, Alex Ward, Anton Matusevich and Nik Snapes (Captain)

The Seniors were hugely complementary about our fantastic grass courts. They took a team photo of themselves, and several other photos of themselves to record the day. It was a real treat for them and a good reminder to the home team about how lucky we are to have these special courts. They also enthused about the tea – and my thanks to the catering department for simply delicious sandwiches and the toasty warm scones straight from the oven. A big hit! With thanks also to Dan Lott for agreeing to this fixture.

Quadrangular at AELTC

For a recently established fixture, The All England invited a team from Roehampton to compete in The Quadrangular Tournament, along with players from The Queen’s Club and Hurlingham. On a stunning August afternoon, everyone was warmly welcomed by Dan Bloxham and offered refreshments on the member’s balcony before heading to the championship courts to battle it out.

In three groups of four pairs categorised by age, each team played the others with the novel format of a timed match of 30 minutes. We played as many games as we could in the time, tallying the number of games at the end. To keep it snappy, each deuce was a sudden death. The quality of tennis was exceptionally high, with the All England fielding Pat Cash. who very politely refrained from pulling out all the stops. He was utterly charming and very quick to apologise when an accidentally mis-fired serve nearly sliced me in two.

The event ended with dinner in The Champion’s Room with Dan thanking us all for taking part. When asked the scores, he replied it was all about the event and celebrating our great heritage of grass court tennis, not the scores. No results were given, but I am in no doubt that the All England walked away with the win.

It was a real honour to play on the championship courts at The All England. It is only because of our own wonderful grass court heritage that we get this special invitation. Long may this continue.

Thank you to our own Dan (Lott) for agreeing the fixture and asking us all to represent our wonderful club.

Match report written by Rosalind Vincent

Roehampton Club Team

Mikaela Parker and John Wixley, Rosalind Vincent and John Sinik, Hannah Ward and Richard Beim

Club Championships Finals Day and After Party

On Saturday 22nd June some of the Club’s top tennis players battled it out at this year’s Tennis Club Championships in glorious sunshine. Then, in the evening, Members got together for the tennis section prize-giving and afterparty with live music from Halfway to New York, outdoor bars and a delicious buffet.

Click here for the 2024 Tennis Club Championships Roll of Honour

Tennis WhatsApp Community

Join the Tennis WhatsApp Community to receive tennis updates via WhatsApp.
Open this link on your mobile phone: https://chat.whatsapp.com/G9ogkasvgRHBIqic0Pu4AT

Members using ball hoppers

If you use your own ball hooper to practice with your children, please ensure you only use courts 6 and 11 where netting runs across to separate the courts and stop balls going across and disturbing play on other courts.

Drinks in Indoor Courts

Please can all Members ensure only water is taken into the Indoor Courts. I have noticed more and more stains on the indoor surfaces from coffee and other drinks. Thank you.

Use of Ball Machines

Please note that the tennis committee have decided that the ball machine can now only be used on indoor courts at off peak times. Therefore between 9am and 12pm on weekends and 9am to 12pm and 4pm to 9pm on weekdays indoor court 1 should not be booked if you plan on using the ‘Slinger’ ball machine. The ball machines can be used at anytimes on the allocated outdoor courts which are courts 6 and 11.

National Champions 2023

Late September, Roehampton Club’s Mens and Ladies’ First Teams headed to Bournemouth in the bid to be crowned National Champions.

The Mens Team managed to retain the title with a great performance defeating Sutton in a repeat of last years final.

Mens Team

Charlie Broom, Lloyd Glasspool, Arthur Fery, Nik Snapes (Capt) George Houghton, Anton Matusevich

Unfortunately, the Ladies’ Team narrowly lost in the final to a very strong team from Sutton but put up a great fight in both the doubles matches and nearly took the match to a shootout.

Congratulations to all the players and captains for a great performance over the season.

Women’s team

Steph Cornish, Lucy Brown, Laura Deigman (Capt.) Georgie Axon, Amani Banks, Katie O’Brien

CTC Irish friendly Competition 2023

Roehampton Club Members travelled to Dublin to compete in the Irish CTC Competition at Carrickmines Tennis Club. The CTC competition involves all tennis clubs that are over 100 years old. Each year one of the clubs host various junior and adult competitions and friendly matches.

This year Roehampton Club competed against Winchester, Cumberland and Carrickmines. Overall the team finished second but more importantly had some fun evenings in Dublin!