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The good weather continued and we even had the wind drop.

Plymstock’s men continued their good run of form with 69 points at Tavistock.

In the clash of the number 1 pairs, Tavistock’s Matt Smith showed some flashes of brilliance and Tim and Steve thought themselves lucky to edge the first set, albeit this is not reflected in the 6-3 score line. At the same time the Tavistock number two pair were 5-2 up, then Dave and Mark clawed it back and also won the set on a tie break. Tim and Steve found the second pairing a little easier but Dave and Mark were expecting a tougher test. They lost the first set but levelled in set two and won the breaker 10-5.

Dave receiving serve from Dom Floyd.

Come to this page for the rules, draw, news and results of this years competition.

Finals Day : Sunday 17th September.

Formats : Mens and Ladies Singles; Mens and Ladies Doubles; Mixed Doubles

Draw

There is a little seeding for the mens singles. Mostly the draw was random. The position in the draw affects, amongst other things, those who get a bye in the first round if the number of entrants is not a tidy number. In the doubles, all partnerships are random. You do not have to find a partner, we will do it for you. The draw will also assign each individual or pair with a position which will be used when and if players need to pick dates for ties. (See below in “schedule”).

Mens Singles

Ladies Singles

Ladies Doubles

Mens Doubles

Mixed Doubles

Schedule

During July and the first half of August, all players will be encouraged to arrange matches at times chosen for the convenience of all players. However, as we approach finals day, there will be strict requirements to complete matches by a given schedule.

Semi finals must be finished by Thursday 7th September
Quarter finals must be finished by Sunday 27th August
Round of 16 must be finished by Thursday 17th August

If we enter those 10-day periods above and it has not been possible to find mutually convenient times for ties, then one of the players/pairs will be tasked with offering at least two dates to the opposition. One of the dates must be on a weekend, one in the evening (avoiding existing bookings.) Other dates may be offered in addition. The other player or pair must then accept one of these dates or withdraw.

The player/pair who have to offer the two dates will be those nearer the top of the draw – randomly assigned in most cases.

Playing Rules

Best of three sets. Tie breaks at 6-6. The ties should be booked for a 90 minute slot on the club website. Deuces should be single point only. (This can be changed if all agree, subject to the limitations on time.)

Source http://www.pndtennis.org.uk/LeagueTables2023.pdf

On 30th May, the men played a week two match that had been rained off, away to Devonshire B. By some accounts we were struggling, score wise, when the first match was abandoned. However this time, with the same players, we edged the points, 44 to our 51.

The scoresheets, written on paper and then transcribed onto a spreadsheet, are often messy. Usually I take an image of the spreadsheet, which will be tidier. However this time I thought I would show the original.

Some comments added later by the Devonshire captain were as follows :

A super match with many games going the full distance, but it was the visitors who in the end eventually came out on top. The consistency of Randall and Bate was just too strong and this resulted in them achieving the glory of being the only undefeated partnership on the night. All matches enjoyed some spectacular rallies, a great evening of tennis and huge congratulations to the Plymstock A team for securing the win.

Two matches in as many days for the ladies. This was the Tavistock C squad who are in the same division as the D side we played earlier. We have also played their mixed doubles A team already !

Fortunately we have enough players to allow a little squad rotation, bringing Karen in for the first time.

The score as Tavistock 51 C: Plymstock 36

This match was postponed from the 9th May to the 23rd May. The ladies scored 59 points to Saltash 28.

Scores against Plymstock 1st pair do not highlight the good rallies and shots played by both Saltash pairs. Plymstock 2nd pair fought hard to achieve their win against Saltash 2nd pair and had some very, very long rallies and several deuce games in the 2nd set against Saltash 1st pair but couldnt quite finish the shots giving Saltash the win. We all learnt something today from octogenarian Pat Hexter, how to do a sliced, angled drop shot, sublime! Interesting tactic from Saltash supporter Chris Cansfield to put off Plymstock- eating fish and chips!

Sunday 14th May was a lovely day to play our P and D mixed doubles match away against Tavistock. Despite being beaten by both pairs Dave and Nicky had some great games with some hard hitting rallies. Their time playing together in the winter league showed through as they managed to improve on the number of games won when they played Tavistock last year. Tim and Jess managed to win a set off Tavistocks first pair but even with Tim playing some outstanding tennis they were eventually beaten in the final set. Great tennis enjoyed by all with a cup of tea and a lovely piece of homemade chocolate birthday cake in honour of Hilary from Tavistock to finish the event. All credit to Tavistock who fielded a very strong, friendly side and we wish them luck in the next round.

From the left : Phil Davis, Antony Constantio, Justin Sluce, Tim Randell, Martin Eyre, Mark Skerton, Chris King and Dave Bate.

The score was 72 Plymstock : 13 Newton and Noss

A closer match than the score suggests with some great rallies. The windy conditions made serving quite tricky but otherwise, a game played in fine summer conditions.

This match was played on Thursday, Ivybridge having kindly allowed us to delay from Monday so the new court paintwork could dry.

The score, as you can see, was Plymstock 63 : 33 Ivybridge.

This was close match, which the score doesn’t reflect, with some tense tie breaks played on a sunny summer evening. Occasional gusts of wind caused difficulty serving at times but this didn’t dampened the spirit of competition.

On a very nice evening the newly painted courts were used for the first time. The result was a win for Plymstock Ladies against Tavistock D by 58 points to 30.