Barn Elms Sports Trust Tennis Courts

Antra: Wind and rain played a bit of a spoil sport today, but great game with Federico! We had some nice close rallies! All the best for the rest of the matches

Federico: Great match with Antra today despite the wind! Some nice rallies and you really deserved to win, good luck for the rest of the league!

Michael: Tom is an awesome guy and player! Great match.

Tom: Great match, and some really good rallies! Michael was fantastic and was terrific fun to play.

David: Update: around 12 days later, we resumed our battle at the crack of dawn! Unlike last time, we were bathed in sunshine and played under glorious blue skies at Barnes! Conditions were perfect! Trailing 5-2 in the second set, I needed a miracle but refused to go down without a fight! After some excellent exchanges, I eventually held my serve and reduced the deficit to 5-3. Tony led 40-15 in the ninth game and was on the verge of victory but I struck a winner and then claimed the next point to keep my slim hopes alive! However, I failed to return a deep forehand after colliding with the fence at the back of the court and then dumped a tame backhand into the net to give Tony a deserved but hard-fought win! Well played Tony! You did the damage last time and gave me too much to do! Keep up the good work and best of luck in the rest of the league! An enjoyable match with Tony on a wet and slightly windy Monday evening at Wandsworth Common! Throughout the day, we both had a close eye on the weather forecast! It was dry for most of the day but rain was predicted at around 6pm, the start time of our match! Fortunately, the skies were clear when we arrived. The opening game was a marathon and Tony finally held serve after a number of deuces. I levelled up at 1-1 but Tony took control and accelerated into a 5-1 lead. Although I reduced the deficit to 5-2, Tony eventually claimed a long ninth game to clinch the opening set! Tony started the second set strongly and made early inroads! It was soon 3-0 and I was facing a heavy defeat. Somehow I began to click into gear and hauled myself back into contention at 3-2 with some more aggressive and purposeful forehands. Unfortunately, the heavens began to open and conditions became slippery. Unfazed by the rain, Tony was in his element and wrestled back control with some excellent groundstrokes. It was effectively over at 5-2 but the rain soon hammered down and we had no choice to run for cover and end the match! Well played Tony! You were undoubtedly the better player and you look well set to earn a third successive win in our head-to-head battle! Hope we play in better weather next time! To be continued…

Tony: This result doesn’t reflect how close the game was. It could’ve gone either way easily. Long rallies and the wind made it tougher but was a great day to play tennis. Richard’s first serves are great and it took me some change in strategy to get back in the 2nd set.

Richard: Exhausting game with plenty of long rallies. Fun match!

Tom: Niall completely killed it! It was a lot of fun, very sociable and friendly