Westway Sports Centre Tennis Courts

Tomas: Lots of great rallies, thanks Jake!

Jake: Great game early in the morning, solid serving from Tomas!

Nick: Well done! Long and hot battle!

Jake: Great game, really enjoyed it and the score line certainly doesn’t reflect the reality, with probably the longest game of my life that had about 12 duces!! Thanks Fotis

Misha: It was a much closer game than the score shows. Amazing winners from Oliver in the third unofficial set that he won. Cheers man and good luck with the rest

Oliver: Great game until my serve piled in, well played misha

Jake: Thanks so much for the game Ryan. Really enjoyed it

Ryan: Good match despite the wet conditions!

David: Update: almost two weeks later, we returned to Paddington Recreation Ground on a glorious Wednesday evening in the sunshine! We also saw our fellow competitors, Spike and Isabel, who were playing their match at the same time! What a coincidence! Trailing 6-5 in the second set, Fotis roared into a 30-0 lead with two emphatic winners but I turned the tables and eventually won the game to force a tie-break! However, Fotis dominated the tie-break and won 7-2 to set up - you guessed it - another tie-break to decide the match! I think that’s the first time I’ve ever played a conventional tie-break followed by a match tie-break! The match tie-break ebbed and flowed as we both attempted to gain the upper hand! The rallies were long and ferocious as we both cancelled each other out and the score was beautifully poised at 8-8. I squandered my fourth match-point at 9-8 as Fotis made it 9-9. Fotis won the next point but I saved match-point for the first time to level up at 10-10. I hit a clean winner to move 11-10 ahead and gain a fifth match-point but Fotis recovered well and won the next three points moments before the lights went out to clinch an epic victory after two hours and 40 minutes of tennis! Well played Fotis! It was a ridiculously tight match but you held your nerve under extreme pressure and deserved your win! I hope we can meet again next time but we might have to book a court for three hours! A thrilling match with Fotis on a pristine indoor court at Westway Sports Centre! We battled it out for two hours and still couldn’t find a winner before closing time! When the clock struck 10pm, we were asked to leave and trudged out quickly, hoping we wouldn’t be locked in overnight! Who knows? We might have been playing all night to find a victor! I started strongly in the first set and took a 5-0 lead which wasn’t a true reflection of the tennis. We both fought hard and I was extremely fortunate after hitting umpteen net cords! For the record, I apologised after each one! To his credit, Fotis came roaring back and reduced the deficit to 5-3 without even giving me a set-point! Eventually I somehow recovered from 40-0 down in the ninth game to clinch the first set and avoid a nervy ending! I moved 2-0 ahead in a spellbinding second set but Fotis turned the tables and made it 3-2. We traded games and the score was subsequently locked at 4-4! I won the next game to edge closer to victory and then a marathon 10th game followed at 5-4. The rallies seemed to last forever and I failed to convert three match-points after some magnificent first serves and persistence from Fotis! One rally went on for at least 25 shots but I blinked first and dumped a forehand wide. Fotis finally levelled up at 5-5 and broke my serve in the next game to lead 6-5 before we ran out of time! Well played Fotis! You played every match-point superbly and didn’t give me a sniff! You showed some exceptional fighting qualities under pressure and our match is far from over! I’m looking forward to completing our match! To be continued…