Warwick Boat Club men's doubles team finish top 8 in the UK!

For the first time, Warwick Boat Club Men's tennis team made it through to the National Premier League Finals, featuring the top 16 doubles teams in the UK.

The competition started early November 2019 in the West Midlands Region, with Cameron Malik captaining the team of Jack Smith, Callum Bailey, Paul Martin, Harry Lazell, Hugh Jaques, Pieter-Uys Barnard and Ben Summers. The teams competing against us were Edgbaston Archery, Ellesmere College, David Lloyd Solihull, Sutton Coldfield, Wolverhampton, Edgbaston Priory and Pershore. A special mention to Jack Smith and Callum Bailey who played every match making it possible for the team to get through to the National Finals!

The team for the finals were Junior National Champion - Harry Lazell, former Warwickshire County player - Callum Bailey, Performance Coach - Cameron Malik and Junior World No.22 - Felix Gill.

They defeated Leeds in their opening round in a tie-break shootout finale with captain Cameron Malik partnering Felix Gill winning 15-13 after saving match point to progress through to the Quarter Finals where they faced the No. 1 seeded reigning champions The Queen's Club featuring Marcus Willis as their star player.

Due to injury our second pairing were forced to retire their two matches which put all the pressure on our No. 1 pair. They won their first match in a 3rd set tie-break and then created a match point opportunity against Willis to level the tie taking it to another tie-break shootout but unfortunately were unable to land the final strike. Queen's went onto claim the title for a second consecutive year, but felt like they had a very lucky escape against our underdog team.

The tournament organiser was genuinely convinced we might go on to upsetting the odds with our star duo of Harry Lazell and Felix Gill looking like the strongest partnership of the finals with a shot at the National Title.

Warwick Boat Club are now firmly established as a team to look out for on a National scale and we strongly believe we can go on to claiming the title in the near future!