Middlesex Summer League: Chiswick v Twickenham II

On Thursday, the Chiswick men’s team played their first Middlesex League match of the season. The opposition was Twickenham II, who we hadn’t played before, although we’d played their 3rd team a few years ago. The Chiswick team was strong: first pair Ed and Barnaby, second pair Nat and Hugo, third pair Scott and Riccardo.

In the first round, Nat and Hugo immediately started well, beating the opposition first pair, the diminutive opposition skipper Chris and his solid but unspectacular partner Phil, 6-3, Hugo producing some excellent strokes and massive serves, Nat lively at the net and getting everything back from the baseline. Scott and Riccardo lost to a strong Twickenham 2nd pair, Clinton and Jamie, who were good at the net, put away all their overheads, and were also aggressive from the baseline, 3-6. Barnaby and Ed started slowly against young big-hitter Leo and his much older and less dangerous partner, Damian, going 1-4 down before the Chiswick pair got it back to 4-4, then faltered again and lost 4-6.

Score after the first round: Chiswick 2- Twickenham 4.

In the second round, Ed and Barnaby got trounced by Clinton and Jamie 0-6, but Scott and Riccardo played well against Chris and Phil, just losing 4-6. Hugo and Nat continued their solid form, beating Leo and Damian 6-3.

Score after the second round: Chiswick 4- Twickenham 8.

In the final round, Barnaby and Ed were playing better against tired-looking opponents, Chris and Phil, but kept letting their opponents off the hook with wobbly volleys, poor lobs, and loose returns of serve, losing 3-6, 2-6. Hugo and Nat continued their excellent form, beating Clinton and Jamie 6-2, 6-4. Scott and Riccardo were 4-2 up against Leo and Damian but their opponents came back to win 6-7, 4-6.

Final score: Chiswick 8- Twickenham 16.

Really well done to Hugo and Nat for their excellent tennis all evening. Unfortunately the rest of the Chiswick team weren’t able to match their level, and need to work on a bit of consistency as well as doubles strategy/ decision making.

Match supper was gluten free thin crust pizza with salad, but the real breaking news was that no beer was drunk all evening: what a team of athletes! 

My nomination for man of the match is Hugo: well played!

National League: Eastcote v Chiswick

Our first round match in the National League against Harrow Baptist TC had been close, we’d tied 6-6, with some excellent tennis, especially by man of the match Niklas Manthey,  but then Ed made a mistake by misreading the rules and we ended up not playing a shootout and had to concede the match 6-7 

Our next match, on May Bank Holiday Sunday, was first of all notable for the fact that almost the entire membership of Chiswick TC was away for the bank holiday. The Chiswick skipper spent a frantic Saturday sending text messages to everyone in his phonebook, was considering asking Jo Martin to don a moustache and go by the name of Joseph, and even got coach Christian calling up his mini reds to see if they could play, but unfortunately they were all busy with business meetings which could not be moved. Eventually, Riccardo offered to fly back from Rome for the day to help us out, what a superb example of commitment and team loyalty! Tristan Rowick, a new member, also showed excellent commitment, making his way straight from a nephew’s birthday party to play the match, joining Riccardo, Ed and Nat at Eastcote LTC, hidden in a Harrow council estate, but furnished with some quite nice astro courts- not a combination of words I have been known to utter before, but the balls actually did bounce ok on them.

In the singles round, Riccardo and Tristan had tough matches against their flat-hitting opponents, but Nat won an excellent match against opposition player number 1, 6-4, 7-5. Ed had a chance at 5-4 up against Giv in the first set, but his opponent held serve and then broke , taking the match 5-7, 1-6.

Score after the singles round: Eastcote 6- Chiswick 2.

In the doubles, Nat and Riccardo battled well but lost their match 1-6, 1-6. Tristan and Ed, who hadn’t played together before, improved as they went on, losing the first set 0-6, but from 1-5 down in the second, dug in, played some really good doubles, and were on the verge of mounting a great comeback, before going down 3-6. 

Final score: Eastcote 10- Chiswick 2.

The Eastcote team offered us some manky biscuits (not even a cup of tea), the Chiswick team got the message and didn’t stick around, managing to exit the estate with hubcaps still attached, albeit Nat’s car started making a squeaking sound, as though in protest at being brought to such unsalubrious surroundings.

Joking aside, this was actually a good match for us, the opponents were strong, and even though the result was disappointing, the Chiswick players’ performance was at a very good level. Nat’s win in the singles was an outstanding, Tristan’s doubles play was excellent, but of course my man of the match award has to go to Riccardo, for his superb commitment and team loyalty, travelling all the way over from Rome for the match