Day 1

Another great day at Rocket Padel in Bristol with so many close matches but still looking for that elusive win. First up was Surrey with GB 040 player Ali and Claire, Head Tennis coach at Charterhouse, only for Stuart & Sarah to take the first set comfortably and then eventually go down 2/1. Simon & Ines had some close games but slowly succumbed in straight sets…but starting to play match style Padel.

The second Mixed against Gloucestershire should have gone better. Stuart & Sarah lost out narrowly but events started to look better with Simon & Ines having two set points only to let it slip through their fingers but put up a great fight ….also going down in straight sets.

The Ladies showed better fortunes starting with Sussex…. with the match at 1 each…a super tie breaker to 10 with one player from each pair….so off went Sarah & rookie Natalie and after a good start went down 11/9 to Sussex which would have been a great win.

Next up was Essex the top seeds with Sarah & Ines facing two GB players…giving away to many years to a more experienced pair they fought well with some good rallies. Then Kerry & Natalie took on another GB player and having found the net position on many occasions just didn’t quite convert, but once again they can be proud of their performance overall.

Day 2 - Somerset Ladies are go!

An early morning start saw Sarah & Ines chauffeur driven to Rocket for a “good warm up” before the big match vs the Channel Island… only for them to be seen loitering for bargains in the shop before being whisked onto the court for the warm up with Kerry & Natalie.

So equipped with a few tactics, our first pair went on facing UK top 20 over 40 player Emma and her partner. They competed well but the more experienced opposition went one up only for our 2nd pair Kerry & Natalie to come through in two close sets to bring on the Super tie break to decide. 

Cue the Captains 2nd big call of the weekend… “we” went with Natalie & Sarah again and with a 4/1 start thoughts of in the bag were creeping in only to be left with a score of 7/6 up and with the wobble behind them they closed out brilliantly to 8…  and our first 040 big W…way to go Somerset.

No time for any celebration as Suffolk were waiting to go straight on but with one player short and no experienced players we gained our 2nd win in a row.

So after 4 matches we could have finished 2nd in the group only for that two point differential in the super tie break with Sussex. 

Still an amazing achievement and one I'm sure we can build on for the Open event in November. 

Thanks to the team for getting together for our practice sessions as it’s not easy on a four hour round trip. 

Stuart Farrar, Somerset Team Captain