Fresh off the back of their victorious first game of the season against Amherst, our men’s team visited Amherst’s St Leonard’s neighbours, The Green, last Saturday and claimed a draw.

Quietly tucked away in a leafy suburb, our men had the pleasure of playing on an acrylic surface, with the bounce and pace of tarmac, but a touch more grip which assisted spin. Conditions were excellent, with sunshine throughout and a very gentle breeze, punctuated with the odd shriek of a low flying seagull. Post-match, James Saunders and Marc Tossa agreed they needed to work on producing their best competitive game right from the start, as they lost an error-strewn first set 6-3. By contrast, James and Marc struck immediately in the second set, winning the first four games in quick succession and comfortably took the set 6-2. This left a deciding set, in which Marc and James eventually triumphed 6-3 - albeit somewhat nervously - as The Green climbed back from 5-1 to 5-3.

Concurrently on the other court, Roy Broad and the big serving Josh Cottingham played some excellent tennis against an experienced home pairing, with an expert net player.  Whilst there were close games, our pair just could not clinch the big points and lost their first rubber 6-1, 6-1.  However, having lost the first set 6-1 in their second rubber, there was considerable improvement when they managed to upset the superior home pairing to go 4-1 up in the second set. Unfortunately, Roy and Josh were unable to maintain their advantage and eventually lost the second set and therefore the rubber, 6-4.

Marc and James continued their winning ways in taking their second rubber 6-2, 6-3, which resulted in a draw and a fair result overall.

It was great to have the exceptionally able Marc Tossa on the team in his first competitive match for the club

James Saunders, Men's Sussex League captain