The Paul Singleton Cup 2020 and 2021

Well, we beat off the threat of Covid-19 and came back with a bang. After thirty months of enforced break, the Paul Singleton Cup returned with some new faces destined to be wheelchair tennis stars here at Grantham Tennis Club & Gym.

This year I would like to say a huge thank you to LAC Groundworks Ltd, who provided full sponsorship for the tournament and our new hoodies. We had a great turnout but sadly lacked non-disabled players. The only rule there is for entry is that you have to play in a tennis wheelchair!

We were joined by Miss Martha Harris, a rising star in the performance training programme at the National Tennis Centre, playing in the singles division. However, Martha only narrowly won against our Grantham Tennis Club & Gym local Darren Whitlock by one game.

Our Junior Division was the most exciting. Our two new prospects in the game are Miss Izzy Collier and Miss Alice Dyer. They not only deserved a medal for arriving due to their health conditions, they then went on to slug it out against each other. The match was decided by one game. Izzy fought hard. The score reached 20 games all, so they then played a tie break to seven to determine the champion. This ended at seven all, so a brief pause was taken and then the match was decided by one normal tennis game. Alice Dyer prevailed. With that determination from them both, the future looks very bright for wheelchair tennis.

Finally, the doubles division was again won by Martha Harris, with Izzy Collier as her doubles partner. They played against the cup's namesake Mr Paul Singleton, our coach, who was amazed at everyone's progress in playing the great game of tennis.

If that wasn’t enough, everyone in wheelchairs took on the parents during these battles, as well as Grantham Tennis Club & Gym's top ladies doubles pair, at hitting as many cones as you can with ten serves each. Needless to say, victory was ours!

All the players would like to thank our host Grantham Tennis Club & Gym, and Neil Rossiter for organising The Paul Singleton Cup since its inception.