Swansea Tennis and Squash Club Tennis Championships 2023

In early July the Club Championships kicked off with a bang, bigger and better than ever before. We had a massive 280 entries across 29 events. The largest club championships in the history of the club.

For 2023 we added several new events to try to further increase opportunities for club members to take part.

We introduced more junior events, a mixed doubles open and the veterans ‘100 Club’ events. All events went down well amongst our members and were all well supported.

We also invested in new club championship cups for all main events. In juts two years we now have a full set of cups that we as a club can be proud to hand out and display in the clubhouse.

Like last year we structured events to include back draws, plates, bowls and shield draws. This was to ensure we delivered the most inclusive club championships in the club’s history.

The competition created a massive buzz on the courts, in the bar and across our social media platforms. There seemed to be exciting matches taking place daily over a 7 week period. To have so many club members keen to complete shows how far the tennis section has developed over recent years.

It’s also worth mentioning how much the standard of play across the club had improved from the 2022 event. The tennis section is flying and long may it continue.

We would like to thank every member who entered. You all contributed to making this year’s event a massive success. We hope you all enjoyed the event and are looking forward to the 2024 championships.

Club Championships Statistics -

280 Entries.

29 events.

20 Club Champions.

7 weeks of competitive tennis.

Over 500 matches completed.

84 took home trophies  given out on finals day.

Finals Day- Saturday 16th of September 2023

What an incredible day at the club. It showcased what our special little club has to offer. A stunning venue, amazing members, a diverse membership and high quality tennis. 

We had a massive 29 finals to decide on the day. Matches kicked off at 12pm with the last match finishing around 7pm. We had 60 different finalist who all brought along a few supporters to pack the balcony and grounds out all afternoon.

All finalists were asked to bring along a plate of food for the buffet and boy did they not disappoint. This kept everyone at the club fed throughout the afternoons play.

The weather played ball and the standard of play had stepped up from the 2022 finals day. Players turned up prepared and ready to produce their best tennis. It was nice to sit back and watch so many great matches being played out in a competitive but also friendly manner.

A special mention for all the players who were in multiple finals, in some cases a few individuals were required to play 3 matches in one afternoon. Incredible effort.

Pictures and video clips can be seen on the clubs social media pages. Please ‘like’, ‘share’ or ‘comment’.

Evening meal- Finals day was capped off with an evening meal and drinks to celebrate a successful adult summer team season. All captains and players were invited with Thai Bach producing an incredible feast for all. It was a great way to end the day. It was lovely to see so many faces from all sections of the club having a drink and enjoying in the clubhouse.

There were some real stand out performances on the day-

Young Jacob P winning the men’s plate against an inspired Lee Watkins was one highlight. A cracking effort from both players.

Dave A playing alongside his former secondary school PE teacher Judy. Wwinning the mixed doubles event. Beating heavy favourites Geoff and Jenny in the final was the biggest upset of the day.

Another highlight was Max Tew having his own barmy army supporting him in each of his matches. Max was easily the fans favourite on the day.

The ladies doubles final was also a real good watch. The quality on display was outstanding. Well done ladies.

The juniors finals produced some inspired tennis and with some great matches being played out. The boys under 18 doubles final was epic. Ella winning the under 18 girls event was an amazing feat. The younger age categories loved the whole experience, especially walking away with a trophy.

I must mention our Men’s and Ladies champions. Henry and Tesni.

Firstly, Tesni who’s arguably playing some of her best tennis lately. Tesni seems to be picking up trophies in every event she enters at the moment. She was too strong for the field this year and produced a solid display in the final to take home the brand new ladies trophy. Congratulations Tesni.

Henry who has won the event once in previous years was back for 2023 and with that came the tag of heavy favourite. He blitz through the 40 man strong draw never really coming out of second gear, until the final. David A rolled back the years in the final to take Henry as deep as he could. Henry certainly knew he was in a match and found himself 8-3 down in the championship tie-break before an incredible fightback saw him take the match 10-8. Amazing resilience and a brilliant match to watch. Congratulations Henry.

We have a few people to thank -

David Allnatt – A quick thank you to Dave for taking care of the score sheets inside the clubhouse. Regularly printing off new draws and updating results.

Justin Nemeth – Justin deserves a large pat on the back for the massive effort he put in behind the bar on clubs finals day. It was near enough a 13 hour day for Justin. He did not stop all day and was a huge reason why finals day run so smoothly. Well done Justin and Thank you from all the finalists.

YC Sports – We must thank Jean from YC Sports for delivering an excellent racket demo afternoon. It was a great opportunity for members to try out new rackets before purchasing. YC sports will be back around mid March for any members who wish to try out some rackets.

Coaching Team - We would like to thank our amazing coaching team who all volunteered to help run junior events through the summer period. All coaches were on hand on finals day to make sure the event run smoothly. Holly Reason, Rhys Meredith, Zoe Parsell, Gethin Morgan, James Williams, James O’brien and Angela Bannister. You guys smashed it yet again.

Tesni Metcalfe – Tesni deserves a huge thank you for sourcing and donating 4 amazing trophies/cups to be used for the ladies and mixes doubles events. They  really are quite impressive.

Tesni was also instrumental in sorting the evening meal out with Thai Bach ensuring 50 plus people were all well fed for the evenings entertainment. Thank you Tesni.

Thai Bach – We also thank club member Hugh Griffiths and his partner Primi for preparing stunning food for the evenings activities. Thank you.

Stephen Davies and Carol Gregory – We would like to thank Stephen Davies and Carol Gregory who both very kindly provided us with two rather large donations. Amazing generosity.

Stephen’s donation has gone towards the new ladies singles cup.

Carol’s donation has gone towards the men’s doubles Cup, the under 18’s girls Cup and under 18 boys cup.

Players and Finalists - The biggest thank you has to go to everyone who entered this year’s competition. We should also mention and thank all the finalists who tuned up and gave it their all on the day. All matches were well contested and played in a fun and friendly manner. Thank you all.

Club Tennis Championships 2024 –

We are already making plans to improve next year’s club championships. We would like to hear from you with any ideas you may have to help us improve the event. Please email David.acetennisacademy@yahoo.co.uk with your suggestions. Below are a few suggestion that have already been received and noted.

• BBQ / Pizza Oven on Finals day.
• Live streaming of finals day via club website and social media platforms.
• More veteran events.
• Two tier American doubles event with one event targeting social players at the club.
• The need for a display cabinet in the club for the new cups.
• Online roll of honours list.
• Introduce further social events – options include a chopper grip event, a pickle ball event or a handicap doubles event.
• Increase age of 100 club event from 100 to 120.

Click Here for a full list of winners/runners up.

We are already looking forward to next years event. We hope you are all excited to compete once again.