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Friday 4 March 2016

Six Journey to Malmo for Swedish Adventure

It didn’t take long for some of our more seasoned regulars to get enticed over the Channel for an international Racketlon tournament. In fact, it took just two World Tour events. Malmo, Sweden was the destination for our six competitors as they took part in the IWT Casino Heroes Swedish Open. Will Coley, Jon Spinks, Jonny Wan and James Watkins had all previously ventured abroad to a combination of Belgium, Malta and the Czech Republic but for Harry Courtney and Sam Wilson it was an overseas debut.

They say good things come in pairs and to some extent that is definitely true. Not only were our guys paired up in different singles grades – (Coley and Watkins in Mens B, Spinks and Wanny in Mens C and Buddle and Wilson in Mens D) – but they were also all together in the doubles.

Mens A Doubles

Coley and Watkins were in Mens A doubles action and faced a tough opening match against Swedish pair Emil Gunnarsson and Mikael Rehn. They were always up against it facing the A graders and the difference told as they lost before the tennis.

In their second match though the Notts duo cranked it up a gear against a pair consisting of an A and B grader to win 19-21 21-12 21-9 3-3 (+19) and finish an extremely respectable joint 9th.

Mens B Doubles

It was an altogether different affair in the B though, as our power couples failed to place any wins on the board.

They may have won the title for ‘best dressed pair’ but that is where their doubles prowess ended. Despite being seeded sixth, Wanny and Spinks were unable to get a victory. After a bye to the second round a pair of Germans dished out a +21 victory to them in their first match. Their last was a closer affair, losing by just 3 to a strong Swedish pair.

Christening themselves the ‘most ridiculous pair’ in Malmo, Harry and Sam opened the whole tournament as they stepped onto court  on Friday afternoon. Unfortunately getting an early start didn’t mean getting ahead of the competition as they fell to a pair of Johansson’s by 21. As with Jon and Jonny, the second was a tighter affair, with Harry and Sam losing by just 9, despite dishing out a badminton masterclass. Despite not winning a match, the two pairs can claim to have not lost a badminton tie.

Mens B Singles

It was a tale of what could have been in the Mens B, as Will lost narrowly in the quarter-finals to the eventual winner, Patrick Lorenz. Coley only lost by four and pushed Patrick closer than anybody else did. Even so, the star of Nottingham Racketlon was clearly keen to make a name for himself on the International stage, eventually finishing 6th after two victories and two losses, one place better than his seeding of 7th. A superb tournament for Will!

James was seeded two spots higher than Will in 5th but exited a stage earlier in a gruelling contest which saw him accurately describe Racketlon tennis as ‘vile’. The final score was 21-15 12-21 21-15 19-20 to see him lose by just 2 points. He won his second match by 9 before losing his third by 16 to another pesky Swede. Unfortunately James was forced to withdraw from his final match due to a totally not self-inflicted wall-punching incident.
Mens C Singles

In the Mens C it was a case of absolute Swedish domination as no other nation made it to the second round. That includes our two participants, Wanny and Spinks who both fell in the first round. The perk of these defeats was that the two met in the first round of the plate in a rematch of last year’s University B Grade final, which Wanny won.

This time was an even tighter affair. Spinks took the table-tennis 21-2 before Wanny responded with a 21-8 defeat. In a Trent vs Uni affair, Wanny then produced a great squash display to take it 21-11 and need just 18 in tennis. He made it as far as 17 but Spinks made it to 21 first, forcing a gummi arm. Spinks was forced to serve and after having a number of chances he finally put it away to continue his 100% gummi arm record. Unfortunately the toils of the day took its toll on Spinks as he celebrated by throwing up on his own shoes.

Spinks built on his win over Wanny with a huge victory in his next round but then lost his penultimate match. This left him battling for 19-20 but unfortunately illness struck again and he was forced to withdraw. Wanny went one better, winning his next two matches before falling to the seventh seed to finish 26th.

Mens D Singles

Forget Jesper Ratzer. People travelled to Malmo to see one match in particular. Sam Wilson vs Harry Courtney in the first round of the Mens D. The big one. The dream debut tie. Would Harry win again? Could Sam claim his first victory? No. No he couldn’t. Harry won again.
Harry actually had a strong debut international tournament... against British players. After losing to back to back Swedes he then faced fellow Brit Christohper Bates and won by 21 points, needing just 2 points in tennis to finish in 7th.

In fact, Nottingham had a good record against the Bates family with Sam winning his second match by 12 against Russell Bates. Sam did especially well considering he had to recover from a 21-0 bagel defeat in the table-tennis. In his final match the Swedes continued to prove irritating hosts as Daniel Soderstrom defeated Sam to finish up in 10th position.

Next up for our Nottingham troops is a trip to Batley for the 3rd Yorkshire Open. Will Coley, Harry Courtney, Greg Eden, Matt Lau, Adil Patel, Jon Spinks, Jake Tetley and Jonny Wan are already signed up to make the trip but with entry closing on Thursday 10th March you need to get your entry in soon to join them!

For a more personal insight into the tournament in Malmo, give Jon Spinks' blog a read.


Tuesday 17 November 2015

Nottingham Open - An Alternative Review

So that is it. The 2015 UK Racketlon Tour has officially come to an end. And what a year it has been!

Sixteen events on the calender, an excellent international tournament in Malta and a fresh new, regular face in the organising team have helped make this a great year for Racketlon around the UK.

The sixteenth and final event on this year's jam-packed calender saw the Tour head to Nottingham - (or no-man's land as far as the potential Racketlon Ryder Cup is concerned).

The tournament certainly had a little bit of everything.

Outrageous backhands, bizarre quiz questions, queues, unreliable lighting, queues, expletive-laden rants, some more queues, multiple gumi arm finals, and (eventually) a Racketlon TV appearance cover just a few of the memories to take away from the David Lloyd in West Bridgeford.
Okay, so the tournament certainly had some teething issues. Everyone loves a bit of recovery time after a badminton match but that might have been taken to the extreme this weekend.

But it's all a learning process and hopefully there won't be a repeat of these mistakes when we return to the venue early in 2016.

So rather than focus on the negative, let's enjoy some of the more memorable moments from the weekend.

Best Match

I feel slightly under qualified for this one having not seen a single match being played but then what is Tournament Software good for if not eagerly scanning results for several days after. The Men's C quarter-final encounter between Stuart Stanyan and Lee Gregson looked tasty, with Stuart holding off Lee's booming serves to win by four.

You also won't find a closer contest than the Women's B Singles match between Cambridge's Ruby Marsden and Jessica Pham which ended 23-21 17-21 17-21 21-17 to give Ruby a victory of just +2. If that isn't getting your money's worth then I don't know what is.

But I am going to highlight the Men's C and D Singles finals which remarkably both finished on gumi arms. Of those two, I am going to pick the C final as my best match, as Geoff Woods did incredibly well to, not only keep George Hargreaves below the 10 that he needed, but also saved a number of match points to force the gummi arm. Top work from the Notts pair.

Highlight of the Tournament

Highlight of the tournament? This might be highlight of the year! During the wonderful new one point extravaganza, a round two clash between Johnny Bispham and Will Gregson is where we head.

Picture the scene. Bispham, full of confidence, steps up to serve. Moments later the ball flies straight back past him. Will Gregon, 13 years old I might add, hit the most audacious backhand return off the Bispham serve, straight back past him. Outrageous. One that will be remembered for a long time, and young Master Gregson has certainly earned himself some admirers!

For Johnny it was to cap off a miserable weekend after his shocking inability to answer a quiz question about his idol and dream date Jesper Ratzer in Saturday's quiz.

Local Hero

Take your pick. It was a massively successful tournament for the Nottingham contingent who took home six trophies between them. Nottingham players reached the finals of five of the six doubles tournaments entered with a special mention for Jonny Wan who won the lottery doubles (partner Will Coley) and the Men's B Doubles (partner Jon Spinks).
But it was Wanny's lottery doubles partner, Will, who takes home the Local Hero award after claiming his first ever A Grade singles title - all the more special for earning it on home soil. Will is arguably well on the way to cementing himself among some of Nottingham's other sporting heroes such as boxer Carl Froch and archery enthusiast, Robin Hood. 2016 is going to be a huge year for our curly-haired friend. Watch this space.

Dream Team

You would forgive George Roberts for feeling slightly unloved after both myself and Ramon Miles ditched him as doubles partner over the past few weeks - (both because of injuries - certainly not because we feared he'd be too hungover to turn up....).
Step up rising star David Bennett. The common expression in life is third time lucky and it certainly seemed that way with George's choice in partner as David carried George (not literally) to a Doubles C title - comfortably dispatching the Gregsons and the Tetleys en route.

Most Outrageous Moment - (Unofficially) Sponsored by Cisk

Straight out of the 'Sam Barker School of Stupid Tennis Decisions That Somehow Pay Off', comes the conclusion to the first (of many... maybe) one point extravaganza competition. James Pope vs Dan Busby. Pope has put his first serve in the net to effectively leave a gummi situation.

Now it's a well known fact that, unless you're Dustin Brown, a serve-and-volley on a second serve is effectively tennis court suicide. That would never stop The Butler though, who served up a successful moment of madness when he intercepted Busby's passing shot to volley home the winner. An A+ for sheer boldness/stupidity from me. #WWSBD
Shortest Debutant

Spare a thought for Adarsh Shah who might have broken a record for the shortest time participating in a debut Racketlon tournament.

The only good thing that can be said is that he just about completed the table-tennis. However, during badminton a knee injury has left the poor debutant on crutches.
We wish you well and hopefully will see you back fighting fit again in the future... maybe even on a squash court!

We are Family

One thing that can certainly be said for the Nottingham Open is that it was very much a family affair. As well as some of our regular family units - the Russell sisters and parent/child pairings of the Gregsons and the Shelleys - a number of new and returning families descended on Nottingham.

The Tetleys, Bens and the Wans made a welcome return to the tour as a group after one or two previous solo tournaments, whilst there were debuts for certain members of the Gillot and Hopwood clan.

Perhaps the stand-out family though were the Woodliffes, especially dad Mark, who blew away the field to win the Over 45s and then backed that up with a devastating doubles performance alongside son, Ben.

Obviously there has to be a special mention for the Whitemans, turning out in force - (with honorary members Mark Harris and I) - for Saturday evening's quiz. We'll ignore the fact that we came third, only beating (unsurpsingly) the Trent table.

Good luck to those playing in Prague and to everyone else, check out the 2016 Tour as it develops!

Not sure what Racketlon is? Find out more information here.

Saturday 14 November 2015

Bernard Tomic - Quiet Progress in a Turbulent Year

Australia has dominated the tennis headlines this year. Mostly for the wrong reasons.

Nick Kyrgios and Bernard Tomic have found themselves in trouble with just about everyone in 2015 and even managed to drag unwitting pal Thanasi Kokkinakis into it earlier in the year.

Whilst their off-court antics have been eagerly documented, their on-court actions have sometimes been overlooked - especially in the case of Bernard Tomic.

Despite his run-in with the law in Miami earlier this year and his explosive rant at Tennis Australia during Wimbledon, Tomic has had a year of steady, progressive improvement.

An impressive run of ten quarter-finals across...

Click here for the full article.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

Things Learnt From the China Open

As the covers are pulled over the China Open for another year, we ar eleft with just enough time to reflect on another intriguing tournament as the tennis world heads towards the end of year Finals.

Beijing really is Novak Djokovic's home from home... or is it Shanghai?

There is just something about the hard courts of Beijing that Novak Djokovic has warned to. Twenty-nine matches, six titles, not a single defeat. That is a pretty sensational record, but perhaps more worringly for his opposition is that nobody even came close to him this week...

Click here to read the full article.

Tuesday 29 September 2015

Can Johanna Konta Spark Heather Watson Back Into Life

Another first round, another defeat for Heather Watson as she bowed out of the Korea Open last week against Elizaveta Kulichkova, and again on Monday against Jelena Jankovic. She has five first round defeats in her last six tournaments.

Since coming within two points of defeating Serena Williams on the grass of Wimbledon, the Guernsey-born Brit has failed to build any momentum, taking just three wins in Toronto back in August.

More worringly for Watson will be that lady-luck does seem to have been shining on her. In all five tournaments Watson has drawn players of a lower ranking and...

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Thursday 3 September 2015

Is Eugenie Bouchard Ending Her Terrible Run of Form

Eugenie Bouchard has finally showed glimpses of the form that carried her to last year's Wimbledon final after a turgid 2015 season which has seen her lose 14 of her last 17 matches.

After reaching the Australian Open and French Open semi-finals alongside her Wimbledon final in 2014, the young Canadian scooped up the WTA's Most Improved Player award, just a year after collecting the Best Newcomer Award. Her hugely succesful breakout year also saw her collect one title in Germany on the way to a career high #5, earning herself a qualification spot for the end of year tour...

Click here to read the full story.

Wednesday 2 September 2015

5 Players Who Could Prevent Serena Williams from Reaching the US Open Final

In case by some miracle you have managed to miss it, Serena Williams might be about to create history. Her Wimbledon crown saw her pocket her second so-called 'Serena Slam' but now her attention is fully focused on becoming just the fourth female players to complete the calender Grand Slam.

The younger Williams sister is just six victories away from her 22nd Grand Slam title which will put her level with Steffi Graf and just two behind Margaret Court who has won the most Grand Slam titles of all time.

A number of shocks on the opening day...

Click here to read the full article.