Author: David Aldridge

Finals Day – Raffle Winners

Thanks to all who took part in our raffle and of course to those who donated a prize. The raffle tickets were drawn by Michael Reik and Hannah Cohen. We raised £351 which is much appreciated.

The winners are shown below.

PRIZE	WINNER
2 Tickets for Watford FC v team of your choice	Steve Bird
2 Tickets for Arsenal v West Brom	Irving Leaderman
Bottle of Champagne	Melvin Robinson
Remy Martin Champagne Cognac	Alan Miller
1.5L bottle of Faustino V Rioja	Max Black
Meal for 2 at Friends Restaurant Pinner	Tony Blake

This is the first of a number of posts covering finals day that will be uploaded in the coming week.

By 8.30 am yesterday, a number of helpers were busy getting the club set up.

At 9.30 the first match was underway, the ladies doubles, with Stephanie and Simone playing against Aga and Ellie.

The sun was already out and thankfully, the weather played its part and we were bathed in warm sunshine for the duration.

The day was a great success, some really great tennis was played, and all who attended seemed to enjoy themselves. A special thank you to all who helped set up and clear up afterwards, and of course to Hannah who again produced a fabulous lunch.

More details and photos of each match will be posted soon but in the meantime, here are the full results.

 

Event	Winners	Runners Up
Men’s Singles	Ricky Roberts	Musti Sherzai
Mens Doubles	Musti Sherzai & Ricky Fox	Brian Klitzner & Rob Taub
Vets Mens Doubles	Nick Slater and Jurek Swiacki	Brian Klitzner & Stephen Carlin
Vets Mens Singles	Brian Klitzner	Steve Parnell
Mixed Doubles	Ricky Roberts & Ellie Black	Steve Parnell & Dorethea Laurencia
Ladies Singles	Ellie Black	Michelle Kurer
Ladies Doubles	Ellie Black & Aga Ornoch	Stephanie Reitman & Simone Posner
Boys Singles	Ben Sweiry	Alex Floyd
Boys Doubles	Ben Brill & Alex Floyd	David Amor & Oliver Duggan
Girls Singles	Georgia Black	Isabel Black

The Drive Annual Tournaments’ Finals day and Lunch is  on Sunday 2nd July.
The day is the highlight of The Drive’s calendar and all Members, Family & Friends are invited to come along and support.

The exact scheduling for the day will be advised in due course, but the first final will commence at 10am with the day expected to end around 4pm.

As there are so many finals taking place, all the courts are reserved for these tournament matches and there will be NO courts available for social tennis that Sunday.

All Members and their guests are invited to our fabulous complimentary buffet lunch, and refreshments will be available all day as usual.
Please email secretary@thedrivetennisclub.org ASAP and let us know if you are having lunch and how many guests you are bringing, so we can cater accordingly.

In addition the Drive is delighted to be holding a raffle that day to raise additional funds for the club. The prizes will include 2 tickets to an Arsenal Football home game & 2 tickets to a Watford Football home game.

It would be great if any adult members could volunteer to help on court that day, umpiring, calling lines etc. Please email secretary@thedrivetennisclub.org if you are able to help.

Looking forward to seeing you

 

Match :
The Drive I v Brampton I
Tuesday 6th June at home

Squad :
Aga and Ellie
Emma and Katy
Simone and Stephanie

Result:
Win for The Drive 18-6

Despite a rain filled and very blustery day, the match went ahead.
With 2 false starts due to the rain, we finally managed to play all the sets in reasonable conditions.
The courts had drained quite well and although the balls were fairly heavy, there was very little spray and even some sun!

This is a team who we has previously beaten us comfortably and so we were prepared for a competitive match.

Aga and Ellie ( even with an ankle sprain) won all their sets and were an excellent first pair. They are very powerful players and there are probably not many pairs in the division who will beat them.

Emma played her first match this season. This was a new partnership with Katy and they played very well together holding off 4 match points against them to win one of their sets.

Steph and I – who know each other’s game pretty well (!!) enjoyed some great tennis and we just missed out on winning a third set.

A very friendly team, good sportsmanship throughout the evening, good food…

Well done to all.

Simone Posner – Captain

It won’t surprise any of you that we go through a significant number of balls during the course of a  year.

Whilst, new balls are used again by coaches and for junior activities, they do have a limited life.

Thanks to Nabeel,  we now have an arrangement with a third party that recycle old tennis balls and pay us for the privilege.

Old balls are saved in special bags and then dropped off at a collection centre and we get paid.

Our first set of bags has now been despatched and the money received and we will make this a regular process.

In the meantime, if you have any balls at home that you want to pass onto us for recycling, please bring them in and deposit them in the ball buckets in the clubhouse.

Matches are gradually being completed and the latest draw position can be seen by clicking on the relevant link below

Mens Singles

Mens Doubles

Ladies Singles

Ladies Doubles

Mixed Doubles

Mens Vets Singles

Mens Vets Doubles

Mens Super Vets Doubles

Round	Deadline
First and Second Round	Sunday 11 June 2017
Quarter Finals	Sunday 18 June 2017
Semi Finals	Friday 30 June 2017

All of our finals will be played on Finals Day, which this year is on Sunday 2 July 2017. All members (and friends and family) are welcome on the day to watch all of the finals, and last year we had a great atmosphere for all of the players and spectators.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please email Steve Parnell.

The Drive LTC’s annual club championships draws have been made and have both been put up in the clubhouse near the new vending machine and are also available online (below).

Please can you ensure that you play your matches by the below deadlines.

Round	Deadline
First and Second Round	Sunday 11 June 2017
Quarter Finals	Sunday 18 June 2017
Semi Finals	Friday 30 June 2017

All of our finals will be played on Finals Day, which this year is on Sunday 2 July 2017. All members (and friends and family) are welcome on the day to watch all of the finals, and last year we had a great atmosphere for all of the players and spectators.

Good luck, and if you have any questions, please email Steve Parnell.

Mens Singles

Mens Doubles

Ladies Singles

Ladies Doubles

Mixed Doubles

Mens Vets Singles

Mens Vets Doubles

Mens Super Vets Doubles

 

Match: The Drive IV vs The Drive V

Date: Wednesday 24 May 2017

The Drive IV Team

David Boddenstein & Farruh Shermatov
Aryel Abrahami & Nabeel Thakur (c)
Mark Hirschel & Evi Otobo

The Drive V Team

Simon Millet (c) & Martin Stone

Steve Bird & Abe Sweiry

Gerry Bass & Neil Miller

Score: The Drive IV won 18-6

As we have two teams in the same league, we have to play each other within the first two matches days to ensure no match fixing takes place towards the end of the season.

Fortunately, there was never any chance of that happening. Both teams were determined to win and really put their all into this match, both putting out strong teams.

It was a great day for tennis. Sunny all evening, and with temperatures hitting 25 degrees and with little breeze, a lovely evening ensued.

The fourth team were a little stronger on the night, but all of the sets were incredibly tight, and well fought (even the set Aryel and Nabeel won 6-0).

The fourth team has recently been reformed to have a slightly younger feel to it, and it was just as well, as the fifths made the fourths do a lot of running!

The pairing of the night has to go to Steve Bird & Abe Sweiry who played fantastically well, especially Steve, a new member, who won many plaudits from all 11 players, and Marc, our Adult Coach, for his steady and excellent performance.

Both teams will be hoping for promotion this year, and if the performances on Wednesday evening were anything to go by, it is a great possibility to happen!

The fourths next play away against Kenlyn (but will be played at The Drive due to court restrictions) on Wednesday 7 June and the fifths next play at home against David Lloyd Finchley IV on Thursday 8 June, in matches where hopefully both teams will maintain their high positions in the table.

 

Match : Brondesbury v The Drive I- away

Team :

Ellie and Dorothea

Simone and Laurel

Steph and Michelle

Score: The Drive won 14-10

A good match in fairly windy conditions.

Brondesbury have a strong team. I recall playing there 2-3 years ago and losing so it was nice to get a good result.

Last night several of the sets were very close and all the 3 pairs in the last round shared the points ( 1 set each)

Great to have a young first pair with Ellie and Dorothea getting 3 out of 4 sets.

The rest of us are a bit  ( well a lot more!) older but we all played well

A good start to the season but I know that  there are some very tough matches ahead- keep practising!

Simone