TENNIS REPORT 2008/2009
The 2008/2009 season was another successful time for the Cumberland's tennis section. The section includes over 1,000 adult and junior members who played a huge amount of competitive and social tennis over the last 12 months. I set out below the main highlights from the 2008/2009 season.

Team Tennis - Middlesex League and Cup
In 2008 the Cumberland fielded a total of nine teams in the Middlesex Leagues - five men'sand four women's.

The Club had some notable successes. In particular the women's 1st team (captained by Caroline Jones) were champions of the Premier Division for yet another year. The women's 1st team also regained their hold on the Middlesex cup, winning it back for the 13th time in 14 years. Congratulations to Tilly Callow, Lena Keothavong, Caroline Jones (captain), Susie Dart, Laura Pursall and Gillian Card who beat Globe 5-1 in the final.

The Cumberland were also champions of the Middlesex Winter Mixed competition. Well done again to Caroline Jones (captain), Flint Sperber, Tilly Callow, Paul Smart, Susie Dart and Simon Curtis who beat Hazelwood 5-1 in the final.

The women's 2nd team (captained by Jemima Morris and Anna Baldwin) performed very well over the course of the season and gained promotion to the Middlesex Premier Division. The women's 3rd team (captained by Helen Stoker) retained their position in the Middlesex Intermediate Division and the fourth team (captain by Marilyn Brooks) retained their place in Division 2. Many congratulations to all the women's teams on a very successful season

The men's 1st team (captained by Colin Taylor) retained its position in the Premier Division. The Cumberland was the only Club with two men's teams in the Middlesex Premier Division in 2008 and unfortunately the men's 2nd team (captained by Ed Bottrill) were relegated to Division 1. The men's third team (captained by James Churchman) were also narrowly relegated to the division 2. Both the men's 4th team (captained by Seb Stones) and the men's 5th team (captained by Mike Marsh) maintained their positions in leagues 2 and 3 respectively. The men's 1st team (captain Colin Taylor) were unfortunately knocked out by a strong Paddington team early in the Middlesex Cup competition.

The men's 5th team and the women's 4th team continue to offer opportunities to the Club's up and coming juniors to make the transition from junior to senior league tennis. As far as possible juniors are paired with more experienced players which is particularly helpful to juniors developing their doubles skills.

Team Tennis - National Club League
In 2008 there was one men's team and two women's teams from the Cumberland participating in the National Club League (4 singles and 2 doubles per match). The women's 1st team (captain Alice Rhemtulla) performed very well to gain promotion to National Division 1. The men's team (captain Adam Boucher) retained their position in National Division 2. The women's 2nd team (captain Michelle Barber) also retained their position in National Division 2.

Team Tennis - Team Organisation and Match Scheduling
The Cumberland is proud of its traditionally strong teams and the depth of talent that the Club attracts. In order to run successful teams, the captains have to spend a great deal of time organising players by telephone and e-mail. We are grateful for their efforts. We are also very grateful to Peta Churchman in the Club office who carries out tireless work assisting the captains and liaising with other clubs and the various league secretaries.

The Club tries very hard to ensure that only one home match is played at any one time and this is the position for the vast majority of matches. However, on a small number of occasions clashes are unavoidable. In particular, under the NCL's Rules, matches have to be played on particular Sundays. Within these constraints the Club makes every effort to agree staggered start times with opposition teams. In addition, in 2008 the women's 2nd NCL team played all their matches away from home. That will continue to be the case in 2009.

Social Tennis
Wednesday Club night remained a very popular and a well attended part of the Club's activities with around 100 members attending on some evenings in the summer. Our thanks to the coaches who organise the pairings which aim to ensure that everyone enjoys a good mix of tennis over the course of the evening.

During the summer, acrylic courts 1, 2 and 3 were block booked between 3 and 5pm for Saturday Club afternoon. During the winter months, when the clocks changed, Saturday Club afternoon was retained on courts 4 and 5 between 1.30pm and 3.30pm. These times have now been in operation for 2 seasons and while there are still opposing views for and against Saturday Club afternoon, the Main Committee and Tennis Sub-Committee consider these times to strike a fair balance for the time being.

During 2008 the Club's American Tournaments again proved popular with members, with all of these social tournaments being fully subscribed. As well as adult tournaments, there was a mixed adult and junior tournament on the May Bank Holiday Monday, which will be repeated in 2009 in view of its success. My thanks to the coaches who have taken the time and skill to organise such enjoyable social events for members.

British Tennis Membership
In 2008 the LTA introduced a stipulation for all affiliated clubs that Wimbledon tickets would only be allocated on the basis of the number club members who were also members of British Tennis. In order to ensure that the Club preserved its allocation of tickets, and to make joining easier for members, the Main Committee and Club Office organised a block-booking of Cumberland members with British Tennis. I am pleased to say that with the Cumberland's members now registered with British Tennis, our allocation of Wimbledon tickets has been preserved for 2009. Membership of British Tennis will remain free until 2012.

Coaching
In 2008 the Club was delighted to welcome David Turfrey as an addition to the Club's dedicated team of coaches. David is assistant to Head Coach Chris Bradnam who continues to provide the very popular Tennis School throughout the year. David is an exceptionally experienced coach having previously worked at the Nick Bollettieri tennis academy in Florida and coached and travelled with some of the world's leading junior players. David has introduced a number of new squads for our junior players, which include detailed fitness programs. David has also introduced mid-week squads for adult players. The feedback from members about the Club's coaching program is very positive and our thanks to Chris, David and all the coaches for the time and effort they put into these programs.

In 2008 a detailed review of the terms on which coaches coach at the Club was undertaken. These were finalised in September 2008 and as part of these terms "Coaching Schedules" were agreed which set out when and where coaches are entitled to coach throughout the tennis year. These schedules are posted on the tennis notice board.

The 2008 Club Championships
The Cumberland Tennis Championships took place over 2 weeks between 5th to 19th July 2008. With 13 events in a two week period, a substantial amount of organisation was needed. Our thanks in that regard to Mike Marsh (tournament referee), Peta Churchman and all those who put in time and effort assisting them manning the phones and the tournament desk, including Marilyn Brooks and Anna Hay. After a damp start, the weather was, fortunately, fine and all matches completed, save for one that had to be played the following day. The finals were followed by a very enjoyable cocktail party. In 2009 the Club Championships will take place between Saturday 4 and Saturday 18 July.

Congratulations to all the winners in 2008 and in particular Harriet Dart, winner of the women's singles final, our youngest champion ever, and Pierre Pourquery winner of the men's singles. The full results of the 2008 Championships were as follows:

Men's Open Singles
Pierre Pourquery beat Colin Taylor 6-3, 6-4

Women's Open Singles
Harriet Dart beat Gemma O'Donoghue 6-3, 6-1

Men's Open Doubles
Colin Taylor and Flint Sperber beat Rajiv Batra and Russell Howat 6-3, 6-3

Women's Open Doubles
Not played this year

Mixed Open Doubles
Gillian Card and John Taylor beat Harriet Dart and Paul Smart 6-4, 6-4

Men's 45 Singles
Russell Howat beat Rajiv Batra 6-3, 6-4

Women's 40 Singles
Michelle Barber beat Lisa Gershon 5-7, 6-4, 11-9

Men's 45 Doubles
Philip Ells and Steve Gershon beat Mike Marsh and Barry Skelding 6-4, 6-4

Men's handicap singles
Farooq Jafray beat Jonathan Potter 6-1, 6-2

Women's handicap singles
Gemma O'Donoghue beat Yukiko Komachi 6-4, 6-4

Men's handicap doubles
Daniel Hill and Serge Krouglikoff beat Richard Jacobs and Nigel Jacobs 6-2, 6-3

Women's handicap doubles
Ros Krouglikoff and Katie Mehl beat Helen Maher and Suzanne Butah 6-2, 6-3

Mixed handicap doubles
Gemma O'Donoghue and Adriaan Commandeur beat Jo Warren and Mike Taub 6-3, 6-4.

Tennis Leagues
As well as the Club Championships, competitive tennis is available to members through the very popular leagues that are efficiently managed and run by Chris Bradnam. In 2008 approximately 200 members participated in over 25 different leagues. Thanks also to Alex Edwards for all the work he does updating the leagues on the Club's website (www.cltc- hcc.com). Indeed, thanks to Alex the Club's website contains a host of up to date information with regular postings of notices, information concerning up coming events, coaching schedules, fixture lists, tournament results and other useful information.

Junior Tennis
Thanks to the great efforts of Marilyn Brooks, Nicki Siddall, Caroline Cohen, Jennifer Labrom, David Kilbourn, Liz Shinder, Susie Dart, David Turfrey and Chris Bradnam on the Junior Tennis Committee, the juniors who had another successful year of junior tennis in 2008.

Junior club night continued on Friday evenings (May to mid-July and September to October) and remains popular particularly during the warmer months. The end of season junior dinner in November was a great success and was attended by around 100 people. The Club was delighted that British number 2 Alex Bogdanovich was guest speaker this year. Alex gave an inspirational speech, participated in a question and answer session and presented prizes to the tournament finalists and winners of the Bill Blake awards.

Congratulations to the following winners of the Bill Blake awards for 2008:
* Endeavour: Andrew Rozanov
* Sportsmanship: David Pourquery
* Most Improved: Ben Jones & Seth Dunford


The junior tournament was played over a number of weeks in September and October 2008. Well done to all those who competed and congratulations to the finalists and winners of the various events:
Boys' singles under 12: Ben Jones beat Sasha Foss 6-1, 6-0
Girls' singles under 12: Phoebe Dart beat Naomi Labrom 7-6, 6-3
Boys' singles under 14: Toby Cohen beat Ben Jones 6-1, 6-0
Girls' singles under 14: Anustasia Leonovich beat Ellie Jacobs 6-1, 6-2.
Boys' singles under 16: Ben Brooks beat Andrej Jovicic 6-4, 7-6.
Girls' singles under 16: Anustasia Leonovich beat Ellie Jacobs 6-3, 6-1.
Boys' singles under 18: Ben Brooks beat Alex Labrom 6-3, 7-6.
Girls' singles under 18: Emilie Abrams beat Joanna Siddall 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.
Mixed Open: Ed Curtis and Phoebe Dart beat James Kilbourn and Lorna Hitchcock 6-3, 7-5

In 2008 there were regularly over 60 juniors participating in the Club's junior tennis leagues which cover all ages and standards and serve as an introduction to competitive tennis. A number of the juniors who have risen to the top of these leagues pass into the adult leagues and are given opportunities to play in the men's 5th and women's 4th teams.

In 2008 the Cumberland fielded 5 junior teams in the Middlesex Junior National Club League (2 girls' teams and 3 boys' teams).

2008 was the first full year where the increased court time for juniors was in force. I am pleased to say that this worked well and will continue into 2009. By way of reminder:
* All juniors have equal access to HCC 6, 7 and 8 at all times.
* Up to 10 memberships per year are available to children under 8 years of age (green disc) which entitles them to play on HCC Courts 1-5 only under the supervision of a parent who is also a member of the Club. All applicants for such memberships must pass a playing in test run by the Chris Bradnam Tennis School.

Congratulations to the following juniors who have either represented Middlesex or been invited to county training: Ben Jones, David Pourquery, Andrew Rozanov, Finley Mcfadden, Tom Skinner, Olivier Brown, Nanami Yamaguchi, Kueraha Yamaguchi, Olivia Cox and Phoebe Dart. Congratulations also to Harriet Dart who represented Great Britain in 2008 and took up a place at Bisham Abbey. This is a fantastic achievement and we wish all our juniors success in 2009.

Also, a word of thanks to Colin Taylor, men's first team captain, who has introduced adult and junior sessions on Sunday evenings to integrate the Club's up and coming juniors into adult team tennis. These have been very popular and lay the foundations for younger players to represent the Club's adult teams.

Association of Centenary Clubs
The Cumberland continued its active participation as a member of the Association of Centenary Tennis Clubs ("ACC") (www.centenarytennisclubs.com). The Cumberland was a founder member of the ACC in 1995 under a constitution which prescribes that members must be member owned, at least 100 years old, host international and/or open tournaments and offer tennis for juniors, club players and teams of high standard.

At the AGM in Lausanne in November 2008, Club President Donald Macleod was voted on to the management committee of the ACC. Donald and Brian Hatton continue to represent the Club's interests in this prestigious Association, and our thanks to them for their continued commitment. One of the benefits of membership of the ACC is the reciprocal visiting rights between member clubs - by prior written agreement between Club managers, members may visit and use the facilities of another ACC member-club while on overseas travel.

In August 2009 the Cumberland will be participating in a boys and girls ACC international U12 junior tournament hosted by Carrickmines Tennis Club in Ireland. Other Association Clubs from Spain and the Czech Republic will also be attending.

The Eleanor Caplin Trust
In addition to the Friday and Sunday squads, in 2008 the second summer tennis camp for children from local state schools took place at the end of July. Children from Beckford Primary, Holy Trinity Primary and St Mary's Primary participated in tennis coaching sessions on the HCC artificial grass courts. The coaching was provided by the Club's regular coaching professionals under the guidance of head coach Chris Bradnam. The sessions introduced a very enthusiastic group of young people to the game of tennis and were a great success. It is planned to repeat this coaching programme in 2009.

The LTA Futures Tournament
The Cumberland was again the proud host of an LTA Futures Tournament for some of the world's up and coming stars of the future. The tournament was again successfully refereed by our own Sultan Gangji. The men's event was won by British player Daniel Evans (world ranked 1129) who beat Sweden's Daniel Danilovic (world ranked 977) 3-6, 7-6, 6-4. The women's event was won by Britain's Anna Smith (world ranked 370) who beat Canada's Rebecca Marino (world ranked 635) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

I am delighted to say that both the men's and women's tournament will return again to the Cumberland between Saturday 29 August and Sunday 6 September 2009.

Facilities
In order to maintain playing surfaces in top condition the Club invested in two pieces of machinery. The first was a roller and water-extracting machine for the grass courts. This extracts dampness from the grass courts at an impressive rate rendering them playable much sooner after rain. The second was a mechanical cleaner and brush for the Sportilan courts. This extracts moss and algae from the courts and straightens the pile. The Sportilan courts are now treated every week with this machine and the playing surface has improved considerably. The Club is very fortunate to have Steve and his team to maintain all the playing surfaces in such good condition.

The Cumberland's Staff
In order for the Cumberland to provide its members with outstanding tennis facilities and related fitness and social facilities it relies very heavily on its committed members of staff.

Almost all members will at some point in 2008 have enjoyed the dining facilities managed by Robbie and Adriana. Our thanks to them for their efficient management and to all the staff who help make the Club's dining facilities a success.

Thanks also to those who coach at the Club. Many members from both the junior and senior sections take the opportunity to improve their games with coaching provided by the Club's range of coaches under the management of Chris Bradnam.

Overseeing all of the Cumberland's various tennis-related facilities are Michelle and Peta in the office. Their contribution to the smooth running of the Cumberland cannot be overstated. The work carried out by the office covers all of the matters outlined above plus a huge amount of other day to day work that keeps the Cumberland running smoothly.

We are very lucky to have such a hard working and loyal staff. Without their efforts the Club would not be the place it is.

Finally ...
Finally, I would like to thank those who have given their time this year on the Tennis Sub-Committee: Marilyn Brooks, Ivan Ezekiel, Caroline Jones, Chris Bradnam, David Turfrey, Michelle Wheeler and Peta Churchman. If you have any tennis related issues, please do not hesitate to raise these with a member of the Tennis Sub- Committee.

John Taylor
Chairman of the Tennis Sub-Committee