RMTC WEEKLY NEWS – APRIL 12

Lunches are on!
Plan your life around lunch, that’s our motto here and twice a week this means that your life should revolve around the Royal Melbourne Tennis Club. Wednesday and Friday we have Evie in the kitchen preparing delightful delicacies for all and sundry. Invite your friends, colleagues and anyone who should see the strange game we play to enjoy the hospitality of our club.

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UPCOMING TOURNAMENTS

ANZAC Day Tournament – Sat 25 Apr
We will be running a tournament in the afternoon on ANZAC Day. It is open to 12 players of 40+ handicap and will run from 12 noon. Call the pro shop or sign up on the board in the club.

RMTC vs MCCRTS Interclub Match – Sun 30 Apr
We are looking for a good team of players from RMTC to show the upstarts from the MCC Real Tennis Section how the game is really played. Players of all abilities are invited to join the team, sign up or call us in the pro shop.

Exhibition St Cup – Fri-Sun 5-7 May
Open to players of any and all handicap, sign up to test yourself against the best players in the club. Knockout singles with all first-round losers going into a doubles draw, or just sign up for doubles. Sign up in the club or ring the pro shop.
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Tournament Reports

Sydney Real Tennis Club Championships
The club championships were played at RMTC over the 7/8/9^th of April. On behalf of the Sydney Club, I would like to start by thanking the President of RMTC and the committee for allowing us to use the club to hold our championships. We felt truly privileged to have access to the courts for the 3 days and once again marveled at what an extraordinary club you are all lucky enough to belong to. I would also like to thank the Pros for everything they did to make the weekend such a success including organising the draws, teaching the newcomers, ordering the trophies and for ensuring everything went to plan.

Seventeen players registered to play however Sav Cremona was forced to drop out on the morning of the event due to injury and Chris Cooper rolled his ankle in his first singles match. After 46 matches, we finished at 15.00 on Sunday afternoon with a host of divisional champions for singles and doubles. Hamish Oates walked off with the Club Championship Trophy for the top player of the weekend.

One of the main objectives of the event is to encourage new players to have a weekend of lessons and matches. This year we had three complete newcomers who picked up racquets for the first time on either Friday evening or Saturday morning and all acquitted themselves remarkably well. In the end, all of them played in at least one final. As a club with no court, being able to introduce new players over a weekend like this is invaluable for us.

Along with the tennis, we were able to join in on the RMTC social night on the Friday and be dazzled by Lizzie Brown’s cuisine and company. We then had a marvellous dinner in the club rooms on Saturday prepared by Liza’s Larder at which our club President David Pinsent handed out a selection of awards he had picked up at the $2 shop that all players had to wear for their first game on the Sunday morning. Dick Crane became so attached to his tutu that he wore it all day was still wearing it when he won the club handicap singles in the last match of the day!

We would love to do it all again next year if allowed back and once more thank you for allowing us to rekindle our love for the game, introduce new young players and to cherish the camaraderie built over such a marvellous weekend.

James Willis