Royal Melbourne Tennis Club

The Royal Melbourne Tennis Club Newsletter – April 2009

Forthcoming Events:

May 3        – 100+ Years H’cap Doubles    May 16/17    – Exhibition Street Cup
May 22    – Empire Day Breakfast        May 23/24    – Sherwood Cup
May 30    – 2nd Quarterly Medal

RMTC wins Percy Finch 9-0 in Hobart

President’s Blog – Andrew Gould
The AGM is looming which means the end of my first year in the Chair.  It has been a busy time, particularly with the Boomerang in January.  You will receive the Annual Report and other papers in the next week or two, please make every effort to come to the AGM and trophy presentations to support our winners.  Oh yes, and the President will keep the tradition going of opening the bar after the meeting, so please come.

World Championship 2010
For those of you who have not seen the website, RMTC will be hosting the next World Championship.  The final challenge match is a best of 13 sets affair, provisionally set down for May 4, 6 and 8.  There will be 4 sets on each of the first 2 evenings and up to 5 if needed on the third day.  There will be an extensive social program as well as the opportunity to play in the World Championship handicap doubles and Pro Am, so mark this important week off in your diaries now.

Please note that overseas demand for seating will be high and the more popular areas (eg the dedans) may be subject to ballot, so when the application forms for tickets are released later in the year, get in early: it is most likely that the event will be a complete sellout.

Accounts in credit
The Member’s Handbook (issued 21 November 2007) Section 4 Accounts states: “Members who allow their account to remain overdue for 60 days or more will be denied use of the Club’s facilities” (my emphasis) and faces expulsion from the Club.  I know Christmas and Boomerang are busy times and it is easy to forget, but if short term memory loss is troubling you, keep the account in credit or arrange for an automatic credit card payment and it will never become a problem.

George Limb
George passed away on March 7 2009.  There are many tributes from all over the world on the Club’s website.  If you are a more recent member and never knew George please have a look in any case.  He was one of the founding fathers of our modern Club, and without his foresight (with Alan Hamer and Richard Allen particularly) we would not enjoy the facility we have today.

Ballarat 25th Anniversary
Ballarat held a four day celebration of tennis to mark its 25th anniversary.  Your President, Vice President and Chairman of Tennis represented RMTC on the court and also at the anniversary dinner where our historian Mike Garnett gave a very detailed speech about the history of their Club, and Doug Grant in a moment of great generosity or possibly insanity paid several thousand dollars for a club racket.  Well done to all concerned.

Knox Tournament
The annual Northrup Knox tournament is on again in its usual place – the third weekend in April.  This is a fantastic social handicap doubles tournament held in Aiken, South Carolina, on a beautiful Bickley court.  I’m going in another probably vain attempt to win, but I would like to take a group of players over there next year, either for this tournament or in August for the Pell Cup.  Our Club in the past has organised many overseas tours and we haven’t had one for near on 10 years, so if you feel like playing lots of tennis up and down the east coast of the USA let me know and I will start putting something together.

March Tennis

Percy Finch
Early in the month the RMTC took its top 6 players to Hobart to compete for the Percy Finch Trophy.  As the scores below suggest it was a one sided affair.  Winning 9-0 might be seen as returning the favour for previously over the last 10 years Hobart has been able to field a strong team and beat us 9-0 in 2001.  (Ed. – Alright, we’ve returned the favour.  We’ll play nice from now on. ☺)

Julian Snow def. Hilton Booth        6/1, 6/2.
Mike Happell def. Pat Dunne        6/0, 6/0
Mark Sayer def. John Howard        6/0, 6/3
Chris Sievers def. Nick Rooke        6/0, 6/1
Bret Richardson def. Graeme Holloway     6/2, 6/2
Jonnie Davies def. Greg Kerin        6/1, 6/0
Snow/Sievers def. Booth/Dunne        6/1, 6/3
Happell/Richardson def. Howard/Holloway 6/2, 6/0
Sayer/Davies def. Rooke/Kerin        6/0, 6/3

ARTA Australian Amateur Doubles

Happell/Richardson def. Sievers/Snow 6/4, 6/4, 6/1

Judith Clarke and Joan M Hayne
Continuing our winning ways the RMTC hosted and defeated the Hobart women’s team to win the Judith Clarke 9 rubbers to 3.  All the matches were competitive and the protagonists enjoyed themselves on court and over dinner.  In the Joan M Hayne Handicap Doubles Eryl Raymond and Anne Reed were victorious over Liz Eden and Christine Sterling 6/3.

Alice Wheeler lost to Eryl Raymond        2/6
Michelle O’Rorke lost to Raymond        1/6
O’Rorke & Lizzie Brown def. Christine Stirling & Anne Reed                         6/4
Julia Page & Wheeler def. Raymond & Liz Eden 6/3
O’Rorke & Page def. Stirling & Eden        6/1
Wheeler & Brown def. Raymond & Reed        6/5
Page def. Stirling                6/5
O’Rorke lost to Reed                5/6
Page def. Eden                    6/4
Brown def. Stirling                6/3
Brown def. Eden                6/0
Wheeler def. Reed                6/4

Richmond Cup
The final was a 2 hour epic during which Julia raced away to a 4/1 lead.  After a slow start Fiona levelled the score before Julia closed it out 6/5.  The second set began evenly before Fiona asserted herself (after a string of favourable mullets) 6/3.  Fiona won the final set using a cunning combination of Bobbles and lob serves in what was a memorable match and fitting finale to the event.

Semis & Final:
Fiona Hewson def. Peter Fenwick    1/6 6/0 6/2
Julia Page def. Roger Blythman        6/0, 6/2

Fiona Hewson def. Julia Page        5/6, 6/3, 6/2

Old Scholars
Sophie Johnson and Diane Rennard (Monash Uni.) showed early promise, overcoming a team on day release from the fashionable rehabilitation institution ‘The Priory’, Lizzie Brown and Andrew Schnaider in an easy contest.  The ever-improving James Gould took breaks from doing his VCE homework in the Committee Room to partner his steady father to a series of victories, only losing a set late in the round-robin section to Cora Trevarthen and Gerard Powell (Melbourne Uni.), by which time their place in the semi-finals had been assured.  The President follows a fine tradition of trophy-hunting by the leaders and senior committeemen of the Club.

Playing steadily all along was another team claiming to represent the University of Melbourne, Philip Barker and Robert French.  French found the length on his serves as the day progressed and volleyed athletically, while Barker (better known as Captain Sir Peregrine Brace-Girdle-Brace, Bt.) was uncharacteristically ruthless in his single-minded desire to win.

Meanwhile, Will McCahey and Nick Shelton, representing Melbourne Grammar, were conquering all before them.  Undefeated in the round-robin, they attributed their good play to a strict exercise and diet regime.  Russ Middleton and Bob Adams, representing “a Melbourne high school”, played some steady tennis, qualifying for the semi-finals.  Jeremy Howard and Josef Brunhuber (RMIT) and Evelyn Howard and Fiona Hewson had some mixed results, and narrowly missed out on qualifying.  The Oxford pair of Griffith, Q.C. and J.V.C. Guest elegantly lost every match so as to allow James more time to expound upon his latest theorems.

A delicious luncheon was taken outside and then the dedans filled with the remaining throng to watch the semi-finals.  In the first French and Barker (owe 15) took on Middleton and Adams (receive 30) and in the other it was the traditional Scotch v Melbourne Grammar contest of Gould and Gould against McCahey and Shelton.  Grammar (Ed. – Which Grammar?  Geelong Grammar!), buoyed by the victory in the Head of the River that day, was too strong for Scotch, winning 6/3.  In the other semi, the match was well-contested throughout and stood at 4 games all when Barker, his ruthlessness thinly disguised by an air of apparent nonchalance, switched into a higher gear and brought the set to an end 6/4.  French did not miss much, including some full stretch volleys at second gallery which Barker must have thought were for him to sweep at the back of the court.

By the final, between the University (owe half 15) and Grammar (love), the excitement reached fever-pitch.  The wine had been flowing freely for some time, and the dedans gave all players their full and enthusiastic support.  In the end, the well-practised cunning, guile and experience of French and near-sexagenarian Barker won the day 6/5.  McCahey and Shelton were gracious in their defeat; French appeared thrilled with the plaudits and the glory, while Barker attributed his newly-found application to his dictatorial haircut, modelled on the late Romanian autocrat Nicolae Ceauşescu.

Contact Editor:
oguest@bigpond.net.au