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For those who do not know already, Wilton Tennis Club features in this month's ACE Tennis magazine.
Page 47, December 2006, Issue 116. Article reproduced below by kind permission of ACE Tennis magazine.
In this month’s match against a highly competitive south London club, it was Team ACE’s well-balanced pairings that kept the home side at bay
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The illustrious, if not always winning, Team ACE plays all sorts - from
teams representing the major racket brands to the masters of spin at
the House of Lords and Commons. But when it comes down to it, we often
have the most fun playing grassroots tennis clubs.
This month’s match was one such friendly but competitive encounter. We
took on Wilton Tennis Club in south Wimbledon. While the neighbouring
All England Club is the home of grass court tennis, Wilton boasts a
more modest four all-weather floodlit hard courts. Its competitive
tennis is all the more impressive for the small number of courts:
there are eight men’s teams, four ladies teams and a mixed team that
has just reached the last eight of the national nsight inter-club
competition.
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The ACE team comprised publisher Bridget Marrison, research assistant
Sarah Langford and two colleagues on loan from LTA departments who work
closely with ACE: George Donnelly from Events and Tournaments and Kevin
Coleman from Ratings.
The first of the evening’s matches were the men’s and ladies doubles. The ACE pairing of Kevin and George got off to a 5-0 flying start against Tim Barkey and Andy Vann. A mixture of power play from George and old-school guile from Kevin worked well against the good-cop bad-cop team of Tim and Andy, so well that they won the first set 6-2.
George and Kevin are both in training for marathons so when Tim and Andy stormed to a 5-2 lead in the second the ACEs took it in their stride, fighting back to clinch the second set 7-5.
The ladies doubles was also a close match, though Greta Musu and Jo Barkey of Wilton proved too strong for Bridget and Sarah. The new ACE pairing battled hard with Bridget holding her serve to love at 5-3 down but they made too many mistakes, allowing the solid home pairing to take the lead and finally win the match 6-4,6-4.
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The mixed matches saw George and Bridget pair up to face Greta and
Andy. Wilton attacked the net where they were very solid and difficult
to pass, which meant that Bridget’s usual baseline play wasn’t
effective: final score - 6-2,6-2 to Wilton. The second mixed match saw
the ACE debuting duo of Sarah and Kevin face married pairing Jo and
Tim. Sarah and Kevin proved too strong with Kevin playing some amazing
topspin lob winners. This time ACE secured the 6-2,6-2 win.
At two matches all, the fixture was determined an honourable draw. A
pleasing result in light of the tough competition, although a win would
have been great. To round off an enjoyable evening, Kay Crooks, the
Ladies Captain, laid on a superb supper.
Thanks to Kay, the Wilton players and Terry Oaks, the Club Secretary,
for organising and overseeing a fantastic evening of tennis.
ACE Coaching Editor, Heather Purchase, says:
"A perfect doubles pairing comprises two people whose styles complement
each other. On the night it would seem that ACE’s George and Kevin
gelled superbly. George’s power play kept the opposition on the back
foot as did Kevin’s guile and tenacity - particularly his use of the
topspin lob which had the Wilton players climbing the back netting. An
honourable draw on this occasion was a fair result."
Team ACE v Wilton LTC
Kevin Coleman & George Donnelly bt Tim Barkey & Andy Vann 6-2,7-5; Greta
Musu & Jo Barkey bt Bridget Marrison & Sarah Langford 6-4,6-4; Greta & Andy bt Bridget & George 6-2,6-2; Sarah & Kevin bt Jo & Tim 6-2,6-2
DECEMBER 2006 ACE TENNIS PAGE 47 Issue 116
http://www.acemag.co.uk
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