Tennis in Surrey Magazine 2016

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promotion Davis Cup Trophy Tour 2016 There it was, Great Britain had won the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936 and this magnificent trophy was coming to our shores. The LTA took the opportunity to showcase it and inspire people across the country to get involved in our great game. Throughout 2016, the LTA has worked closely with all County Associations and the British Tennis community to maximise the exposure of the Davis Cup Trophy to give thousands of new people the opportunity to be involved in a nationwide tour and to inspire and engage the next generation of junior players. Each county would be allocated a day on which to show the trophy. In addition to being on display at the Aegon Surbiton Trophy tournament in early June, our day was Wednesday 1 June with the trophy available to view in Kingston Market Place in the morning and at Pensford Tennis Club in the evening. During the morning event, coaches from Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club set up mini tennis courts in the middle of the Market Place and encouraged youngsters to get on court to try their hand at our wonderful sport. Of the evening event, Caroline Smee from Pensford TC writes: “It has been a pretty momentous year for PTC. One of the highlights must be being chosen to host the Davis Cup Trophy on its victory tour of the country. After winning the Aegon Surrey Club of the Year Award, the LTA decided we would be one of the clubs allowed to have the Trophy on our premises for an evening. The date was Wednesday 1 June, the time 5pm. Excitement mounted among the committee members who had volunteered to meet and greet this stunning, gleaming silver trophy. It duly arrived, with its own security guards, and safely enclosed in several designer suitcases. The base was enormous and wedding cakelike, bearing the names of all the victorious countries throughout the years, and the names of each of the members of the winning team. Finally, the Trophy itself was placed on top. The whole edifice, positioned in a special blue gazebo, was at last on show. “It was a very cold evening which may have deterred some people from attending. However, lots did come, including His Worship, the Mayor of Richmond, Cllr David Linnette, and Mayoress Pippa Linnette, and everyone enjoyed a convivial PTC open evening with tennis, food and drink, and of course, took hundreds of memorable trophy photographs. The only thing missing was Andy Murray himself!” We discovered that a third Surrey venue had been chosen at short notice to host the Trophy, which duly visited Wigmore Tennis Club in Streatham for the Great British Tennis Weekend Open Day on Sunday 17 July. More than 130 people visited Wigmore to view the historic Trophy and participate in their GBTW. 30 tennis in surrey 2016 facebook.com/TennisSurrey www.tennissurrey.org.uk photo: Tad Moyseowicz photo: Peter Hodsoll
Memories of 1936 Davis Cup Success In a year of Davis Cup Success, Frances Presley, wife of ex-Surrey President Ron Presley, recalls her memories of 1936. I was ten days old when Great Britain last won the Davis Cup which took place at Wimbledon in July 1936. The last time that GB had made the final was in 1978 and I was lucky enough to be there. We had watched the British team beat New Zealand in the semi-finals at Crystal Palace, one of those rare matches in which John Lloyd could do no wrong, and the rest of the team of David Lloyd, Buster Mottram and Mark Cox all played their part in winning through to the final. This was the famous occasion when one of the, rather more mature lady line judges fell asleep on her chair! Ron came home one evening in November and asked if I would like to go to the final which was to be held at Palm Springs, California, at the Country Club of Mission Hills. There were still four boys at home, the youngest being nine years old, but I had never been to California let alone to a major occasion like that. A call to my parents (what would we do without grandparents) and my mother, who was a great traveller, said “go, go go! December in that part of the world is all contrasts. In the day time the temperature rose to the 60’s and 70’s but once the sun had gone below the mountain range it plummeted to freezing and below. It was the first time that I had ever seen a mink coat being worn over a very upmarket track suit, and I found out what a condominium was. It was also strange to see all the Christmas decorations waving in the hot sun and then frozen stiff at night and I was introduced to ice sculpture in the form of swans floating on a lake. One morning we travelled up promotion the mountain in a cable car. There was snow about a foot deep and ski trails all over the place. You could look down to the valley and see people in shirt sleeves. This was the first time John McEnroe had played for the USA and he blasted his opponents off the court. In fact, John Lloyd mentioned when he was in Belgium, that he had never had to face such fierce hitting. Buster Mottram was the only GB player to win a match beating Brian Gottfried, and we lost 4 -1. When the matches continued after the sun had gone down, guess who departed to the warmth of the clubhouse and guess who were still sitting stoically outside! We were not then, the only ones with rather old line judges. One of our party was heard to say in a very loud voice when the line judges walked to their positions, ‘I see they have brought on the geriatrics then’ - not much change in that side of the Atlantic then, although I don’t think that would happen today. The hospitality of the Americans was quite outstanding. I had never seen such fantastic table spreads in my life and we were welcomed and entertained wherever we went. I have two abiding memories of the visit. The first was seeing Stan Smith put his very new baby son into the Davis Cup itself, at that time there were only two tiers underneath, now there are three. The other was a comment made by the then Chairman of the All England Club, Buzzer Hadingham, when he was watching a friendly between the LTA and the press. The LTA was winning and one of the press men, who hit a really poor shot, swore very loudly ending with “Jesus Christ’! Buzzer stood up and said, so that all could hear, ‘I don’t think that He will help you’. www.tennissurrey.org.uk Follow us on twitter @TennisInSurrey tennis in surrey 2016 31 photo: Tad Moyseowicz
Page 1 and 2: Crosshead 2016 Surrey coach wins Na
Page 3 and 4: Letter from the editor Another extr
Page 5 and 6: places Performance Squads and 2016
Page 7 and 8: people www.tennissurrey.org.uk Foll
Page 9 and 10: “A couple of days ago we were hav
Page 11 and 12: people Men’s 60: Chris Gotla, Ste
Page 13 and 14: people Denise Woods receives top aw
Page 15 and 16: people Successes I have had in rela
Page 17 and 18: cover story Danny Sapsford, Luke Mi
Page 19 and 20: cover story Amy Love the 1970’s.
Page 21 and 22: Graham and Jeremy Honorary Stewards
Page 23 and 24: people Celebration of Surrey Tennis
Page 25 and 26: county cup 12U Girls a great job pi
Page 27 and 28: promotion Success for Great Britain
Page 29: promotion fitness, fun and achievab
Page 33 and 34: promotion Aegon Team Tennis update
Page 35 and 36: promotion The ITF Woking Open Senio
Page 37 and 38: promotion 10U Boys 12U Girls xxxxxx
Page 39 and 40: esults Wimbledon Club 1 Roehampton

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