TENNIS: Rugby Evening Classic sees 166 matches played over five evenings

After weeks of rain, there was finally a decent spell of weather for Rugby Lawn Tennis Club’s annual tournament ‘The Rugby Evening Classic’.

This tournament is always held after school in the Warwickshire schools term time. Even though just about every school in the country was back for the week of the tournament, it still attracted over 70 players from 17 counties (including players from as far afield as Yorkshire, Middlesex and South Wales).

The players from Rugby LTC more than held their own against the visiting players. In the under 9s mixed event William Reading won the boys silver medal, coming 4th overall and Diya Dhokia was overall winner of the event.

In the Under 10s boys’ Danny Robinson and William Gower just missed out on a placing, coming 4th and 5th. The winner was Joshua from Nuneaton. Rugby’s Emily Green and Diya Dhokia both performed well in the Under 10 Girls’ event; the winner was Georgiana from Hertfordshire.

There was local success to celebrate in the under 12 boys’ event with Daniel Garthwaite, Raheem Shahzada and Alfie Offord coming 1st, 3rd and 4th respectively (second placed was Chase from Lincolnshire).

The under 12 girls’ event was won by Isabella Cockrell from Leicestershire.

In the 14 boys’ event William Garthwaite reached the final, where he met Ivan who regularly plays in national events. Although William didn’t win the match, he did manage to take one of the sets to a tie break which was a notable achievement.

The 14s girls’ event was won by Lottie from Surrey, another national player. Rugby’s Samantha Delleman was 6th and her sister Lily won the consolation event.

Under 18 girls’ winner was Roisin from Leicester. Rugby’s Ben Stuchbury was very narrowly beaten in the final of the 18s boys by Leicestershire player Jobim. Ben also played some great tennis to reach the men’s final three nights later, where he lost after a high-quality match to Joel from Nottingham.

Overall 166 matches were played over the five evenings, many in warm sunshine and some under floodlights. Referee Kathryn Heathcote would like to thank all the volunteers and helpers who make this event possible (especially the army of panini makers!). There were some excellent matches on display over the week and Rugby LTC looks forward to hosting the event again this time next year.