Ealing winners – Bob & Gill (Group 2), Penny & Ray (Group 1), Merete & Richard (Group3)

Ealing competitors sneak outside in between the showers

Mixed Doubles
Organiser: Anna Clark
Reporter: Jack Vincent

As we arrived at Ealing the skies were overcast, which meant that play started on the artificial grass, with the hope of transferring to grass if the sun came out.

owever, this was not to be and rain interrupted play on numerous occasions, such that the last games of the morning session did not finish until 2.45 pm. The compensation was the excellent buffet lunch provided by Anna Clark, whose organisational skills throughout the day made this such an enjoyable tournament, ably aided by her husband, Hugh.

The afternoon format was changed to the Richmond system with winners of the morning groups being put into a top group with second, thirds and fourths being grouped together.

The change of format meant that the winners of each group would not be known until all had played. This provided everyone with some exciting games to play in and also watch. The top group was won by Penny Wyatt & Ray Jones who came from 0-3 down to beat Julie Metz & Martin Hooff, 6-4, after some memorable rallies. The second group was won by Gill Dickey and Bob Gasston, the third group by Merete Collins and Richard Wood and fourth group by Ann and David Thomas.

The sun did shine in the late afternoon to send us on our way, after a great day’s tennis, with many then setting off to the nearby Chinese restaurant.