The 2023 Summer Chaucer League drew to a close last weekend with our Men’s First Team travelling to Leatherhead for there final fixture on the clay.

With the League Title still in the balance there was a lot at stake for both Teams.

For our hosts an opportunity to win the premier League race after success and promotion from Div 1 last Summer.
For us, a chance to retain the Title having been successful at this in 2022 for the first time in Seventeen years.

In the first pairings Owen Habens and Richard Ames showed their dominance from the start.
Tactically astute play and brilliance from both players see them come through 6-2 6-3.
On the other court Tristan and I came up short going down 3-6  4-6 to a well oiled pairing leaving the title wide open.

The final matches were a rollercoaster of emotions and didn’t start to plan .
Both our teams lost tight first sets which cancelled out the small points advantage we had going into the match.
Owen and Richard fought like warriors but eventually went down 3-6 4-6 to a very strong duo.
Tristan was superb and I, dug deep to go 5-0 up in a must win set to have any chance in a literal  Championship Tie break.
That comfortable lead abruptly turned into a far less comfortable 5-3 😬. Nerves were certainly playing their part at this stage. We held on for the set and took the match into a winner takes all Tie break to 10 situation as was affirmed by our Captain Alex who supported us from the sidelines in a Robo cop style knee brace.

We controlled the nerves,  played some good solid tennis and progressed to a 5-1 lead.
True to the nature of the match, our opponents showed their grit, made it 6-6 and wouldn’t go down without a fight.
The nerves were back with a vengeance and our determined opponents went on to lead 9-8 in the decider with a match point in their favour.
However, We dug deep into our bags of resolve, rode our luck and bounced back to win the next 3 points in a row and take the Match 11-9 and subsequent League Title.

Well done to all 10 players that contributed.
It highlights the strength in depth at the club and a big thank you to Alex for organising. I can’t imagine that being a fun job.

Barrie