Badge Report: Round 1
It was great to see a big crowd back at the club on Saturday to witness some excellent tennis in both Mens and Ladies Badge Matches.
Both Division 1 Ladies and Mens matches were high quality games and our teams went down in both after some long sets.
The bar was busy and Tony Hamilton did a great job supervising all the new Covid 19 rules. He was so busy that he followed Ray Dummetts reminder to call off the players at 245pm for end of Badge session. He forgot that Ray still works on Thailand time zones and there was still plenty of time to go. The players on courts 5 and 6 were not amused! Thanks also to Virginia, Jon Corney and Milton for their work at the bar.
Badge Results
Ladies 1. Lost 5-3 to Longueville. A close loss to with Janelle and Nicola winning 3 sets and losing a tiebreaker. Emily and Francine played together for the first time and lost some close sets.
Ladies 2. Won 4.5 -3.5 at Sydney Uni. Krista and Olivia won all 4 sets to steer the ladies to victory. Kristina and Elaine played together for the first time and lost some close sets and one unfinished
Mens 1. Lost 7-1 at home to Grand Slam Tennis. Michael Tebbutt ex tour professional and now coach, and Australian Open doubles runner up from last year ,Max Purcell played for the opposition. Cameron Green a new player for our club teamed up with Club Champion Andrew Riminton to win one set.The standard of play was extraordinary and the crowd were thoroughly entertained. Boyd and Todd played some great tennis to represent their team. Special thanks to Boyd also for playing as he and Bosko hurried back to Manly after attending the protest march in the city. Bosko joined Harry and Jono on the bench.
Mens 2. Lost 5.5 -2.5 at Marrickville. Mike and Dan and Ben and Howard each won 1 set with one set unfinished. Always a tough match on the grass at Marrickville. Thanks to Howard for reserving.
Mens 3. Won 8-0 on forfeit to Neutral Bay.
Mens 4. Won 6-2 at home to Killara. Sean and Vincent continued on from last season to win 4 sets again. Geoff and Harald won 2 sets to complete an easy victory.
Mens 5. Drew 4.5 -3.5 at home to Marrickville. Unlucky not to get a victory here as some close sets. Carl and Scott and Gavin and Tim both won 2 sets with one unfinished to Scott and Carl. A good start to the season as Marrickville are a strong team.
Mens 6. Won 8-0 away at Hunters Hill. A great start to win easily away on grass. Father and son,Richard and Alec Badham played together to win 4 sets. Graham and Denis also won their 4 sets easily. Hunters Hill had a 14 year old Kings School Boy playing his first Badge match. I almost felt sorry for him when he only won 7 games in 4 sets.
Mens 7. Won 8-0 at home to Strathfield. After being dropped in the revised draw this team is out to win a Badge Title to prove the grading committee wrong. David and Peter and Mark and Roger combined to win 4 sets each easily.Well done,guys.
Mens 8. Won 4 all on games away at Mosman. Bob and Ray Dalgairns won 3 sets and Des and Gordon won the last set 6-0 to set up a win on games. Always tough to play on the Mosman grass so this was a good win.
Badge captains are responsible for returning badge balls to the basket behind the bar for use in Social play on other days. Thursday night players also return the balls to the basket behind the bar please.
BADGE CONTINUES THIS SATURDAY.
Good luck to all teams this weekend
Denis Crowley
Manly Lawn Tennis Club Captain.
