TOURNAMENTS

The earlier announced Exhibition match, postponed from the previous Saturday, eventually took place on the afternoon of the 25th September. This turned out to be an appropriate day for this celebration, as it was also Jean-René's birthday. During an appropriate warm-up for such a strenuous match, the strokes became more & more rapid, the serves rose to a lightening rate, the volleys & smashes took on an incredible force & accuracy, until the actual match was underway. It soon became evident that the younger contestant had an extraordinary mobility, with always that magnificent stability & balance at the moments of making a stroke. Manu, on the other hand, covered the court with increasing rapidity with his enormous strides, & was the more enterprising in his frequent adoption of service-volley tactics. This, of course made the exchanges very exciting, & the appreciative crowd roared their approval. Perhaps Manu was more favoured by the applause, being better known by the Vignal members, & apparently winning slightly less points...........

We have to remark at this stage, that the umpire, David Gorman, seemed gradually to make more & more errors in announcing the score! This was of course very unusual in a match at this level; fortunately the audience took all this in good part, as these errors were always to the advantage of their favourite player......

To add to the unorthodoxy of the umpiring, there was obviously a certain collusion, between both players & David (see photos), as it shortly appeared that neither contestant had won this match, & as we all know, tennis matches can never result in a draw.......

The occasion finished outside the Restaurant, where food & drink & prizes had been efficiently organised by Lori. The prize-winners were from the recent Club tournament: one small family predominating here, (which we hope will be remedied at subsequent events). Come on you others!!