The doubles tournament I publicised recently by email to 203 of you, took place as planned last Thursday morning. By the smiles on the faces of the participants after the event,(photo) and on the obviously happy atmosphere during the play, the efforts of the organisers were well rewarded. The randomisation of partners & opponents was obtained in an informal, but effective way, by a mixing up of racquets. (photo) Complaints such as, "I had to play against that horrid man with a beard 3 times", were not heard, & several players were seen to be well pleased, to be on the same court as a former 'Champion de la Côte d'Azur'. (photo) The entire play took only the allocated one & a half hours, with each timed encounter involving about 4 games - deuce scores being followed by 'no-add' ('sudden death') to abbreviate game-lengths. There was an enormous good humour generated by all this, & the concluding ceremony in the restaurant, awarded the prizes to the well-merited winners: gentlemen - George Buter, & Charles Bond; ladies - Bridget Milburn, & Laura Debruce. Well done!
I hear that similar events will be planned about every 6 weeks: a convenient number of places in each of these tournaments seems to be 24, taking up 6 courts, with each player occupied for the full one & a half hours. To work well, such a system necessitates definite registrations well before, with no last-minute drop-outs, please!
Best wishes for future good matches, all of you, & perhaps a better score next time! But it's the fun that counts, isn't it? A bientôt!
