FURTHER PROGRESS

The major work since I last wrote has been the clearing of an appreciable area of land south of he changing rooms: this involved the cutting down of numerous high cypress trees and the removal of a curious collection of corrugated iron shacks. The latter have served as workshops, garages for lawn mowers, tractors, ladies' pilates exercises, study room, and has housed an enormous accumulation of what can only be described as junk. The removal of all this was no small job.  Here is one photo:

and eventually............

Amazing that this conglomeration of rubbish ever got cleared away!  But it did, and so the hammering and drilling could get under way. No construction straight away, first of all destruction........ all the old tiling, pipes and wiring had to be removed. And then the re-construction - here's where the hammering gave way to quarrels and shouting - not too comprehensible - French, Arabic, Serbian............  let's start to look at the good results ......

  Here's two of the five showers:

and then the entrance corridor - lighting-up when you approach in the evening.....

Then, inside the two rooms are nice and warm; automatic hand and hair drying are available. Even chairs for comfort of friends and spectators!

Well, just a word of thanks for the two managers then.

Here they are.......(Didier & Kaffo)

One way of thanking them will be to enjoy these facilities to the full and to spend as much time as possible in this ever-improving Club.  Have a look at the proposed extensions in the plan posted outside the Office:

Let me now mention what some of our young champions have been doing on court recently......... Elsa Trelle, for example, won the Final of her Cabris Tournament match in fine style - (she is already ranked 4/6 at age 14) by defeating the young Russian girl, Natasha Mitrokhina.  It was encouraging to see them parting on happy terms after the struggle....

Some of the older girls were competing abroad during this period; Mirabelle Njoze(18) and Miranda Ramirez (16) were in Tunisia. After several matches, they actually found themselves playing against each other (Mirabelle won by 7/5 in the 3rd set). They then combined in the Doubles Tournament, and didn't lose until the Final! Well done girls!

For a photo of Mirabelle, see my last post.  She has now a world ranking (WTA) of 623.

           For a photo of Miranda, see my post of December 2014.

     For more details of Vignal match results, see the site:  https://www.facebook.com/teameysseric/

For teachers of tennis & other sports when in London, consult the site of a former club member:

 trainers4me.com

Bon tennis et bon appétit

 cuisse de pintade aux navets

(par Christophe)

EXCITING TIMES

Many of you will be aware that our Club is under the management of two active members, giving our proprietor, Olivier a well-deserved rest from the arduous duties he tackled so well. This allows him to recover his family life, and even to find time to play some tennis! 

The other great advantage is that the two managers have set themselves the immense task of improving many aspects of the Club Life and amenities. 

Naturally you are all anxious to know in detail what is going to happen to your favourite place of recreation and relaxation!  Be reassured - we are in good hands……. To make my report of progress of all the the work undertaken, I will need a little more time to ensure it is comprehensive: but be sure I am watching carefully what is happening.

In the meantime, I have just been handed a very agreeable notice inviting us all to a cocktail to mark the opening of the season. This will be on Friday 25 September starting at half-past seven. 

Bring your children and friends - particularly those you may persuade to join us in our increasing number of activities.  Here is a copy of the notice:

And just to give you a view of what Academy Level tennis looked like this afternoon, here are my photos of two of the group of girls training on courts 8 and 9:

Mirabelle Njoze

Nelise Verster

See you a week on Friday, with some good tennis in the meantime!

TOURNAMENT TIME AGAIN

To start at the beginning, the preparation work for a tournament of collecting and arranging inscriptions is known to the members, although appreciated in its entirety only to the few.  Our recent July event was exceptional in the volume of applicants, which for the first time in the history of the Club reached over 700! It is difficult to imagine the amount of work this has involved before and on a daily basis during the play; and so it is hoped that members anxious to follow their usual passionate tennis programme were sufficiently understanding of the constraints they had to put up with.  I'm sure that many of them will already be making up for lost time today and all this week.

A word of thanks to dear Fred, who kept the courts in impeccable condition during this period;  here he is transporting brickdust from the recently replenished stack to form the statuory 3 mm surface layer on each of our 5 claycourts.

After two weeks of concentrated and often hectic play for both Senior and numerous Veteran categories, we eventually arrived at the match Finals for which prizes were to be awarded. Here now is Olivier standing ready behind the Cups for his Opening Speech to Prizewinners and friends.......

Hardly credible, but completely true;  the expected crowd of Champions and Well-Wishers were all absent:  no-one to listen to Olivier!

Here they are, not far away;  you have perhaps already guessed where they were and what they were intent on watching!

Wimbledon Men's Final on TV!  

And it took quite a time for Federer to win tie-break of the second set...

Back to the Prize-Giving eventually:  and the usual devoted team joins Olivier..........

Just a few of the fortunate winners:

  

   

               

      

A side of bacon that you see above is called a 'flitch'; the term persists in the English town of Dunmow, Essex, where a yearly ceremony awards a flitch of bacon to the unlikely couple who prove they have lived a year and a day in conjugal harmony.  Quite a challenge! The final figure, Louis, looking unfamilarly timid here, would like everyone to know that in spite of this unexpected success, Tennis is not really his game - but he is a very good Squash player.

And here is the group photo:

BONNE CHANCE ET BON TENNIS!

TEAM MATCHES

The title of this post does not cover all Club activities of course, but it refers to a significant part of what has been happening since I last wrote, and a very successful part.  Youth, as usual has been well-catered for in the Ecole de Tennis, maintained in good condition by Didier Eysseric and his able assistants.  Much of this teaching takes place in groups of pupils, on Wednesdays and Saturdays; but many individual and group lessons are arranged during the rest of the week. For photos and phone numbers of the teachers, find the page in another website about the Vignal.

The other type of play, mainly in doubles, has been adequately described in earlier posts: a glance at the many photos of tables of players at lunch will quickly illustrate the happy atmosphere that reigns in these groups. The main groups are the Ladies (Mondays and Fridays), the Dutch mixed (Tuesdays), the Dutch men (Thursdays), the Cosmo (Wednesdays and Sundays), the Germans (Mondays)........ this list is not exclusive!  A very important characteristic of the Vignal is its international nature:  look at this photo of three ladies (Dutch, Australian/American, Spanish) leaving a doubles match.... and the fourth lady was German!

Back to the title:  here are the members of a young ladies' team that won matches at home and away against other clubs of the region: Carla, Hélène, Alexandra, Dasha, and Sarah. Very well played!

The men's first team have won all their matches this season in fine fashion; they play the Final of that Poule tomorrow in Hyères. The team will be chosen from the following teachers and high-ranking players: Mathieu Monleau, Julien Ottomani, Matthieu Kritzinger, Thomas Finck, Damon Roberts who have been overpowering their opponents this last month or so. Congratulations, and good luck for the Final, which may lead to the National level next year.

Next, congratulations to a young boy, Kelaine, who has left Munich to train here with Julien, and who is enthusiastically entering tournaments in local Clubs, and who is winning his matches!  Here is his one-handed backhand:

Many of you will have admired France's Number One Lady practising in our Club with Jonathan Eysseric.  You may also have seen her win her third round match at Roland Garros against M. Lucic-Baroni yesterday:

Enjoy your tennis!

FEBRUARY TOURNAMENT

Our winter tennis tournament not only attracted over 400 entries, but was blessed with excellent weather for the time of year. Such a standard event involves of course, much activity on the courts, but also a great deal of unseen work in the organising of matches.  This responsibility lay mainly on the shoulders of Didier Eysseric and Olivier Faubert:  here they are:

and here, is one of the participants who got as far as the Final

of the Simples Femmes :

Lizaveta Hancharova

The usual celebration, speeches and champagne came on the Sunday afternoon at the end of a fortnight of singles matches, when the winners and runners-up received their prizes, and were photographed. The Ladies' finalistes for example:

winner: Morgane Pons

The Final of the Simples Messieurs was the most observed event; and here are the players after a momentous struggle:

winner: Artur Libaud

Lastly, a full assembly of these fortunate players and their organisers:

Now a word for all the rest of us! We should be careful after so much inactivity, to prepare ourselves by some physical exercises. Then, in future play, we may hopefully avoid unnecessary injuries.  Here are photos of possible activities shown by groups under serious training:

Good luck!

And enjoy your tennis in the Vignal!