Cast of 40-plus enjoy Comptons tennis finals

The sun was out, the weather warm, and the new artificial clay courts staged an amazing day of tennis with 20 finals played on the day.

The aim of this year’s club championships was to include more players across more events in a festival of tennis.

Covid restrictions stopped the full vision of a festival of tennis; however with more than 40 members competing on finals day, from the under-18 boys through to social level events and up to the top team players, Comptons offered competition for more members at all levels, and look forward to expanding on this again in 2021.

There were outstanding performances on the day , none more so than that of Gilles Velcin, who took three titles. In the open men’s singles he beat John Graham, and he partnered Simon Clifford to victory in the open men’s doubles and Helen Prinsloo in the open mixed doubles.

Prinsloo also won the ladies’ singles in a three-set battle to retain her title, coming back from a set down to beat Eliza Graham.

The new clay courts laid in August led to longer rallies and Comptons members are enjoying better tennis. This was seen during one of the many epic finals, in the social mixed doubles, where Liz Roberts and David Hall beat Dolly Entecott and Chris Youngman in a tie break third set, with the socially distanced crowd living every point.

It was great to see all levels of players providing such entertaining tennis for all to watch.

There was the return of a junior event to finals day, and Sussex County 12U player Oscar Weston played an excellent match to beat Jared De Klerk, with spectators commenting on how nice it was to see such great tennis from up-and-coming members.

Julie Hanger, Comptons senior coach and tournament co-organiser, said: “It has been such a great finale to this year’s tournament, seeing such a variety of members playing in the same competition, playing an excellent standard of tennis.

“We look forward to seeing more members playing in more events in 2021.”

The event was a huge success thanks to the effort of alvolunteer members who gave up their free time to provide cakes, flapjacks and brownies or serve refreshments.

This was more difficult that normal because of Covid guidelines, but everyone did their bit to make it as safe and smooth as possible.

Comptons would like to say a massive thank-you to their main sponsor for this year, Formby’s Professional Window Cleaning Services (weareformbys.com), and to Yonex for winners and runners-up prizes.

Results: Ladies’ Singles Helen Prinsloo Bt Eliza Graham; Men’s Singles Gilles Velcin Bt John Graham; Ladies’ Doubles Kim Pallister & Rachel Molloy Bt Helen Prinsloo & Paul Foister; Men’s Doubles Gilles Velcin & Simon Clifford Bt Tom Harman & Jack Graham;Mixed Doubles Helen Prinsloo & Gilles Velcin Bt Julia Hoskins & Paul Anderson; Ladies’ Over 50S Cordy Carr Bt Anne Wilkinson;Men’s Over 50S Simon Clifford Bt Mark Doyle; Ladies’ Over 50S Doubles Ann Wilson & Robin Temple Bt Cordy Carr & Anne Ekins; Men’s Over 50S Doubles James Ratcliffe & David Clifton Bt Mark Doyle & Kevin Murphy Mixed Over 50S Doubles Gill Johnson & Neil Weaver Bt Anne Ekins & Neil Mclaren; 18U Boys Singles Oscar Weston Bt Jared De Klerk; Social Mixed Doubles Liz Roberts & David Hall Bt Dolly Entecott & Chris Youngman Men’s Plate Simon Clifford Bt Mark Doyle; Ladies’ Doubles Plate Maire Hall & Anne Ekins Bt Janice Retter & Bridget Lyne; Men’s Doubles Plate Mark Doyle & David Jones Bt Lewes Revell & Michael Greene; Mixed Doubles Plate Anne Ekins & Guy Ekins Bt Maire Hall & Tony Stevens; Men’s Over 50S Plate Neil Mclaren Bt Michael Greener; Ladies’ Over 50S Doubles Plate Caroline Ratcliffe & Anne Wilkinson Bt Di Searle & Jenny Redman; Men’s Over 50S Doubles Plate Paul Duncan & Jon Rennie Bt David Jackson & Martin Millings; Mixed Over 50S Doubles Plate Bridget Lyne & Peter Lodge Bt Rachel Swift & Jon Perver.