T&RA CHRISTMAS NEWSLETTER 2015 Chief Executive Update With Christmas fast approaching, a few words from me to summarise the season to date. The T&RA are now working with three different sponsors. Neptune are still our lead sponsor for Real Tennis and they continue to generously cover most of our Tennis tournaments. We have joined forces with Brown Advisory who are our prime Rackets sponsor, and we have just completed our first event with them – the National Schools. Finally, the Jesters have stepped in to sponsor the main amateur Rackets events. Unfortunately some key events in Rackets remain unsponsored – so some further challenges ahead. The season opener in Tennis was the Junior British Open, run superbly by Paul Weaver, which saw just short of 50 youngsters take part. The Under 18s was won by Felix White who beat Rory Giddins in the final – more on Rory shortly! The main event was the Neptune British Open in November, masterminded by Al Lumsden as Tournament Director for the sixth time. The honours went to Steve Virgona, who beat the ever-green Tim Chisholm in the final, regaining the title he had won two years ago. Steve teamed up with Chris Chapman to secure the doubles title, in an exhilarating battle against Bryn Sayers and Ricardo Smith. For those not able to visit the Queen’s Club, both events were streamed – a first ever for the British Open and something which we hope to repeat in the future. Many other events were held – I should perhaps single out David Watson who retained the Over 50s Amateur Singles title – for the fifth time.
The Rackets season has seen its usual busy term, from the victorious Cheltenham pair (Ben Snell and Nick James), Richard Owen winning the Manchester Gold Racquet and the Invitation Singles and then Jamie Stout not giving an inch whilst defending his World Singles crown against the valiant Will Hopton. John Prenn sponsored the UK leg with his usual magnificent generosity which characterises everything he does for the game. Alex Titchener-Barrett won the Amateur for the eighth successive year, rewriting the record books – beating Richard Owen in the semi-final and then Tom Billings in the final. The National Schools were split between Eton and Queen’s and featured a Schoolgirls doubles for the first time; the final saw the Willis sisters (Highgate) beat the Cockroft sisters (Wellington). The main event was won by Eton’s Rory Giddins who overcame Ben Cawston (Peter Symonds College) in the Foster Cup final. Rory capped a brilliant few months, showing his skill in both games; but hats off to Ben, who will return next year to challenge for this prestigious title. My thanks to David Kay-Shuttleworth of Brown Advisory for presenting the prizes to all the winners. For virtually all my time as CEO, I have worked alongside William Maltby as Chairman. There have been many changes in this period – I hope you all agree for the better. William stepped aside at the AGM and David Watson has stepped up. I’m looking forward to working with David and wish William all the best for his “retirement” – although I fully expect he will continue to grace our courts. My thanks to Katie and Andrina in the office – who make the wheels turn, often in the same direction.