Review by the Chairman of the Tennis Committee

Chris Vigrass, Chairman of The Tennis Committee

In last year’s report I repeated the hope that we could return to a full season’s competition for 2021/22 and put the covid restrictions behind us when, in England & Wales, they were formally lifted on 19 July 2021. That has pleasingly been the case although of course the T&RA and clubs have had to remain sensitive to, and bear in mind, continuing covid issues when holding competitions and play generally. The other articles and reports in our Annual Report are testament to the resurgence in play since then.

As also mentioned elsewhere, the Investors in Professionals programme has had a successful launch and inception. It has now to address a consequence of that success namely how to help those apprentices when they complete their apprenticeships. This is being considered by the programme under the continuing help and facilitation of John Whiting.

The Tennis Committee continues to meet, primarily by Zoom, and it has considered the many topics in the past year including Middlesex University RTC, identifying the priorities and tasks the Tennis Committee and the T&RA should focus on [through a ‘poll’ of club chairmen and pros], the introduction of prototype graphite racquets in the USA made by Harrow, eye protection and streaming.

Of these whilst the news about the closure of Middlesex currently scheduled by the University in 2026 was so sad, it did at least result in a piece in a Times editorial about our game – which must be a first.

I should also mention that a sub committee has been set up to consider what the impact might be if graphite racquets were to be manufactured and sold at scale on, inter alia, the game generally, clubs, pros and the games relationship with Grays. It is likely to be in a position to report early next year.

Another TC sub committee, of Chris Lintott and Owen Saunders, continues with the task of updating and improving Real Tennis Online and to promote future resilience and permit improvements. This has not proceeded as speedily as we had hoped, primarily due to health issues of others, but we hope that by the year end it will be completed.

In parallel to these activities the T&RA office and volunteers continue to keep the game running and operating day to day. Whilst it can be invidious to name individuals [particularly as I will inevitably omit someone I should mention] these include the production of the annual fixtures schedule [Simon Flynn], the coordination and liaison with other national games committees and the like to run the various international competitions [Ronald Paterson], the British and World juniors [Paul Weaver] and updating the Pol/Field/Brodie rules [Ronald and Brendan Hegarty]. As ever my thanks to them and all the other volunteers who keep our game going.

...the T&RA and clubs have had to remain sensitive to, and bear in mind, continuing Covid issues when holding competitions and play generally.

Investing in Professionals update

The programme is delighted to report there are currently four IiP apprentices in training at four different clubs. Alex Machin (Wellington) and Jim Ludekens (Cambridge) are currently edging towards the end of their training and are considering their next steps. Importantly the IiP and their mentors are working with them in this venture. Nat Cherry is in the early months of his time at the Oratory and Tim Armstrong has just started at Petworth, the first apprentice under Tranche 2 We are also delighted to announce that the first apprentice on the programme, Jack Josephs, has moved to a full-time role at RTC, and continues to make excellent progress. Time moves on and the programme is now actively looking at the next apprentices for Tranche 2 and already lining up future apprentices for new hosts. The intention is to broaden the hosts and continue to expand the programme. The Board and OCIP are grateful for the support of the T&RA and RCC, who have both fully committed to the first three years of the IiP programme. The Tennis Community in the UK are fully committed beyond this initial period. Of course, this does lead back to the support of the T&RA membership as well as the many of you who have subscribed to the RCC.

Finally, the support of the professional community to make this happen has continued to be significant, inspirational and positive. Many of the more senior professionals are working on improving their credentials and targeting higher levels of accreditation, all of which takes time.