Club Life at WLTC - June 2024

Iron-on badges now available to purchase at the bar - just £5 each!

Dear Member,

We’re gearing up for our annual Windsor Open Tournament which will run from Sunday 21st to Saturday 27th July. This is a Grade 3 tournament which attracts competitive players from across the UK and further afield.

CALLING ALL VOLUNTEERS
We are looking for some volunteers to help us monitor the courts throughout the week, so if you're keen and available please contact the bar on 01753 830820 and they will advise.

SUNDAY, MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, FRIDAY
Morning slot – 09.00-13.00
Afternoon slot – 13.00-17.00

Every year our members kindly volunteer as court supervisors during the week which involves supervising the matches and reporting any disputes to our tournament referees. You don’t need to have done this before and will be fed and watered throughout the day. We will confirm the rota for volunteer court supervisors in due course.

Our tournament referee - Janet Jamieson - will be back by popular demand to offer all volunteers a Q&A session on Monday 15th July @ 11am to help with any issues or concerns you may have. If you are around and would like to ask Janet anything about the event, please do come down. A lot of our members felt it was very helpful last year!

CLUB SESSIONS & COURT AVAILABILITY - 21st-27th JULY
Unfortunately, there will be no daytime club sessions during the week and it’s unlikely the evening sessions will be able to go ahead, due to the anticipated high number of entries. We will keep you updated throughout the week and if evening club sessions can go ahead, we will announce as early as possible. Courts will become available for you to book in the afternoons/evenings so do check your MYCOURTS account for the most up to date information. Courts will be released hourly so keep checking!

PARKING
Parking may be limited during the week and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.

New Partnership: Carter & George Physiotherapy Serves Windsor Tennis Club! ??

We're thrilled to be partnering with Carter & George for all of your physiotherapy needs. Based at the club and led by Tim Scully, a skilled physiotherapist with extensive experience treating sports injuries and elite athletes, their team offers personalised care and innovative treatments.

Speed up your recovery with Shockwave Therapy, targeting chronic pain and soft tissue injuries for faster healing and quicker return to the court.

Improve your game with Gait Analysis and Custom Insoles. Using advanced technology, physiotherapists identify biomechanical irregularities and create custom insoles for optimal support, comfort, and performance.

In a recent survey, here's what satisfied patients had to say about Carter & George:

"Personalised plans significantly improved my recovery."

"They focus on prevention and maintaining an active lifestyle."

"Professional, friendly, and truly caring."

Experience the difference. Visit https://www.carterandgeorge.co.uk/ to find out more information, or book your appointment!

Thank you everyone who came down on Sunday 23rd June for this years Finals Day! We saw some fantastic tennis, had some beautiful sunshine and made some wonderful memories. Big congratulations to all players who managed to battle their way through to the final, and of course to our eventual winners. A special thank you to our incredibly talented photographer on the day, Isabelle Thomas. Photo's from the day can now be viewed on her website - https://ithomaseventsphotography.com/galleries . The club will shortly be offering a selection of special 'action shot' photo's from the day which will be available for purchase. For those who missed it, please see below the results of the day, and a collection of the winners/runners-up photo's.

Congratulations to our Ladies 1st Team who WON the Regional Division of the Nationals League and have been promoted to the National Tier next year! With special thanks to those who competed: Tatiana, Sofie, Ilona, Kerry, Alisa, Inge and Karen. Well done Ladies!

And a special thanks to their wonderful support team!

Windsor Ladies had an smashing winter season, representing Windsor LTC at the top National level. The format of the National Premier League (NPL) involves four doubles matches across two pairs, played on indoor facilities. New to the South West Region, the ladies secured an impressive second place, only losing to league leaders Winchester. This achievement earned them a spot in the play offs in Loughborough for a chance to qualify for the National Finals. Sofie and Tatiana were one of the seeded pairs and had a convincing win over Roundhay, propelling Windsor Ladies to the prestigious National Finals at St George's Hill (keep up Windsor men!).

In the first round, Windsor faced University of Bath, last year's champions. Despite starting at 6 PM (due to variable weather conditions) and being 1-2 down in rubbers (Sophie and Anneka Watts securing first and crucial rubber of the day) and 2-4 down in the second set, Sofie and Tatiana staged a remarkable comeback to win 5-7, 6-4, 10-5. With the rubbers tied, a deciding match tiebreak was played. As the clock struck 10:30 PM, Tatiana and Sophie Watts clinched a thrilling 10-7 victory, securing Windsor's place in the quarter finals.

The next day, Windsor Ladies faced the second seeds, Roehampton, whose team comprised of a former top 30 WTA doubles player, a former top 350 singles player, a current top 110 doubles player, and a current top 60 doubles player. Despite the intimidating line-up, Windsor Ladies displayed remarkable grit and determination, and even had two match points in the deciding match tiebreak in one of the rubbers. They ultimately finished strong, placing Windsor LTC in the top 8 strongest clubs in the UK for the NPL winter 2023/24 season.

We are incredibly proud of their hard work and dedication and wish them continued success in the next season!

Team for NPL South West Region: Tatiana Turley, Sofie Woon, Sophie and Anneka Watts, Ilona Hawker, Karen Morean.

Team for NPL Play Offs: Tatiana Turley, Sofie Woon.

Team for NPL Finals: Sophie and Anneka Watts, Sofie Woon and Tatiana Turley.

Congratulations to our Ladies 5, Ladies 3, Mixed 1 and Mixed 2 teams for winning their winter league divisions!

Thank-you David Oldcorn for the following, an incredibly insightful piece illustrating the first time Wimbledon invited professional tennis players to compete at its Championships. All information and photocopies below were kindly shared with me, by David, who was lucky enough to have attended the first ever professional tournament held at Wimbledon in August, 1967.

THE CHAMPIONSHIPS (aka WIMBLEDON)

With Wimbledon 2024 approaching, members might like to remind themselves – or perhaps learn for the first time – how Wimbledon changed from being an amateur only tournament to one open to professional players in 1968. Increasingly after the second World War, Wimbledon winners in particular turned professional and by 1967 Herman David, the chairman of The All England Club ,was determined to break this trend by allowing professionals to play at Wimbledon. He first succeeded in persuading The All England Club to stage a men’s professional tournament on the centre court at the end of August 1967 (this allowed sufficient time after the 1967 championships finished for the worn grass to be repaired).

Just eight players (Gonzales, Rosewall, Hoad, Laver, Stolle, Gimeno, Ralston & Bucholz) were invited to play, resulting in 7 singles and 3 doubles matches being played over three days. David Oldcorn and his wife were fortunate to see all of the last day’s play, and had amazingly good seats! In those days, there were a some three rows of seats alongside the playing surface at ground level and their seats, in the front row, meant that they were just a few feet from the tramlines on the west side.

The doubles final saw the Spaniard Gimeno partnering “Pancho ” Gonzales (who had won that event at his only Wimbledon as an amateur in 1949); they beat Laver & Stolle in two exciting sets, one lasting 26 games. Unlike all the other matches, the singles final, which featured Laver and Rosewall,was played over the best of five sets; David recalls how fortunate this was, for whilst the first two sets were won comparatively easily by Laver, the third set lasted for 22 thrilling games. Sadly for Rosewall he ultimately lost this set and the match, the third of his five losing singles finals at Wimbledon.

Thank you everyone who competed in our 8U Berkshire Grand Prix. We had a wonderful time, saw some brilliant tennis and made some new friends!

Congratulations to our juniors Henry Byrnes (second from left) and Jaiden Man (far right) for competing in the Berkshire team! Well done boys.

Thanks so much to everyone who attended our Caribbean Night on Saturday 15th June! We had some delicious food, heard some brilliant music and even saw a few of you try your skills at the limbo! We hope you enjoyed the night as much as we did!

Summer camp bookings are now OPEN! With a 20% early bird booking discount available until 1st July if booking for July, or until 26th July if booking for August! Check out the active tennis website now so you don't miss out.

AM Tennis Camp 9am - 12pm

PM Tennis Camp 12pm - 3pm

Full Day Tennis Camp 9am - 3pm

£35 per child per half day AM or PM

£59 per child per full day

(standard prices)

LIMITED NUMBER OF PLACES AVAILABLE

Group sizes, typically 6 - 8 children per coach

Tennis ball recycling scheme reminder.

Recycaball

Company - Recycaball™ work closely with hundreds of clubs, coaches and players across the UK, offering the chance to recycle used tennis balls.

So many tennis balls end up in landfill once they've been used in competitions, and yet for most there's a perfectly good application for them in other areas once the match is won.

We collect hundreds of used tennis balls every week, and arrange for their redistribution into other industries and applications.

Clubs don't have to worry about disposal, and we pay for the collection, courier service and the actual balls themselves.

How it works..

Clubs, players & coaches contact us and request a recycling sack.

Once the club has collected enough used balls to fill a sack, we arrange courier collection from your preferred address.

We receive the balls, which are hand processed, graded, repackaged and redistributed.

Assuming the used balls meet our published standards, the club get paid for the balls that you've sent.

Charitable donations..

From some of the proceeds of the balls recycaball collect, they make regular donations to a wide variety of charities and good causes all across the UK.

These beneficiaries are chosen in main by the clubs, our network of suppliers, clubs & coaches.

Clubs can also elect to donate your ball proceeds directly to a charity, which we happily do on their behalf.

In addition, they donate some balls directly to local animal shelters, kennels and dog groups.

We post regular updates on our website, detailing the latest beneficiaries and any other news.

Please remember it is THE LAW to switch off your engine whilst parked!

LOST PROPERTY

This is a reminder to check the lost property box if you have lost any items.

Every month all items will be collected and donated to charity so please make sure you check as soon possible.

FYI - The lost property box is located in the corridor to the indoor courts.