T&RA Annual Lunch and Awards 2014
Tennis
Greenwood Trophy for Most Improved Player
For an outstanding season and reducing his handicap 3.8 points to +6.6, the prize was awarded to Ben Matthews.
Warburg – Best performance by a British Professional
Ricardo Smith’s success in the British Challenge was the stand-out professional performance of last season. Collected by Howard Angus on behalf of Ricardo
Baerlein - Best performance by a British Amateur
After considerable debate the prize was awarded to Charlie Braham for his outstanding performance in winning the British Under 18 Championship for two consecutive years, a notable achievement which is extremely rare. Conor Medlow was a close contender, winning the MCC Gold Racquet against long-term rival Jamie Douglas.
Rackets
Latham Cup - Best Performance for a Professional
The award went to Will Hopton for his outstanding season and notably his victories in the Invitation and British Open. Jamie Stout was a close contender. Collected by Will's father, Christopher.
Negretti Cup - Best Performance for an Amateur
The decision was made to make the award to Christian Portz, winner of the Open Doubles and a magnificent victory over WEL Hopton in the Manchester Gold Racquet. Alex Titchener-Barrett was a worthy nominee. Collected by James Coyne on behalf of Christian.
Renny Trophy - Most Improved Player
The final decision left two outstanding candidates: Ben Snell and Ryan Tulley. It proved difficult to separate their relative improvements and it was decided to make a joint award.
General
Maltby Salver
For his outstanding contribution leading the Rackets World Championship Review, the award was given to Patrick Maxwell. Patrick couldn't be present but asked for his small team to be acknowledged, including Alan Lovell, John Prenn and Tim Cockroft (with Jonathan Larken and Neil Smith in the US). The award was collected by Alan Lovell. The transformation of the World Championship Challenge process has galvanised the players into participating with ten Singles Qualifying Tournaments and four Doubles Qualifying Tournaments, where each player or pair can monitor their progress via their Elite Ranking and gather Race points towards a possible challenge.