* Category D Open Championship (Level Singles for Handicaps 30-39) 2026

There were 4 matches on the Friday this year, 2 in each section of the draw.  In the 35-39 section Lords trainee Henry De Lord survived a scare against Hatfield member Tim Pendered, eventually coming 6/0 4/6 6/4 in a thoroughly entertaining match that swung one way and then then other. While fast improving Maxi Ansell came through the all Hatfield match with Ben Geytenbeek 6/2 6/2, although the score doesn’t quite do the match justice as there were some great rallies throughout and most games were very tight.  In the 30-34 section there was a win for another Hatfield member Nick Brodie, in another very tight match that could have gone either way, with a 6/4 6/5 win over Philip Shaw-Hamilton of Moreton Morrell.  Sadly for the other Hatfield member in action that evening things didn’t end so well.  Martin Richards raced into a 4-0 lead before Patrick Lawrence of Queens clawed it back to 2-4, when attempting to retrieve a backhand, Martin did some fairly significant damage to his shoulder which meant he had to withdraw and allow Patrick to take his place in the Semi-Final.

Saturday ended up being a marathon day, ending almost 2 hours past the scheduled close of play with 4 of the 6 matches in the 35-39 ending up being long 3 set matches that were impossible to call until the last point was won with the victors being Henry De Lord who survived another 3 set epic, beating No 3 seed Minty Oldham 6/4 4/6 6/4.  In the Semi-Final he would face George Fowler of Holyport who came through his own epic battle against Maxi Ansell 3/6 6/3 6/3 having initially looked up against it but proving to be the more consistent of the two at the end of the match.  The second Semi-Final would be between Archie Mayer of Oratory who also had a tough 3 set win, this time over Nick Geere of Bridport 6/2 4/6 6/2 and the number 1 seed Alexander Jeffreys of Queens, the only player to manage to win his Quarter-Final without needing a deciding set, after his 6/2 6/2 win over Chris Morton of Oxford, Chris perhaps still feeling the effects of his own 3 set win earlier in the day.  In the 30-34 section the Semi-Final lineups were completed by Faustas Vilimas of Middlesex, who managed an impressive 6/3 6/4 win over Richard Ramjane of Prested, meaning he would play Patrick Lawrence.  And the final player was Chris Lintott, who managed a relatively comfortable 6/2 6/0 win over Lucian Hand of Bridport in the final match of the day to mean he would be renewing old rivalries with Nick Brodie in the other Semi-Final

So this took us to Sunday and the 4 Semi-Finals and 2 Finals to find this year's champions.  Sadly the day got off to a bad start when Archie Mayer had to withdraw from his Semi-Final due to train issues and being unable to make it to the club, leaving Alexander Jeffreys to take his place in the Final.  There he would meet George Fowler who once again went down the value for money route by maximizing his court time in another epic battle, this time against Henry De Lord.  The first set was incredibly tight all the way through, sharing games to start before George managed to open up a two game lead at 4-2, only for Henry to win the next 3 games and move into the lead for the first time at 5/4 up.  George almost inevitably levelled it up at 5/5 though and took the all important game, with Henry only managing to put a tight return out of play, to take a one set lead.  It was an interesting clash of styles between the 2 players, Henry as a trainee Pro at Lords has been playing for less than a year but has obviously been very well coached, with a classic technique and great control.  George is slightly less classical in his approach but more than makes up for this with his superb athleticism, great hand/eye co-ordination and never say die attitude and it was impossible to call which way the match might go.  The second set was equally tight, Henry this time taking it 6/4 to send us into a deciding set and having moved 3-0 up it looked like Henry had control of the match, playing with great control, dictating the pace and stretching George around the court throughout.  George clawed one game back to make it 1/3 which quickly became 1/4 but George’s never say die approach now moved into effect, moving back to 3/4 and then from 3/5 to 5/5 and the almost inevitable final game.  George moved to 40-15 up, defending chase 5 and using all his experience he took the first opportunity to put the ball into the hazard galleries to close out the match.  It was a thoroughly entertaining match and despite his defeat it will be a great experience for Henry as he continues his Real Tennis journey and it looks like he can go a very long way!

In the 30-34 section of the draw there were two very contrasting Semi-Finals.  The first of them saw Chris Lintott take on Nick Brodie and having played each other many times over the years it was clear both knew each other’s games really well and looked to try to play on any weaknesses they saw.  A worrying sign for the marker was a long, extended deuce/advantage battle in only the second game of the match, lasting almost 10 minutes and it looked like we were set for another Brodie v Lintott marathon!  This didn’t quite come to be though, despite many long and entertaining rallies and some great tennis from both players and with Nick taking an early lead and looking very solid, it was Chris who ended up the winner, taking the first set 6/5 and despite Nick battling back from 0/3 down to 3/3, Chris closed it out 6/4 to take his place in the Final.

The second Semi-Final by contrast was very much a game of 2 halves between Faustas Vilimas and Patrick Lawrence.   Faustas raced through the first set 6/1, playing with great control, cutting the ball nicely into the corners and Patrick making some very uncharacteristic mistakes, without many of his usual long rallies with fantastic retrieving and it looked as though we may have a rare quick match on our hands.  At 2-0 down in the second set though the real Patrick decided to turn up and we had a real match on our hands.  Faustas didn’t really do too much differently at this point but shots that previously weren’t coming back, were now coming back with interes,t meaning Faustas had to play 2, 3 or even 4 good shots to have a chance of winning each point.  As is often the case when your opponent has a slow start it can often be difficult to reset on what is required and it felt like the second set was going to be crucial if Faustas was going to progress.  He did really well to battle back from 3/5 down to 5/5 but Patrick took the all important game to close out the second set and never looked back, closing out the match 6/1 in the deciding set to reach the Final for the second year in succession.

The Final of the 35-39 was always going to be hard to predict with the finalists having had such a different routes to the Final.  George having had 3 tough matches and a Semi-Final lasting nearly 2 hours, against Alexander who had only had 1 relatively comfortable match and a walkover in his Semi-Final.  It turned out to be a great match though with some amazing rallies and great athleticism on show from both players throughout.  Alexander showing no signs of struggling due to a lack of court time moved into a 5/1 lead in the first set and despite George pulling one game back, managed to close it out 6/2 and it looked like he may win the title without dropping a set.  As has already been mentioned though George is absolutely never going to go down without a fight and the standard of his play had improved dramatically from his first round match to where he was at in the Final and again he managed to lift himself and put Alexander under more pressure.  George moved 3/1 up and always maintained the lead from that moment on, eventually closing the set out 6/4 by forcing 2 consecutive volley mistakes in a row from deuce.  This was the first time in the event that Alexander had been placed under pressure and it’s fair to say he responded brilliantly.  He raised his game again to a different level and while George never gave up despite the huge amount of tennis he’d had over the two days and he kept chasing and making Alexander win each point but in the end Alexander was just too solid and consistent, with a different level of weight to his shots than the others in this section and his relentless play took him through to a 6/0 deciding set win, which in no way does George justice, it was considerably closer than that but Alexander always had just that little bit more on the big points to be the worthy winner!

The final match of the event for the 30-34 section was another really closely fought match which consistently swung one way and then the next.  Patrick got off to a strong start moving 3/0 up and looking extremely formidable before Chris used all his experience and combativeness to fight back to take a 4/3 lead and it was impossible to know which way it might go. Patrick though did manage to reassert himself and move through to take the set 6/4 with yet another beautiful, pacey cut shot into the court to beat a chase and move into a one set lead and one set away from the title.  Bizarrely the second set followed exactly the same pattern.  Patrick went 3/0 up before Chris came back to take a 4/3 lead but sadly for Chris once again Patrick reasserted to close it out 6/4 and go one better than the previous year.  It was a fascinating match, with both players enjoying moments of control only for their opponent to snatch it back.  In the end Patrick just had a bit more weight to the majority of his shots and a few more point winning options but Chris put up a great fight and very much played his part in a very tight match where if a few key points had gone the other way, it could have been a very different outcome.  Many thanks to all the competitors who played in a superb spirit throughout some really close matches with a very high standard of tennis and thanks to the T&RA for all it’s support both with promoting and advertising the event and the lovely glass trophies to the finalists as reward for their efforts.