SATURDAY afternoon tennis has recommenced for 2025 and recently we ran our first monthly Merlot! This event carries much prestige and victory not only secures a bottle of fine red, but also a place in the final round playoff for the annual honours!
The ladies division was hotly contested with two players winning all their sets – both off the same handicap mark.
Di McCullough survived a tough draw to secure 14 games for 264 pts, while Gail Collins went well with 19 games for 267 pts. Donna MacPherson lost only one set, and a close one at that - 4-6 with Susan Haines against Lou Daniher and Madeleine Wesierski. Donna scored 22 games for 286 pts for 4th placing.
Third place went to Tracy Grimshaw in her first appearance since a tremendous effort in our teams event, and she must have carried some of that form to secure 21 games and 291 pts. This is often a winning score, but… with two undefeated players, it was not quite enough.
Lou Daniher put in a lovely afternoon of tennis, strolling through the draw which often had her pitted against her own daughter, Liz! The fact that Lou went undefeated tells a little of Liz’s story, but perhaps it was just Liz looking after her mum!? Lou scored 301 pts but her matches were not quite difficult enough on handicap to secure the top spot!
Top spot and the first Merlot went to Fiona Boneham with 24 games and 306 pts! This continues Fiona’s recent run of form and is great to see. Her sons Caleb and Bailey have both won the Grand Merlot in the past 2yrs and now Fiona has the chance gain the Boneham threepeat! Fiona’s biggest points haul was a 6-3 win in the opening set with Tracy Grimshaw against Susan Haines and Madeleine Wesierski.
In the mens group we had Andrew Bartlett on 17 games for 271 pts, Kyle Bischoff on 20 games for 275 and Sarah Scealy 23 games for 275 pts – all playing “above the averages”.
The podium however belonged to a couple of other Bischoff’s, sandwiched by a Pressler! It has often been Rhys getting the chocolates in the past couple of years, but this time it was his younger brother, Heath! Heath was undefeated on the day, playing in primarily neutral matches off his newly promoted 31 handicap. 311 pts for Heath, and he enjoyed two set wins with his middle brother, Kyle – knocking over some very experienced players – Jock Weir, Steve Carruthers before combining with Jock to dispose of Kyle and Malcolm Mangelsdorf in the clincher!
Steve Pressler was the bridesmaid once again, surviving a difficult series of matches (-16 pts) with 18 games but earning 292 pts to eclipse Rhys Bischoff on 286. Rhys was undefeated but carried a 16 pt favouritism into his collective matches.
It was great to see Steve Carruthers make his debut in the competition, and also Bryan & Will Studholme in prior weeks. Liz Daniher has also managed to coax her parent’s out of retirement to hit the courts - adding plenty to draw each week. Lou being unlucky not to secure the first Merlot!
We do welcome and need more players though – so any interested people should certainly give us a call. We’ll make sure you are playing in the right area of the draw so that it’s relaxed and fun you.
Any new players please get your names into Therese MacFarlane 0418 653 471 or Andrew Bartlett 0422 828 399 or Andrew Job 0407 226 866 and we’ll add you to the lists to be asked each week.
Please remember, while we’d love you to play all the time – we don’t expect you to play every week. There is no requirement to play a minimum number of weeks. The format is super flexible to account for everyone’s busy lives. The cost is just $10 per Saturday played. Once you play 3 times, we’ll ask for an annual membership of $30 to cover the full year. After this you can play on the courts for free any daylight time – that’s quite some value!
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