PSOBLTA v St George’s College
Lost 4-0
PSOBLTA team:
Jemremy Fleming, Chris Jenkins, Brad Keenes and Tim Thomas
St George’s College team:
Matthew Bates, Jamie Boden, Daniel Garcia and Taylor Papworth
With the sun finally shining gloriously for the first time seemingly in weeks, the PSOBLTA team arrived at St George’s College Weybridge on Saturday, 14 April for the Association’s first outdoor fixture of the 2018 season. However, consistent with the 2017 season, we maintained our recent tradition of prioritising participation over victory and duly lost the match 4-0.
As ever with the PUBS though, there were extenuating circumstances. First, the team arrived having prepared avidly to play their first grass court tennis of the summer only to find that the previous week’s deluge had put paid to that ambition. Second, the opposition were very considerably younger – which is hard to avoid when playing against a schoolboy team. And third, prior to the non-playing captain’s arrival, the PUBS were persuaded to adopt the sudden death deuce scoring system to give the hosts practice at this format which is now prevalent in many inter-schools competitions.
Suffice to say that our perplexed 2nd pair of Brad Keenes and Tim Thomas never really recovered from losing the 1st set of their 1st match 4-6 having lost five (!) games on a sudden death deuce. They then went on to surrender their remaining sets while continuing very possibly to win more points overall than their opponents – or so they would have you believe.
Meanwhile our valiant 1st pair of Jeremy Fleming (making his PUBS debut) and Chris Jenkins started their morning on court with what turned out to be the match of the day. Having lost the 1st set against the SGC 2nd pair, they came back to win the 2nd and lead 7-3 in the match tie-break before sadly succumbing 12-10 having had match point. Overcome with this disappointment (which they disguised magnificently), they then lost their remaining match in straight sets.
So overall, while not the triumphant start to the outdoor season that we had craved, the St George’s fixture still provided some excellent competition, outstanding tennis, supreme sportsmanship – and the opportunity to encourage the next generation (always a key aim of the Association) by generously allowing them a clean sweep on the day!
My thanks to St George’s for kindly hosting the fixture and Brad, Chris, Jeremy and Tim for so gamely representing the PUBS.
Full results:
PSOBLTA first pair: Jeremy Fleming/Chris Jenkins
- lost to Matthew Bates/Jamie Boden 4-6, 3-6
- lost to Daniel Garcia/Taylor Papworth 3-6, 6-4, 10-12
PSOBLTA second pair: Brad Keenes/Tim Thomas
- lost to Matthew Bates/Jamie Boden 4-6, 2-6
- lost to Daniel Garcia/Taylor Papworth 1-6, 2-6
Conor Boden – PSOBLTA Match Manager