OLD Basing Tennis Club held a fantastic mixed doubles American tournament on Saturday, July 29, in which 16 members took part, each person playing with different partners throughout the afternoon.

The popular event, the second to be held at Old Basing Tennis Cub this summer, was organised by member Steve Vaux, who is a licenced referee for the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).  

The 16 entrants included several families which increased the competitiveness and fun as each player played six games with a partner against another pair, and in the next round they were partnered with a different person against new opposition.

To make the event even quicker and more exciting, only one point or ‘sudden death’ was played at deuce and not the normal two points.

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The scores of each individual player were tallied up over the seven rounds of tennis.

Throughout the afternoon the scores of the men were constantly changing with one man in the lead for quite a while until he was beaten in the last round by worthy winner Neil Clark who ended the afternoon with the greatest number of games.

In the women's competition, after the second round of the competition, a new member of the club, Carika Reyneke, move out into the lead, and as the rounds continued she could not be caught due to her lovely strong play.

Both winners were awarded a bottle of sparkling wine and a great afternoon was had by all 16 players.

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The weather was warm and sunny and although there was quite a breeze the conditions were perfect for an afternoon of tennis, tea, and cake in the lovely surroundings of the recreation ground in Old Basing.

The tennis courts at Old Basing Tennis Club have been getting even more use recently with a new initiative promoted by the club which was very popular with local residents.

During Wimbledon fortnight, the club offered one court for non-members to use for free to give them a chance to try and replicate what they’d been watching on TV by having a go and seeing if they liked the game of tennis.