13-09-2021
Club Development
Our club members have embarked on a major fund raising initiative by selling ten year bonds to members and to the public, who may wish to purchase and contribute towards funding our move to Athlone Regional Sports Centre. Under phase 1 of the development, Leader has contributed €150,000 and the club has embarked on raising the necessary funding to complete the initial phase. This will provide the club with three floodlit courts and a temporary clubhouse.
Club members greatly appreciate the decision, by Westmeath County Council, the fifty year lease of the 1.3 acre site, at the Regional Sports Centre. This will enable the club to build three further courts, hopefully under a dome which will greatly enhance the conditions for playing tennis.
Further information about the bond scheme and the proposed development can be obtained by emailing bondsathlonetennisclub@gmail.com
Senior Club Championships
The Sidero Technology Solutions sponsored senior club championships, commence this week. The competitions will be played over the coming weeks with all the finals to be played either the first Saturday or Sunday in October depending on the weather. As usual members may play in the following events, as appropriate, ladies’ singles, men’s singles, ladies’ doubles, men’s doubles, mixed doubles, Ida Smith Cup and Dave Costello Cup. All players beaten in their first match may enter the plate competitions.
See Draws in Fixture and Results
Senior Singles Leagues
The singles summer leagues have concluded with promotion for the top two players in Groups 2 to 5. Consequently the last two in each Group have been demoted.
Ladies’ Results: Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
Lisa Brennan, Anne Dooley, Madhu Bhyrraju, Sharon Carty, Maria Moulton, respectively
Men’s Results Groups 1, 2, 3, 4, 5:
Harry O’ Rourke, Kieran Mc Carthy, Dave Costello, Darragh Elliott, Barry O’ Shea, respectively.
Junior and Senior Pyramids
David O’ Shea tops the junior pyramid, Gearoid Mc Carthy holds the second spot. Donal Mc Dermott, Aditya Bharraju and Cesar Leal are third, fourth and fifth.
The top five places on the ladies’ pyramid are held by Lisa Brennan, Julie Costello, Anna Walsh, Lola Fernandez Palos and Anne Dooley.
Harry O’ Rourke holds top position on the men’s pyramid followed by Sean Raftery. David Manser is third followed by Peter Agbanobi and Viking George Bodor.
Mondays: Men’s Autumn Doubles League
The men’s autumn doubles league commenced last Monday with two duos claiming the four points. The Rob Kearney/Barry O’ Shea and Sai Palada/Atin Kohli combinations were joint winners while Kieran Mc Carthy and Arthur Avkhadiyev claimed the three points. Marek Rose and John O’ Connell achieved two points each. Benn Cuthbert, Puneet Nayyar, Dave Costello, Sundar Balasubramanian, David Monaghan, Viking George Bodor and Jan Groenendijk were also point winners.
Wednesday: Ladies Night
The ladies doubles competition will continue this Wednesday as usual from 7.30 and all lady members are welcome to participate. Last week’s event was cancelled due to damp conditions.
Thursday’s Mixed Doubles
The mixed doubles partnerships last Thursday were Rose Costello/Kieran Mc Carthy, Anne Dooley/Cathal Joyce, Madhu Bhyrraju/Dave Costelllo, Lola Fernandez Palos/Atin Kohli, Marek Rose/ Jan Groenendijk and Michael Doheny/Sundar Balasubramanian, combinations that enjoyed excellent social tennis matches.
Partnerships for Sunday morning’s work out on the courts were made up by Natasha Shine, Maree Brennan, Rose and Dave Costello, Marek Rose and Puneet Nayyar.
New Members
It has been an excellent year for our club with many children and adults joining and getting enormous pleasure from playing the game. We appreciate the coaching sessions provided by Lisa and Clem for our junior and senior members. New members are welcome to join our club now at a special discount. Please visit our website, athlonetennisclub.com, for further information and read what our tennis club has to offer you. Please email athlonetennis@gmail.com for further information.
US Open
Out with the old, in with the new, that was the clear message from eighteen year old Emma Raducanu and the year older Leylah Annie Fernandez, at this year’s US Open ladies’ competition. Both players played exceptional tennis, to the delight of the New York spectators, to swat away the challenges of all, seeded and non-seeded players. Emma triumphed in the final, making history having played three qualifying matches and seven more to reach the pinnacle of her young career. She played nine matches, without dropping a set and collected a cheque for £1,800,000.
However the old order pertained in the men’s event with the two top seeds, Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev, competing in the final. Novak failed to achieve all four Grand Slams in a calendar year, he was comprehensively outplayed in the final. Still holding three is not too bad!