Due to the requirement to fit in the Mixed Doubles Final deferred from an increasing wet Thursday, the Singles started early, at 1:30 pm. The crowd at this time was pretty sparse, but the seating soon filled up, prompting a two tier approach.
Men’s Singles Final
This was contested between the top seed and 2023 runner up, Logan Mair, and the up and coming fourth seed, Olly Turner and umpired by Greg Lim.
Logan plays for the first team, and has a very heavy first serve – if it goes in. His second serve is usually quite reliable. He is also in his 50s now, so probably twice the age of Olly. Olly is a leftie, normally plays for the second team, though he has also represented the first team, and apparently plays Joseph Rigal frequently at singles – including beating him in a Men’s Singles semifinal starting Thursday and finishing Friday. Olly has a decent serve too, more consistent than Logan, but not as heavy. In the final, he also showed a superb forehand, which could be directed out of Logan’s reach, and very fast retrieval of balls which would beat most people.
Olly started slowly, and his serve and forehand weren’t really working well. It looked like Logan might run away with the match. Logan got to 5-2 up, but then let Olly in to break, though Logan then won the set 6-4.
But in the second set, Olly’s game really started working well, particularly his forehand. Logan didn’t adapt immediately and was still too many aiming balls at Olly’s forehand. At a certain point, Logan switched to peppering Olly’s backhand instead, but Olly moved further to the right to negate the impact of this. In theory, this opened up the far ad side of the court to Logan hitting outright winners, but in practice, Logan wasn’t able to hit with enough pace and accuracy to prevent Olly from getting to the ball and hitting a winning forehand. At the net, Logan also seemed to find himself taking a number of balls behind him, and not many of these came off. Olly took the second set 6-2.
In the third set, Olly served first. Both players played to a good level, with no service breaks until 5 games all. Olly then held serve, but Logan was always under pressure on his service games, and, on the sixth of these, Olly broke to take the match 4-6 6-2 7-5.
Thus, a second-team player has won the West Heath Men’s Singles event! Does this signal a changing of the guard somewhat?
Ladies’ Singles Final
[Updated 9:30 Monday]
This was contested between Rebecca Vaughan, the second seed and 2021 title holder, and Alex Reyner, the top seed, and umpired by Marjan Denis. Alex has a heavy serve, and some very good groundstrokes, but they aren’t always that consistent under pressure. Rebecca has a good serve, and other shots, but they are slightly less heavy than those of Alex. However, Rebecca is also very consistent, and runs for everything. In this particular final she played extremely well and showed great determination.
Alex didn’t get going properly in the first set. Rebecca broke immediately and went 2-0 up. Rebecca took the first set 6-2.
In the second set, Alex stepped up her game and hit more consistently. Her heavier weight of shot eventually allowed her to get the better of Rebecca – but most of the set went with serve, and it was not until towards the end of the set that Alex broke to take it 6-4.
In the third set, Rebecca started hitting the ball a little harder, going for it, without making a significant number of mistakes, thus putting more pressure on Alex. In particular Rebecca started hitting very strong two-handed backhands, which most of us hadn’t seen much of before, not to mention cracking down the serves. Rebecca thus had the edge in the third set and won it 6-4 to take the match 6-2 4-6 6-4.
There was no doubt Rebecca was fired up to win the match, while keeping her cool against a tough opponent, if that is not a contradiction in terms!! And making very few mistakes at the same time.
The Men’s and Ladies’ Singles events finished almost at the same time.
Men’s Doubles Final
This was contested between Sultan Gangji & Greg Lim, and Stephen Cooke & Logan Mair, and umpired by Joseph Rigal. Sultan and Greg were looking very smart in their Fila team tops – the epitome of sartorial elegance on court!
Sultan’s favourite position is poaching at the net, leaving Greg as the relative youngster to cover the back of the court. Sultan generally employs a lot of flat strokes. Greg is hard hitting and typically very consistent.
Stephen at 6’3″ is very effective at the net, difficult to lob, and his arms seem to extend a lot further than you would think. When he gets to the ball he can direct it through some very large angles to put it out of reach. He also has the best service of all those on court.
In my opinion, Logan played better than in the singles, though playing with Stephen presumably allowed him to go for more risky shots than in the singles – and singles and doubles are two different games.
Although there was some excellent doubles play from both sides, Sultan and Greg were always threatened on their service games, and could not hold consistently. Stephen and Logan won 6-2 6-2.
Compared to the Ladies’ Doubles Final, the Men’s Doubles finished relatively quickly, allowing more of the spectators to watch then end of the Ladies’ Doubles.
Ladies’ Doubles Final
By common consent, this was the most exciting of the Finals and an excellent showcase of the high standard of women’s first team tennis at West Heath. It was played between the top seeds, Alex Reyner & Posy Frederick, and the 2nd seeds, Rebecca Vaughan & Katie Baston, and umpired by Barbara Thomas.
This was the second final in which Alex and Rebecca were competing against each other, and their games are described in the Ladies’ Singles Final write up above. Posy is very consistent, tactically thoughtful, and tends to throw herself around a grass court to ensue she gets to a ball if possible. Katie has some heavy shots but is perhaps less consistent.
In the first set, after some excellent tennis, Alex and Posy gained the upper hand, taking it 6-3.
The second set was much tighter, and went to a similarly narrow set tie break (first to 7), which Rebecca and Katie took 8-6, thus setting up a deciding Match Tie Break (first to 10).
In the match tie break, Rebecca and Katie roared into a 6-1 lead, but Alex and Posy dug in to take 9 points in a row to win it 10-6 and take the title.
This was a really high quality doubles match to watch.
So that was one win apiece to Alex and Rebecca.
Mixed Doubles Final
As a result of the rain on Thursday, the Mixed Doubles Final was deferred until Finals Day, after tea and the presentation of trophies. It was contested between Joseph Rigal & Rebecca Vaughan and Stephen Cooke & Alex Reyner, and umpired by Greg Lim.
As a fast improving player, Joseph excelled his ranking in both the Men’s Singles and the Mixed Doubles. He has an excellent serve and ground strokes and good court coverage. Rebecca played very solidly during her 3 Finals Day finals, rarely making mistakes, with excellent retrieving and using heavier shots without making too many unforced errors.
Stephen did not play in the singles, as he has a habit of getting injured during the tournament if he plays too much tennis, so he saved himself for the Men’s and Mixed Doubles events. As is predictable from his 6’3″ height, he has a big serve, and a huge presence at the net. Stephen is generally very consistent and creative in his shots. Alex, also tall for a woman, similarly has a big serve and ground strokes.
This was another high quality final, with some excellent rallies, extensive retrieving, and a number of winners hit.
In the first set, Stephen and Alex were dominant and Joseph and Rebecca managed only two games, for Stephen and Alex to take the set 6-2.
In the second set, Joseph and Rebecca raised their game to take the score to 5 all. With the tension rising on both sides, Joseph and Rebecca were broken to give a 6-2 7-4 victory to the top seeds.
Players
Among most who saw both men’s and ladies’ events, there was a general consensus that Rebecca Vaughan was player of the tournament, playing out of her skin in all three events while making very few unforced errors, with excellent retrieving and stepping up the pace of shots where necessary. She and Alex Reyner contested all three events, with Rebecca winning the Singles, but Alex taking both Doubles titles.
Olly Turner, a men’s second team player, took the Men’s Singles title with an excellent Singles performance, once he got going. It isn’t often a second team player takes the Men’s Singles title.
Joseph Rigal is probably the most improved player, taking out Richard Keep, the second seed, in the Men’s Singles, and Sultan Gangji & Jen Ehr, the 4th seeds, in the Mixed.
Addresses, Presentation of Trophies and Finals Day Tea
The two doubles finals were immediately followed by addresses from our president Sultan Gangji, and our chair Moira Duncan.
After the updates from both, Moira presented Sultan with a trophy commemorating his tenure as club captain since 1974. It also makes mention of his tenure as president since 2002, and his 9 Men’s Singles titles (76, 78-81, 83-84, 87, 90).
In turn, Sultan presented Moira with a glass trophy to commemorate her 25 years as club chair since she became the first woman West Heath club chair in 1999, and with life membership for her extensive services to the club during that time.
An alumnus of West Heath is often invited to present the trophies, and this year it was Phil Hardy, who won a consecutive series of seven titles from 1974 to 1981. These consisted of two Mixed Doubles, with Miss H Thomas and Jane Boyle, followed by seven Men’s Doubles with Sultan Gangji.
The winners and runners up were then presented with their trophies (or a suitable substitute in the case of the runners up!). Except for the Mixed Doubles trophy presentation, of course, as this had yet to be played. See the bottom of this post for a larger picture.
Following this, everyone had tea.
Evening BBQ and Celebration
To celebrate Sultan Gangji’s 50 years as Club Captain, there was some entertainment from Abi Taub and from Peter Davies.
Also, Philip Godfrey composed and sang a song, celebrating Sultan’s 50th anniversary as Club Captain – video available here.
Philip is a composer, choirmaster and former piano player to the Queen, performing songs on request at her dinner parties.
Karton The Cat
There have been a number of questions on Karton – mostly “what is his name?”
West Heath LTC has been adopted recently by a ginger cat. Apparently, all ginger cats are tabby cats, but not all tabby cats are ginger!
He is 11 months old and is from Turkey. He was discovered as a kitten in a cardboard box, so his name is Karton (Turkish for carton meaning cardboard box).
Karton has been in Hampstead since mid May and is very independent, though vary friendly. Apparently he had not put in an appearance at his home in Ferncroft Avenue for a couple of days recently. In theory he wears a tag on a collar around his neck, but has become adept at removing it
His self appointed task seems to be to guard West Heath grounds against foxes, and he can often be seen patrolling the perimeter before returning to the spectator area to allow himself to be stroked. He enjoys playfully chasing the local fox (which is hunting as far as he is concerned) – see the video here.
Apparently cats can be trained, but only for one thing at a time. Karton sometimes comes on to the grass courts, and can safely be removed by picking him up and putting him on the spectator area, or the path down to the gate. Hopefully he will gradually get the hint that it isn’t sensible to go on to a tennis court when humans are doing funny things with bats and balls on them, though tennis courts are fair game at other times.
All photos used in the match reports can be found here.
Thank you to Sultan for the organisation and copious supplies of Whispering Angel Rose. Also to Marjan, the joint tournament referee. Thank you to the Gourmet Chefs, those who provided Finals Day Teas, the players, spectators, and everyone else involved.
That is it for now, for the 2024 West Heath Tournament. It has been an excellent tournament, with some super tennis, not to mention Gourmet Dinners and Final’s Day teas. And the overarching theme of Sultan’s 50 years as Club Captain.
