An LTA Grade 4 Tournament
Tournament code OXF15S0254.
Thank you for visiting the Abingdon Open 2015 pages. This year the tournament ran from Monday 10th August through to Thursday 13th August. The number of players entering took quite a large step up from the previous years, particularly the 12 & under boys and girls, and all the mini categories.
The weather was actually better than was predicted by all the weather
forecasting web sites. However, as we anticipated having to sit out
most of Mondays play, an early decision was taken to run the 12 &
under matches over short sets. This is not our preferred scoring
method as we normally like to play all matches over full sets. We did
manage to get the first matches underway at 9am, but had to come off
court at 10.30am for 3 hours. It was an unfortunate delay, and as
time progressed, regrettably, the decision was taken to move both the
12 & 16 girls competition to the Tuesday. Once the rain stopped, the
12 & 16 boys competitions progressed well.
Tuesday and Wednesday were relatively trouble free, but anyone who was looking at the weather forecast for the Thursday would have despaired. The predictions were rain all day, from early morning to late evening. However, when Thursday morning arrived, the weather was not as bad as predicted, and play got underway on time, with all the mini red matches completed without any delay. The rain did not put in an appearance in until 1.30pm, and remained until about 3.00pm. On a number of occasions Julia Freeman (the tournament referee) and I were on the verge of bringing the players in, but each time the rain seemed to ease. I would like to praise all those players who persevered through the rain, and allowed the tournament to continue.
I would like to be a little self indulgent here, and praise our
Abingdon players. Casey Highmoor for winning the 14 & under
consolation final, and Tom Buckle for a convincing win in the 18 &
under main draw final against a 4.2 rated player. Also, worth
mentioning was Ray Prince in a titanic battle against Max Chopping,
both of whom played some exceptional and big hitting tennis, and for
me, this was probably the match of the tournament.
This piece would not be complete without, once again thanking Julia Freeman for the calm way she handled the entire tournament, including working round the rain delays, and managed to keep my panic moments when I thought the rain was never going to stop, in check. Also, my thanks go to Jim Eastwood for his expertise on the IT side of things, and keeping the Abingdon Tennis Club web site up to date with all the competition details.
Finally, a big thank you to all the competitors for the excellent tennis they put on, in what were at times trying conditions, and to their parents for bearing with us during the delays. There were many matches that were of a high standard of tennis. The sportsmanship was again first class. Thank you to all of you for making the Abingdon Open Tennis Tournament 2015 another week to remember for a long time.
We will work on getting the delays out of the system, and hope to see you all again for the 2016 Abingdon Open, which should run from August 8th to August 12th, subject to confirmation from the LTA. Next year we shall also extend the allocated days to 3 for each of the 12 & under to 18 & under tournaments so we do not have to be so severe in cutting match lengths in the event of inclement weather.
I would also like to extend my thanks the Bev and Bee Woodcock for again providing the refreshments for the tournament. The demand for hot dogs even outstripped their expectations!
Craig Amison-Smith
Tournament Director
ALTC 2015 Open Tournament