Graham & Dom Bruce mowing down the opposition oh gosh .. I think that might be the Chadwicks

Despite the gloomy weather everyone seems to have had a lot of fun. In fact so much so that many were already talking about next year’s event! There were a lot of keen parents who wanted to show just what they can do – and yes, we were impressed! However I did see some of you miss that easy smash -you know the one that you call easy from the sidelines when your child is playing ……..

Prego rolls flowed and nonsensical prizes were awarded and kudus to Tony Soares and Glen Sullivan who walked away with the “Do not give up your day job” prizes. I think everyone will agree that they definately tried hard!

Thanks to everyone who played and supported – you were the ones that made it a success.  

The winners of the six sections are:

Aidan and Artur Carrazedo

Vaughn and Glen Hunter

Jessica and Kim Wilson

Tremayne and Shane Mitchell

Nicole and Garth Robinson

Mickey and Nompumulelo

In the final showdown between the two sets of winners with the highest scores Aidan and Artur beat Vaughn and Glen in a tie-break.

Glen, Vaughn, Aidan & Artur

Special thanks to Sharon Jorgenson, Sharon Beukes, Ingrid Cloete and Tracey Bulmer for their donations of prizes and also to Altech NuPay for their promotional items.

Money raised will go towards Inter Pro, High and Primary Schools Tournaments next year.

Please note that the address of this website has changed to:

www.gctennis.com

Anyone using the old address will be redirected.

The Prince Gauteng Central Open Tournament will be held in November at Ellis Park.

For more details and entry form : 2009 Prince Open Entry form

This is not a ranking tournament.

NEWSLETTER 10/09 by Mike Dunk

SUMMER LEAGUE

Another league has been completed and congratulations to all the section winners and in particular to Bedfordview whose men and ladies sides won Bundes League.

There were a similar number of teams participating in the league this year, but a growing concern was sadly very much in evidence. That is the number of teams forfeiting matches. There were more this year than we have experienced in the past and this is a concern to your Executive. What is really a worrying aspect of these withdrawals is the number of A and B sides that are the culprits.

It is a situation that we, as an Executive, will have to address so as to ensure that there is not a repetition of this in the future. We can understand the odd withdrawal of a team, but not when it becomes the “norm” as it was in some cases this year. Mixed League and the Night League have just started so let us hope that we have a “full house” of completed fixtures.

SENIOR INTER PROVINCIAL

Last week saw this event taking place in Pretoria and although we did not go there with any major aspirations of winning the event, we must CONGRATULATE our team in finishing third overall which was very pleasing.

Our team was:

MEN: Andrew Anderson, Werner Knuppe, Paul Anderson and Hylton Nyakabaw.

LADIES; Veronique Luksich, Tracy Plant, Ele de Villiers and Jabu Khubeka.

On the first day we lost to Gauteng North B but bounced back to register wins over Gauteng East and then a very good Boland side which saw us qualify for the semi finals. There we came up against the “power house” that was Western Province, but in the play off for third and fourth place, we gained revenge over Gauteng North.

What was pleasing to see was the number of former Tour players playing for their Province. When I called Western Province a “power house”, that was no understatement. They had former Tour players in Ruan Roelofse, Lucinda Gibbs and Jackie Booth amongst their ranks so it was no real surprise to see that they won the event fairly comfortably. In the final they beat Gauteng North 6-3.

Other players who have or are still playing on the Futures Tour were Heinrich Heyl and BJ van Rensburg.

Our team did us PROUD and a special mention must be made of Andrew Anderson who went through the week unbeaten at number 1 and amongst that company, that was indeed an incredible feat.

We feel that in view of the importance of this event, SA Tennis should look to schedule it at a more suitable time. Our top players at the moment, as is the case with most of the other Provinces, are coaches who find it difficult to take a week off work to play, even though they were very keen to participate.

During the recent Davis Cup we spoke to representatives of both SA Tennis and the other Provinces and the mood from the Provinces was in line with our own thinking. That is, this event is the pinnacle that the local players aspire to and therefore everyone should be able to play. We appreciate that coaches have to coach to generate income and any lessons not given have to be “made up” at some other time as a general rule. Therefore if they take time out to represent their Province they are not earning their living like a salaried person in an office.

We feel that Inter Provincial should be held over a time span where there are Public Holidays, and April would be the most ideal time to host the event. The weather wherever the event is played would be good at that time of year. It is our intention to raise this with SA Tennis and we will be making a recommendation that in future they should give serious consideration to holding the event in April.

Each and every Province should be in a position whereby they can field their strongest team. That is only fair to the Provinces, the players and the event itself.

PRINCE GAUTENG OPEN

We are pleased to announce that Prince will sponsor the above tournament which will take place over the weekends of 14 and 15, 21 and 22 and 28 and 29 November at Ellis Park. A separate notice has been sent out to clubs, Associations and other interested parties enclosing an entry form but in case you have not received this, please contact Wendy or Mickey at the office (0114025615) for one to be sent to you. This is the premier tournament on our senior calendar and we are hoping for a strong entry. Prize money will be R5000 for the event and the Prince Ball will be used. Have a look at the honours board next time you are at Ellis Park and see the star studded names that have won this event in the past, and then you will see why we regard it as the Premier tournament in the country.

DAVIS CUP

What a disappointment. Our chance to regain our position in the World Group was squandered and we now have to wait another year in the hope that we will be able to challenge once again. The irony of the loss to India was even more evident when the draw for the Davis Cup 2010 was done. India’s name, which is where we would have been, was drawn to play Russia in the first round. Had that been South Africa, then we would have had the honour of a home tie. What a pity.

Thank you to all those who did buy tickets through us and came to support South Africa, but this was obviously not our time.

We must say a big “thank you” to the Johannesburg City Council for doing a huge amount of painting to our buildings and generally attending to the tidying up of the entrance to the Grounds. We received may compliments on how good the buildings are now looking and the general up keep of the Grounds. There were many hours spent in negotiations with the Council to seek their assistance and we owe them a huge debt of gratitude for their assistance in ensuring that Ellis Park looked the part for the event. We know that the ITF representatives were impressed with the facilities all round so it remains for us to see that our team not only has another opportunity of challenging for the World Group, but this time earns the right to take on the might of the rest of the major tennis playing nations in the world on our home soil.

JUNIORS

Yet another record was set at recent Junior National Championships. A total of just over 840 entries were received which increased the number of players for the third year in a row. We have tried to get the results of the tournament form SA Tennis but so far our efforts have been in vain so we are unable at this stage to let you know how our juniors faired.

A PLEA

I had a case recently when seeing a member of one of our clubs I was asked if this News Letter was still being done, as they had not seen one for some time. Can I please ask all club representatives who receive this News Letter to ensure that it is forwarded to all club members or at least put on your club notice board? It is imperative that we as an Executive communicate with the clubs and we, in turn, ask you to forward this communication to your members. Thank you.

YOUR COMMENTS AND NEWS

Remember that at out Annual General Meeting, we were asked to incorporate news from the clubs in this news letter. This is your opportunity to boast, brag or even yell it from the roof tops as to what has happened at your club that you feel would be of interest to others. Again I ask if anyone has a snippet of news and they feel they would like it “broadcast”, then drop me a line at mike@3w.co.za and I will be more than happy to do so. Just remember the editor’s decision is final!

GC is holding a Parent and Child Tournament 

 31 October from 8.00 – 12.30

This is a fundraising fun family day ……. Please support

click for more details – Parent and Child Tournament

come and join us even if you aren’t going to play!

Saturday morning’s squad session at Ellis Park was different and special as our players got to watch the Davis Cup team practice on the 2 resurfaced centre courts. After practice Raven Klaasen and Rik de Voest spoke to our juniors and answered questions, offered advice and signed autographs.

Raven and Rik talking to the squad

There IS squad this weekend – even though the Davis cup is on.  It is a combined squad – both groups playing together.  Squad time is from 08h30 – 11h00 for both groups. Mickey has organised for some of the Davis Cup players to come to visit with the the squad – so it will be a great morning.

You will not be able to park as per normal.  Please park in Miller Street (road at the back of Standard Bank Arena.

If you are coming down Bertrams Road, from Bezuidenhout Road – turn left into Miller Street just before the Standard Bank entrance.

If you are coming down Betrams Road from Joe Slovo Drive – turn right into Miller Street just after the Standard Bank entrance.

Please park in Miller Street (there is parking available).

The gate at the back of the tennis will be open to work through. There is plenty of security – so there will be no problems.

This is the last squad for the term.  The next squad is on the 10^th October – back to normal.  There will be a friendly inter-pro during October – date, etc to be advised.

We are looking for ushers for the Davis Cup tie against India. If you are a GC provincial squad member and would be interested please call Mickey Styles in the morning on 011 402 5615.

Only 2nd year under 14’s, under 16’s and under 18’s and you must have an official GC kit.

Very many thanks to all those clubs who sent representatives to the Annual General Meeting earlier this month. As Bruce Gray, the President, said in his report, it had been a frustrating year with many hours spent by the Executive in discussions and meetings with various parties trying to get the Ellis Park Tennis Grounds upgraded. It is a source of wonder to us that the whole of the Prescient has been wonderfully upgraded all in preparation for 2010, but sadly we, as the last piece of the jigsaw, have been so far, unsuccessful in our endeavours. We will continue in our quest and in our relationship now with Ellis Park World of Sport, we believe that we can, and will see the upgrading taking place.

One request from the meeting was that this newsletter encompasses more details regarding events and happenings within the Province and at the clubs. This newsletter is your newsletter so if any club has any news that they wish to share with us, then please send it to me on e mail at mike@3w.co.za and I will then include these items in the following newsletter.

Whereas we try and keep up to date with what is taking place around the clubs, we do not catch all the news and happenings, so please feel free to praise yourselves when the occasion arises.

JUNIORS

During the recent school holidays, a very successful tournament was held at Ellis Park and our juniors did us proud. Congratulations to the following;

Nicola Robinson won the girls under 12 title

Lindsay Faure won the girls under 14 title with Kelsey Joffe as runner up

Francesca Bernes won the girls under 16 title with Ashley Brandfield as runner up

Sean van der Vyver won the boys under 18 title

Aidan Carrazedo was runner up in the boys under 14

This is a wonderful achievement for our players and the Province, and coupled with our success at this year’s Junior Inter Provincial, we must claim that our Junior programme is working well, and is a good omen for the future of our Province.

This past weekend we played a match against Gauteng East and the results were as follows;

Under 12 won 10-2

Under 14 drew 6 all

Under 16 won 19-4

Under 18 lost 6-14

These friendly inter provincial matches are a wonderful opportunity not only for our players to get the extra match practise, but to mix with other provincial players, and the spirit of these matches is just as important off the court as it is on the court.

The National Junior Championships are due to be held next month and coupled with the KeyHealth Super 7 event the week before; our juniors have a feast of tennis to look forward to in September. The National Championship is the pinnacle of any juniors’ career, and we wish all those who will play in Bloemfontein, the very best of luck.

SUMMER LEAGUES

A misnomer in a way as that time of the year still seems a way off as yet, but they are under way and in the Bundes League the first weekend saw more surprise results than we have seen over the past couple of years. It was a great start for the newcomers, Morningside County Club in the men and Bryanston Sports Club in the ladies, who both recorded good wins.  A report is posted on our web site after each round of matches but in case you missed the first weekend results here they are:

MEN

Morningside Country Club beat German Club 19-9

Killarney beat Marks Park A 19-10

Bedfordview B beat Bedfordview A 18-9

LADIES  

German Club beat Marks Park B 16-3

Bryanston Country Club beat Bedfordview 15-3

Bedfordview B beat Marks Park A 13-5

DAVIS CUP TIE AGAINST INDIA

Many thanks to all those clubs who requested tickets for the above tie and we hope to see a lot more of you there over the 18, 19 and 20 September at the Ellis Park Arena. Just to remind you, if we win this tie we go back into the World Group and then rub shoulders with the top playing nations in the world so your support is needed.

Parking is available at the indoor facility in between the swimming pool and the rugby stadium and you have short walk through the totally revamped Precinct into the Grounds.

OTHER NEWS

The final Grand Slam event of the year, the US Open, begins next week with coverage on Supersport. Check your TV schedule for full details.

The tournament will see Scotland’s Andrew Murray seeded at number 2 for the first time in a Grand Slam event. With his victory in Montreal and good showing, despite not being able to defend his Cinncinatti title a week later, he has earned this position with a solid years tennis, and I am sure he will go on to achieve greater things in the future.

With Roger Federer having won his first Masters event for over a year, he too, is running into the type of form needed to possibly record his 6^th consecutive US Open title. What of Rafa? Well, he is just coming back after his troublesome knees gave way, but with only playing every other day, the rest may be just what he needs to mount a serious challenge to both Federer and Murray.

It will be compulsive viewing over the next two weeks.

See you at the Davis Cup.