The 2015 Irish Real Tennis Open Championships Radley College, UK 5–7 June, 2015

The IRTA visited Radley over the sunny weekend of 5–7 June for its annual Open Championship.

While there was plenty of interest in the tournament, a number of late withdrawals through injury or other unavoidable issues meant that the ten entrants enjoyed even more court time in the course of the weekend than is usual at this event, and it was possible to run both singles and doubles competitions at Radley. The singles tournament was played to handicap, with handicaps ranging from Rustom Manecksha on 37 to near beginner Tom Branigan, playing off 68.

The players were divided into two round-robin groups, with each therefore getting at least four singles matches (of one 6-game set). Radley’s James Fleetwood and Emmanuel Joffrin both won three of their four matches and thus emerged as the semi-finalists from the first group. The second group was less clear-cut: Derek O’Sullivan won three of his four matches, and thus qualified for the semi-final, but Charlie Hodgson, Tom Branigan, and Jack Woods all won two matches. Charlie Hodgson progressed after a count-back, and then came close in his semi-final, ultimately losing to James Fleetwood 5/6. In the other semi-final Emmanuel Joffrin defeated Derek O’Sullivan 6/3 to set up an all-Radley final. In the final, and at the end of a full weekend of tennis, Emmanuel proved to have greater reserves of energy and beat James 6/1.

The doubles tournament took place in parallel with the singles matches and was also run to a round robin format, with each pair playing at least four matches (of one 6-game set), followed by a final between the two leading pairs. The final proved to be an all-Irish affair, with Rustom Manecksha and Jack Woods, and Mark Keogh and David Lowry both winning three of their four group matches. Rustom and Jack had won the group match between the pairs 6/4, and managed to improve on that result in the final, defeating Mark and David 6/3.

We are grateful to Radley for permitting us to hold our Open Championship on their court once again, to Chris Ronaldson for support and advice in planning, organising, and running the event, and also to Mark Eadle for assistance in the course of the weekend.

Results

Singles

Group one

Group two

Semi-final and final:

Doubles

Final:

Photos

— Rustom Manecksha, Roland Budd