Alnwick Tennis Club holds a Finals Day for its successful and popular club competitions

The club has not organised internal tournaments since 1998, however, the club has been thriving recently and has more than doubled its membership, and responded to the desire among members to reinstate formal competitive tennis within the club.

The time seemed to be right given the success enjoyed in the Northumberland and Durham leagues in the summer of 2023 with five teams winning their leagues.

Club players played the earlier phases of the tournaments throughout July and August, with the four finals played on September15.

The day began with the mixed doubles final, which was won by Laurence Reeves and Rosanna Curtis, who defeated James Huntly and Claire Marshall in straight sets 6-3, 6-2.

Impressively, Rosanna then went on to play that afternoon in the 24-15 win by Alnwick Ladies rugby team over Gateshead Ladies.

In the afternoon, the Ladies’ singles final was closely contested with Claire Marshall coming out victorious over Caitlin Burns 6-2, 7-5.

The Men’s doubles final saw the father and son pairing of Ray and James Huntly come out winners over Rich Matthews and Andrew Bothamley 6-4, 6-2.

Ray, a long-serving honorary member of the club and organiser of the tournaments, was clearly emotional when he expressed his thrill at winning this match alongside his son James – a match that he felt would likely be the final match of his highly successful playing career.

The Men’s singles final proved to be a closely fought, epic match lasting two-and-a-half hours.

This thrilling encounter produced gripping tennis that was greatly appreciated by those watching. The match ebbed and flowed but, despite both players evidently tiring as a result of the exceptionally long rallies, the high intensity and consistent quality was maintained to the final point. Eventually, Laurence Reeves won his second final of the day, prevailing over Tom Martin 6-0, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4.

The trophies were presented by club chair, Ernie Harpur, who paid tribute to the players for producing high quality and entertaining matches, and to Ray Huntly for organising the tournaments over the summer.

The event was thoroughly enjoyed by all who participated or spectated.