Tennis tournament joy for City of Derry members

Pictured after the Men's Doubles Open from left to right Drew Chambers (Runner-up) and Peter Fryer and Martin Fryer (Winners).

WITH Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic now in full flow at Wimbledon, tennis favour has already gripped Londonderry.

City of Derry Tennis Club hosted the biggest event in the club’s calendar last week as the City of Culture Championships kicked off on Wednesday night.

The first round matches in the C Men’s Singles, Doubles and Mixed were played on Wednesday evening with perfect weather conditions and many spectators.

Unfortunately this was to be the best weather of the tournament. As the weekend approached matches were played through wind and rain with no sign of ‘Rain Delay’ from the umpire!

Players showed great dedication and sportsmanship, with competitive matches being played as late as 11pm on some of the evenings.

Saturday’s downpour, and unlike Wimbledon Centre Court, St Columb’s Park’s tennis courts does not have a roof, delayed a few matches but the semi-finals continued with several City of Derry players making it to the finals.

Players travelled from all over the North-West, from Ballybofey, Omagh, Letterkenny, Limavady and further afield to compete in this City of Culture event.

Sunday was finals day and each victory was fought hard for and several matches went to a third set decider – no one wanting to fall at the final hurdle and miss out on the title.

The day was rounded off with the Mixed Doubles Open with City of Derry team Karen Campbell and Peter Fryer taking on Ballybofey’s Elaine Chambers and Francis Venzon.

The local pairing started tentatively losing the first set 6-4 but fought back hard to win the second set 7-5. The third and final set saw the match go the distance with the local pair losing out 7-5 in the end.

Tournament Director, Martin Fryer, said the event was a huge success and the committee had worked hard to build on the success of the previous three year’s tournaments: “This year’s tournament required extra effort from everyone as we had the City of Culture name to live up to.

“I think we pulled off a great event with the help of committee members and sponsors support – we look forward to building on this again next year.”

City of Derry tennis club would like to thank their sponsors – City Man, Seating Matters, The Everglades Hotel and Total Cycling for their support.

City of Derry Winners: Men’s Open Singles – Peter Fryer; Men’s Open Doubles – Peter Fryer & Martin Fryer; Ladies Open Singles – Ellen Hasson-Nayer; Ladies Open Doubles – Karen Campbell & Jemma McGlinchey; Mens B Doubles – Gary Campbell and Adrian Ford; Mixed B Doubles – Ellen Hasson-Nayer and Ladies C Singles – Rishika Goodwani.