HELENSBURGH'S reigning Paralympic champion Gordon Reid claimed his first men’s singles title of 2021 today by beating fellow Brit and top seed Alfie Hewett 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to lift the inaugural Loughborough Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament crown.
Gordon and Alfie Hewett later joined forces to claim their third successive men’s doubles title of the season as the first LTA international competition staged in Britain in almost 12 months drew to a close.
HELENSBURGH Tennis Club's raffle to mark 75 years of Christian Aid raised £530.
In past years Ann McKelvie and Phyllis Fullarton organised SuperSoup lunches to boost this charity, but with that not possible this year they decided to organise a raffle.
HELENSBURGH'S Gordon Reid is among an array of Grand Slam champions and Paralympic medallists heading the entry for this week’s inaugural Loughborough Indoor Wheelchair Tennis Tournament, which takes place from today until Saturday at the Loughborough University Tennis Centre.
The first LTA international competition staged in Britain in almost 12 months, since the coronavirus pandemic struck, the ITF 2 event sees Loughborough University Tennis Centre host international wheelchair tennis for the first time since staging the 2017 Wheelchair Tennis Masters, the sport’s year-end singles championship.
THE HELENSBURGH Tennis Club committee is delighted to confirm that as of Friday March 12 normal doubles play resumed at the club.
All the usual requirements of signing in, using sanitiser, maintaining social distancing etc still of course apply. Access to our indoor facilities remains the same, namely for access to the toilets and for floodlights only. Changing and social facilities remain closed.
Group activities outside for up to 15 people can take place, but socialising before or after these activities should be kept to a minimum and be mindful of the four persons from a maximum of two households rule.
For all of the detail relating to the above, and changes and updates to the guidance, please refer to the Tennis Scotland website at https://www.lta.org.uk/globalassets/news/2020/scotland-tennis-activity-by-level-grid.pdf
Fiona MacLaren
HLTC COVID Officer
ALFIE HEWETT and Helensburgh's Gordon Reid dominated the singles and doubles events for the second year in a row at the ABN AMRO World Wheelchair Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam, with Alfie retaining the singles title in Sunday’s all-Brit final before he and Gordon went on to also make it back-to-back doubles titles.
In the singles final Alfie came from 5-2 down in the opening set against two-time Rotterdam champion Gordon and saved a set point at 5-4 before completing a 7-5, 6-4 victory.
HELENSBURGH'S Gordon Reid and Alfie Hewett claimed their second successive Australian Open mens doubles wheelchair tennis title together today as they secured a record-equalling tenth career Grand Slam title with a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory over French second seeds Stephane Houdet and Nicolas Peifer at Melbourne Park.
Alfie, who plays Belgium’s Joachim Gerard for the singles title tomorrow, said: “It feels amazing, To go back-to-back, it's an awesome feeling, especially with the situation at the moment, not knowing how many opportunities we're going to have to compete this year.
HELENSBURGH'S Gordon Reid and partner Alfie Hewett are through to a second successive Australian Open mens doubles final at Melbourne Park.
The pair had a 6-1, 4-6, 10-7 doubles semi-final victory today over Gustavo Fernandez and Shingo Kunieda, the Argentine-Japanese duo who brought Hewett and Reid’s 16 match and seven tournament winning streak to an end in the lead-in to this year’s Australian Open.
HELENSBURGH'S Gordon Reid booked his place in the Australian Open singles semi-finals during today’s opening day of wheelchair tennis action at Melbourne Park.
Gordon needed six match points before joining Alfie Hewett in the singles semi-finals, overcoming the effects of illness to secure a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Argentina’s world no.2 Gustavo Fernandez.
MEASURES to suppress the spread of Coronavirus in regards to tennis exemptions have been ratified by Tennis Scotland today.
Full updated Tennis Scotland guidelines can be found here – currently all tennis clubs in mainland Scotland are Tier 4.
HELENSBURGH Tennis Club coach Alan MacBeath is to run two Day Coaching Camps for children in P3-7 on Tuesday December 29 and Tuesday January 5 from 1-3pm.
He promises lots of fun actvities and games outside at the club. Details and booking can be found here.
BRITAIN'S elite wheelchair tennis players — including Helensburgh's Gordon Reid — fought out a richly deserved draw as the inaugural LTA Wheelchair Team Battle came to a dramatic close on Thursday at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton with teams the Lionhearts and The Knights locked together at 12-12.
Only once during Thursday’s eight contests did more than one point separate the two teams, with British men’s no.1 and world no.3 Alfie Hewett getting the better of British no.2 and reigning Paralympic champion Gordon 6-2, 7-6(2) to see the Lionhearts take the lead 11-9.
However, with both players later involved in the last of the event’s 24 matches to be completed, Gordon and world no.2 ranked junior Ben Bartram put together six games in a row to wrap up a 6-1, 6-3 win over Alfie and Dahnon Ward to ensure The Knights levelled the overall team score.
Gordon, who beat Alfie 6-4, 6-4 in their first singles head-to-head on Wednesday, said: “I think it’s been a great idea. It’s nice to get all the players from the LTA’s wheelchair programme together, which doesn’t happen very often.
"It’s great to be able to watch some of the younger guys coming through and seeing them play so well. Hopefully we can have more of these in the future.”
Fifteen of the LTA’s Podium and Podium-potential players and rising stars from the LTA’s National Age Group Programme assembled for the three days of men’s, women and quad singles and doubles matches, with a selection of mixed doubles contests adding to the excitement on each day of play.
Early Christmas for three!
Written by Gay Black
THE WINNERS of the Helensburgh Tennis Club Lotto draw for December were announced today by organiser Gay Black.
The £40 first prize went to Claire Whyte, the £20 second prize to Alastair Hope, and the £10 third prize to Janette Green. The cheques will be sent out in the next few days.
TIDINGS of great joy! The Helensburgh Tennis Club committee has decided that tokens for floodlights will now be provided free of charge.
The committee is hoping that this will make it easier to organise winter evening play and will allow for spontaneity.
TWO Helensburgh Tennis Club members have received early Christmas presents from the club's Lotto.
Organiser Gay Black announced today that the respective winners of the October and November draws were Mrs Eithne Ashton and Bobby Kerr.
HELENSBURGH Tennis Club members and their friends really rose to the occasion when it was decided to raffle a bottle of champagne in aid of Children in Need.
"I have been overwhelmed and delighted by the response," said organiser Ann McKelvie. "In just a week we raised the amazing total of £505."
FOR SEVERAL years Helensburgh Tennis Club has held a fundraising event in the clubhouse for Children in Need, but this year an alternative had to be found because of Covid 19 restrictions.
Organiser Ann McKelvie was determined the club should back this year's appeal in some way — so she is raffling a bottle of champagne.
She is asking members to contact her and pledge £1 per ticket (no limit!) which can be passed to her when convenient.
A year ago the club's first Children in Need Lunch in the clubhouse proved a massive success, and raised £766, compared with £300 raised at the 2018 coffee morning.
HELENSBURGH Tennis Club's Covid-19 officer, Fiona MacLaren, has been busy since she was appointed.
She told the website: "Just a few words to update members on my activity around the club since I took on the role of COVID Officer last month . . .
- Updated notices around the club facilities inside and outside
- Repositioning of the sign-in book to shelter it from the weather
- Installation of new court-side sanitiser dispensers – thanks to Ian Parlane
- Completion of CV19 e-learning moduleCompletion of CV19 risk assessment documentation
"Please contact me if you have questions or comments about any COVID related matters in relation to our club facilities and rules for play.
"In the meantime please continue to enjoy playing tennis safely by following the carefully considered guidance, checking online at Tennis Scotland www.lta.org.uk and thereby playing your part in keeping us all safe."
ONLY one final in the Helensburgh Tennis Club 2020 Club Championships remains to be played.
