THE Tennis section of the British Games Club held its annual Easter Fun Day tournament a few days before the start of the holiday.

Because Easter was quite late this year, numbers were well down on previous years, so many of our ‘swallow’ members having already returned home.

Nonetheless, the morning’s doubles were as keenly contested as ever, with the Chicks emerging winners at the end of the three-hour sessions by a margin of 56-45 games over the Bunnies.

The winning team members were Ian, Roberto, Lorna, Chris, Helen, George, Victoria, Max and Ken

There was an appropriate Last Supper feel to the traditional lunch that followed, with only 13 people at table to enjoy the meal provided by Chio, Jacobo and the clubhouse team.

As usual, the Easter event marked the end of the season’s tournament programme.

The section now goes into summer ‘maintenance mode’, with playing sessions taking place just once a week from Tuesday, May 2 until Tuesday, September 26.

The new 2017/2018 season officially gets under way on Tuesday, October 3, when Tuesday and Thursday twice-weekly sessions recommence.

THE British Games Club’s second tennis tournament of the season against Tony Connolly’s international team proved every bit as competitive as the inaugural staging of the event back in December of last year.

With the twice-a-season event now likely to become a permanent fixture on the tennis section calendar, it’s clear that the friendly rivalrly between the two teams will be every bit as compelling as the annual matches against the now-defunct Dutch Club, particularly as several former Dutch team players now feature in Tony’s international squad.

In December, the British team fought back to record a narrow victory after falling behind in the early games.

This time round, however, the Brits got off to a bright start, their ladies leading the way, winning the nine women’s doubles by the massive margin of 52-21 games.

The Games Club did not fare so well in the men’s doubles, with the international team equally as dominant with a 49-24 games tally.

At 76-70 in the Games Club’s favour, the tournament was finely poised as it entered the final phase of six mixed doubles matches. It was here that the Games Club asserted themselves again, racking up a 33-12 games winning margin to emerge as overall tournament winners by a score of 109-82.

Once the 24 matches were over, both teams were able to relax over lunch in the clubhouse, ably prepared and served by Chio, chef Jacobo and the team.

Once lunch was over, Games Club president Susan Dickinson presented the trophy to winning captain Maxine, together with bottles of wine to the ‘Most Valuable Players’, i.e. highest scorers, captain Maxine and Nick in the Games Club team, and Maria and Paulo in Tony’s team.

That wasn’t the end of the presentations, though, with a surprise award made by Alvaro and his wife of a plaque to Maxine Self in recognition of all the hard work she puts into organising the Games Club tennis section. It’s a well-deserved accolade and one thoroughly endorsed by all members of the tennis group. Maxine was totally unprepared and inevitably it led to a few emotional tears.