Yes, it’s me – your long-lost newsletter correspondent. I hope you’ve all been pining away in my absence (or at least mildly curious if I’d been abducted by rogue tennis balls). Huge thanks to Melanie and Hollie for bravely stepping in while I was off doing… very important tennis-related things (probably involving sun loungers and cake).
Mark Petchey Final – New Recruits!
Since my last thrilling instalment, we’ve added some new warriors to the Mark Petchey Final line-up:
🎾 Ian “The Quiet Assassin” Kersey
🎾 Jan “Steady-as-she-goes” Connett
🎾 Heather “Stats Queen” Beaton
🎾 Luke “Legs for Days” Roberts
Congrats, legends. May your finals be fierce and your serves be sassy.
Thursday Night Mayhem
With a Grade 3 event devouring our court space like a tennis-loving Pac-Man, I whipped up a Thursday night tournament to keep us all from withdrawal symptoms. And wow — what a night!
We had 16 brave souls, plenty of sweat, some heroic dives (intentional or otherwise), and one poor soul who took a ball to the chin — but laughed it off like a champ. Rolland Garros, eat your heart out.
Stars of the Show:
🌟 Heather Beaton was a spreadsheet’s dream: 7, 5, 7, 6 = 25/32 = 78%. Heather basically put the “ace” in “ace accountant.”
😈 Nicky Pinner came out blazing with a triple six (ominous), then eased off with a humble 2. Still nailed second place with 20/32 = 62%. Mischievous, majestic, marvellous.
🏃♂️ Luke Roberts – freshly escaped from uni – was zipping around like a caffeine-charged spaniel. His scores? 6, 2, 6, 5 = 19/32 = 59%. Welcome back, Luke! And yes, we’re all jealous of your knees.
That’s all for now – more thrills, spills, and questionable fashion choices in the next edition. Stay fabulous and keep hitting them clean!
Results plus all the qualifiers so far and a chance to win a holiday are below
Thursday 29th May results (tilt phone to see results clearly)
| Name | 1st Round | 2nd Round | 3rd Round | 4th Round | Total | Games played | Percentage |
| Heather Beaton | 7 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 25 | 32 | 78.13% |
| Nicky Pinner | 6 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 20 | 32 | 62.50% |
| Luke Roberts | 6 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 19 | 32 | 59.38% |
| David Pinner | 5 | 6 | 2 | 5 | 18 | 32 | 56.25% |
| Veronica Acland | 7 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 18 | 32 | 56.25% |
| Anna Brown | 4 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 18 | 32 | 56.25% |
| Michael Reding | 3 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 17 | 32 | 53.13% |
| Stu Beaton | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 16 | 32 | 53.13% |
| Mark Wooton | 2 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 16 | 32 | 50.00% |
| Kit Circuit | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 32 | 50.00% |
| Lynn Swift | 1 | 3 | 4 | 6 | 14 | 32 | 43.75% |
| Robert Gair | 3 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 32 | 40.63% |
| Clare Dearling | 4 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 13 | 32 | 40.63% |
| Chris Dearling | 4 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 12 | 32 | 37.50% |
| Tip Flory | 1 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 32 | 31.25% |
| Michelle Pipkin | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 32 | 31.25% |
| Club Players Road to Wimbledon, Final Sunday June 8th |
| 1st Prize Private Tennis Lesson, Tour and Lunch with Mark Petchey at Wimbledon |
| 2nd & 3rd Prize Weekend Coaching with Active Away £218 Value each |
| To Qualify for the final you have to finish in the first 3 in any of the heats listed below |
| 📅 **Every Sunday** | 10:00 AM – 12:30 PM last qualifying event June 1st 2025 |
| 🌙 **Tuesday, April 8th** | 7:00 PM – 9:30 PM |
| ☀️ **Saturday, April 26th** | 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM Thursday 29th May |
| 1 | Peter Brown | 🎾🎾🎾 | 19 | David Pinner | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 2 | Dean Swift | 🎾🎾🎾 | 20 | Wayne Peberdy | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 3 | Robert Gair | 🎾🎾🎾 | 21 | Chris Dearling | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 4 | Clare Dearling | 🎾🎾🎾 | 22 | Tip Flory | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 5 | Dan Chapelle | 🎾🎾🎾 | 23 | Tony Goodson | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 6 | Mark Wooton | 🎾🎾🎾 | 24 | Dan Pipkin | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 7 | Hollie Newton | 🎾🎾🎾 | 25 | John Quinton | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 8 | Michelle Pipkin | 🎾🎾🎾 | 26 | Steve Belton | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 9 | Anne Sheldon | 🎾🎾🎾 | 27 | Michael Todd | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 10 | Steve Rowntree | 🎾🎾🎾 | 28 | Chris Palmer | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 11 | Anna Brown | 🎾🎾🎾 | 29 | Catherine Backhouse | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 12 | Michael Reding | 🎾🎾🎾 | 30 | Nicky Pinner | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 13 | Peter Aldous | 🎾🎾🎾 | 31 | James Long | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 14 | Kevin Milner | 🎾🎾🎾 | 32 | Anne Sheldon | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 15 | Andrew Turner | 🎾🎾🎾 | 33 | Darren Jones | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 16 | Vera Gair | 🎾🎾🎾 | 34 | Genevieve Broad | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 17 | Ian Kersey | 🎾🎾🎾 | 35 | Heather Beaton | 🎾🎾🎾 |
| 18 | Jan Connett | 🎾🎾🎾 | 36 | Luke Roberts | 🎾🎾🎾 |
Chris Dearling
