In the 2nd round of fixtures for the 2020 winter league, unfortunately the weather put paid to the Annan B v Dumfries A match, however the Dumfries B v Annan A match went ahead in windy and slightly damp conditions.

The defending champions travelled through to Dumfries for the 2nd week in a row as they tried to stop father and son pair building on their win last week. In the first match Michael Goldie held off a spirited Colin Grieve to take the first rubber 6-2, 6-4. In the 2nd match Fergus Reynolds-Lewis took on Irving MacKay and just edged a tight match as Dumfries took a 2-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-3 match score.

In the doubles, Dumfries took the first set before Annan got started which resulted in a tighter 2nd set. However the father and son duo held on to complete the match with a 6-1, 6-4 win.

D&G Winter League Results

This leave Dumfries B top of the table with one match left against Dumfries A which is scheduled for next week.

This year’s winter league got underway on an overcast, slightly windy but dry day, which hasn’t happened much this year so far. Current champions Annan A headed through to play Dumfries A with Dumfries B making the reverse trip and headed through to Annan to play their B team. Both clubs had winter league debuts for 12 years old Flynn Dalgliesh playing for Annan A and Fergus Reynolds-Lewis who is also 12, playing for Dumfries B. Both youngsters played well in their respective matches with mixed results as Flynn competed well in his match before going down 2 sets to love with Fergus edging a tight match to win by 2 sets to love. However, it was great to see both clubs giving the kids a platform to play.

An experience Dumfries A claimed the match 3-0 and Dumfries B did likewise through in Annan.

Next week sees Dumfries B entertain Annan A whilst Dumfries A travel through to play Annan B.

D&G Winter League 2020 Results and Fixtures

The 2nd event in this years D&G Mini Red Tour took us to Annan. We started play with 12 boys and 4 girls all looking for points to creep up the leaderboard.

In the girls event we had 3 Dumfries girls and Ave Smith from Annan making her debut in Red ball competitions. Both Caitlin Topping and Stella Hodgins started where they left off at the Dumfries event by winning their first 2 matches against Ava and hitting partner Ruby Gordon. This left Stella and Caitlin to play out to see who took the gold medal. Caitlin won the previous meeting and started sharply as she eased into a 6-0 lead before Stella got going. Stella then produced 5 points in a row to make it 5-6 before Caitlin regained her authority to make it 7, then 8 and then 9 before Stella responded again to eat into the lead and take it to 9-9 before taking the last point to make it 10-9 to Stella. Great performance by all four girls with Ruby taking third place from Ava.

Ava, Stella & Ruby (Caitlin Missing)

In the boys event we had 3 round robin groups of 4 players in each with the top 2 going into the main draw and the bottom 2 going into the consolation draw. In the main draw Adam Hunter and Nathan Zaoral from Dumfries, Lewis Hannah from Gretna, Fergus Smith from Annan, Eamon McFarlane from Castle Douglas and Daniel Sellers from Chatsworth Tennis club in Carlisle all made the main draw. Eamon and Nathan both had 10-7 wins over Lewis and Fergus before Eamon beat Dumfries winner Adam 10-5 with Daniel recording the same score against Nathan in the other semi. Lewis claimed 5th place with Adam taking 3rd from Nathan.

In the consolation event Angus McCleary went one better than he achieved in Dumfries as he edge past Dumfries’s Sam Scade 10-3 to take the medal. We also had good performances from Joe McLatchie, Jack Coupar, Mason Stubbs and Keegan Allen with the later 2 making the debuts in Red events.

D&G Mini Red Tour Annan Results

This leaves Stella and Caitlin joint top of the girls leaderboard with Eamon having a 10 point lead over Adam in the boys leaderboard. The final event will be held at DG1 in Dumfries D&G Mini Red Tour Dumfries DG1 entries on Sunday 29th March.

D&G Mini Red Tour Leaderboard 2020

The 2020 D&G Mini Red Tour got under way at the David Keswick Centre in Dumfries. Now in it’s 5th year we had 9 players from Dumfries, 4 from Annan and 1 each from Stewartry CSC and Carlisle making up the field of 10 boys and 5 girls.

In the girls event we had 5 young ladies from Dumfries battling it out for top spot with a round robin, so 4 matches each. We had a good display from all 5 girls with Caitlin Topping taking top spot with 4 wins out of 4 and in her 3rd year of the tour Stella Hodgins managed 3 wins out of 4 to take the runner-up spot. Ruby Gordon (3rd), Nevaeh Harris (4th) with Bethany Mann completing the line-up with a nervous display but from the matches I watched she was the most consistent server of the girls.

In the boys event we had 2 groups of 5 with the top 2 from each group going into the semi’s and the rest going into the consolation. In group A Fergus Smith (Annan) won 3 out of 4 to join Adam Hunter (Dumfries) in the semi as he won 4 out of 4 and was also appearing in his 3rd Tour. They were joined in the semi finals by group B winner Eamon McFarlane (Stewartry CSC) who managed 4 out of 4, with Nathan Zaoral (Dumfries) claiming the final spot with 3 out of 4.

In the consolation final Lewis Hannah bt fellow Annandale player Angus McCleary 10-4.

In the semi finals Adam bt hitting partner Nathan 10-4 with Eamon enjoying a 10-0 victory over Fergus. Nathan took third place beating Fergus 10-2.

In the final Eamon took early control as he raced into a 3-0 lead before Adam fought back to tie it at 4-4. It was then nip and tuck up to 8-8 before Adam’s patience paid off to take the final 10-8 and secure the winners medal.

D&G Mini Red Tour Dumfries Results

Also well played to Jack Docherty (Carlisle), Joe McLatchie (Annan) and Dumfries youngsters Sam Scade and Ben Gilmour-Graham who made up the remaining players.

Big thanks to Tony, Colin, Chris and Cath for helping with the scoring. A vital part of the team.

D&G Mini Red Tour Leaderboard 2020

March for The Judy Murray Foundation and you will be entered into a draw to win one of these fabulous prizes!

• Afternoon tea for 4 at Cromlix
  A JMF session at a club or school of choice
  4 Tickets to the Murray Trophy Event (Glasgow, Sep 2020) plus a meet & greet with Judy and Jamie Murray

We want to ask for your help in supporting The Judy Murray Foundation fundraising efforts at the 2020 Kiltwalks across Scotland. The motto of the Foundation is:

Everyone for Tennis, Everywhere for Tennis and our goal is to take tennis into rural and deprived areas of Scotland.

Our aim is to build community-based workforces whilst improving health, well-being and a sense of belonging. Through increasing the pool of effective motivators and providing sustained, accessible and stimulating tennis programmes in collaboration with others our aim is not to produce the best player in the world (done that!) but to extract the best from everyone that comes to a JMF session whether they be a grandparent, a mum or dad, an aspiring young coach or simply a child who wants to try tennis.

Already we are working with communities in Inverclyde, rural Aberdeenshire, Edinburgh, Maryhill and the East End of Glasgow and have engaged with over 1700 people since April 2019. More people delivering tennis means more opportunities for others to play tennis.

The Kiltwalk is a fantastic way to raise funds for charity and an event that everyone can take part in, as you can choose to walk 6, 15 or 23 miles. One of the amazing things about the Kiltwalk is that The Tom Hunter Foundation adds 40 % onto every fundraiser’s final total. So, every £100 you raise becomes £140 for The Judy Murray Foundation. Last year we raised over £26,000, which is enough to cover the direct costs of almost 3 projects for one year.

So………what next?
Promote the attached poster
Register to walk at one (or more!) of the 4 Kiltwalks available all over Scotland: Glasgow 26 April, Aberdeen 7June, Dundee – 16 August, Edinburgh 13 September 2020 – https://www.thekiltwalk.co.uk
Make sure you choose The Judy Murray Foundation when prompted to choose a charity and encourage your friends and family to sponsor you
Why not “create a team” and invite fellow tennis players, family and friends to join you on the journey
All participants will receive a FREE Judy Murray Foundation T-shirt to wear during the walk

We hope we can persuade you to form a group from your tennis club and “walk the walk”. It’s a real fun day out and your support would really help us to grow tennis in Scotland whilst making a serious difference!

Best wishes and many thanks for your help,

#TeamJMF

Lochmaben Tennis Club are running a men’s singles competition on Sunday 26th January. Entries are open to the first 8 players with a waiting list thereafter in case someone withdraws.

Contact and entry detail can be viewed below.

We are celebrating the D&G Mini Red Tours 5th year in 2020. Below are the first 2 winners back in January 2016, with Rose Brown from Moffat who went on to win the girls tour that year and Dumfries’s Euan Sharp who is the only player to win an event in 2 different years (2016 & 2017).

Previous Leaderboards

Some stats;

83 – The number of kids who have played over the previous 4 years,

72 – the number of D&G kids to take to the courts over this time,

24 – The number of D&G girls to take part,

48 – The number of D&G boys to take part,

Euan Sharp – The only player to win an event in 2 different years,

Logan McCluskey – The only player to play in all 4 years,

27 – the number of boys from the tour who played in a tennis competition this year,

12 – the number of girls from the tour who played in a tennis competition this year,

Carlisle, Kilmarnock, Northumberland, Prestwick, Huddersfield and the Scottish Borders are the other areas we have attracted kids from to our event.

D&G Mini Red Tour 2020 – Entry Link

The tour is open to any red ball child throughout the UK but only D&G kids can win the Leaderboard plate.

Let’s play tennis..

The first indoor Red event of the 2019 winter season saw 10 Dumfries players, 2 from Annan, 1 each from Carlisle & Glasgow taking to the courts.

The 5 Dumfries girls completed a round robin with Stella Hodgins just edging past Caitlin Topping to take first prize with Ruby Gordon, Ailsa Goldie and in her first ever event Nevaeh Harris completing the places.

In the boys event we had 2 groups with Cumbria’s Daniel Sellers and Dumfries’s Adam Hunter progressing into the semi finals at the expense of  Annan’s Fergus Smith and debutant Ben Gilmour-Graham from Dumfries. In group B it was a tighter groups with only game points separating the top 3 as Harry Taylor from Glasgow and Dumfries’s Nathan Zaoral just squeezing past Lewis Hannah from Annan. Sam Scade and another debutant and his hitting partner Jack Coupar making up the group.

Lewis and Fergus played out the consolation final as Lewis overcame his friend and hitting partner 10-6.

In the semi finals Nathan took on Daniel and Adam played Harry. Despite Nathan good play Daniel controlled the match to make the final with a 10-5 win. In the other semi Adam and Harry were nip and tuck up to 7-7 before Adam took the next 3 points to set up a rematch of last months outdoor final at Nunholm. Nathan took 3rd place 10-9 from Harry in a very good match before Adam and Daniel played out the final. Daniel won the last 2 matches against Adam but this time Adam was looking to reverse this and made good start as he raced into a 5-2 lead before taking the next 5 points to claim the win and the gold medal.

Great days play, with some excellent tennis from all the kids and a big WELL done to Nevaeh, Ben and Jack who all made the debuts today.

Results can be viewed using the link below once updated.

https://www3.lta.org.uk/Competitions/Competition/?ctn=1-L2A3UCU

Well done to Dumfries on taking the rain effected 10s event as Cameron edged the match v Eilidh 4-1, which meant due to other teams not being available Dumfries won 5 out of 5 rubbers.

10s Eilidh, Cameron, Grant with Autumn & Logan missing.

In the 14s event we had 4 clubs represented by 3 Dumfries teams, 2 Moffat teams and 1 each from Annan and Stewartry CSC at Dumfries on the 16th Nov. We had 2 round robin groups of 4 and 3 teams.

D&G Junior Leagues 2019 – Results

Eve, Fergus, Jacob & Flynn

In group A Dumfries played 5 rubbers and won them all with Stewartry Duo Stewart & William edging past Lewis and Tessa from Moffat.

Group B was a slightly tougher group with Dumfries taking this with 6 rubbers for and 1 against. Beechgrove edge out the other Dumfries team into 2nd with Annan making up the fourth team.

The final match was a play-off between Dumfries Volleyers and Dumfries Smashers. Fergus Reynolds-Lewis edge a close match as he beat Flynn Dalgliesh 4-3, 4-1 before Jacob Holden clawed the match level with a 4-0, 4-1 win over Eve Crombie.

On the Sunday the 4 kids were back to complete the final. Fergus and Eve took a commanding lead to go 3-0 up before Jacob and Flynn levelled at 3-3 before Fergus and Eve took the tie-break. The 2nd set also ended up in a tie-break with Fergus and Eve racing into a 4-1 lead before Jacob and Flynn fought back to take it 7-4 and level the match. The championship tie-break ebbed and flowed as Jacob & Flynn took and early lead before Fergus & Eve fought back from 8-4 down to 8-7 but Jacob and Flynn took the final 2 points to clinch the title for Dumfries Tennis Club.

Dumfries and Moffat players – 14s & Under

Great to see 5 of our clubs taking part over 6 leagues with 4 clubs getting a title. We had 46 players competing over the 2 weekends with 3 venues being used. Well played to all players and thanks to the parents and clubs for supporting this event.

Champions;

8s Under – Annan Seaforth, 9s Under – Stewartry CSC, 10s Under – Dumfries, 12s Under – Annan Seaforth, – 14s Under – Dumfries and 16s Under – Beechgrove.

Congratulation to Annan Seaforth TC for winning their 2nd D&G Junior League title of 2019 as the 8s and under team played 3 fixtures with the team having a 100% record.

Pictured below are Fergus Smith, Angus Mccleary (both Annan) Stella Hodgins and Sam Scade (Dumfries) and Lewis Hannah (Annan). Missing is Joe McLatchie.

Standings of 8U Mixed Singles – Group A

Points Played Rubbers
1 Annan Lobs                          6           3         6 – 0
2 Annan Aces                          5           4         5 – 3
3 Beechgrove Baseliners      2           3          2 – 4
3 Dumfries Smashers            2           3         2 – 4
5 Dumfries Drop Shotters    1            3        1 – 5

D&G Junior League 2019 – 8s and under results