Summer Sports - Tennis
everything - with strings attached
Tennis in the UK may be on a bit of a high post-Wimbledon and a second home win for Andy Murray, but maintaining the grass court game is no easy business. Neville Johnson went to another bastion of lawn tennis just three or four miles from the All England Club to see how a 135-year old club keeps doing it so well
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Tony Martin, Head Groundsman, Surbiton Racket & Fitness Club
t’s hot, seriously hot. The thermometer is on its way to 33O
Surely not. Yet, as seasoned tennis groundsman Tony Martin and I chat in the cool of the clubhouse, there are
plenty of members of the Surbiton Racket and Fitness Club out there serving and volleying on the sumptuous grass courts and loving the dizzy heat. Since 1996, Tony has had three spells as
Head Groundsman at the club, and six years as a freelance grounds advisor. He’s been in charge there now since 2012. He’s very much part of not just thriving club tennis, but a resurgence of the club’s place as a venue on the international tournament calendar. The Surrey Grass Court Championships,
first held at the club in 1904, had always been a valued forerunner to Wimbledon. After a seventeen year period, when they were staged elsewhere, they returned here in 1997. They were then renamed The Aegon
C. Anyone for tennis?
Surbiton Trophy and were part of the UK’s international professional tennis scene, the ATP Challenger Series for men and the ITF Women’s Circuit. In 2009, with the involvement in international tennis of sponsor’s Aegon, the event switched to Nottingham, but returned last year to Surbiton. After two successful tournaments, The
Lawn Tennis Association and The All England Lawn Tennis Club announced, this summer, an increase in the prize money for both the men’s ATP Challenger and ITF Women’s Pro Circuit events at Surbiton next year, so the club’s place on the grass tournament map is assured and growing. On the tournament playing side, this year's
ladies single’s winner, Marina Melnikova from Russia, was awarded wild card entry into the Wimbledon Championship’s draw on the strength of her victory. A previous winner of the men’s title in 2007 was Jo-
PC AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2016 I 57
Good line call. Accuracy is
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