The 2021 Over 40s Tournament was held on Sunday 16 May although at the end of the day a few Mixed Doubles matches remain to be completed. The all- doubles Tournament attracted a large number of entries, being 8 pairs in the men's doubles, 9 pairs in the women's doubles and 12 pairs in the mixed doubles.
Peter Browne, President, undertook to be the (non-playing) tournament director and prepared the draws for the events and the match schedule. This comprised a total of 37 matches, including the three consolation events.
The format selected was that used in past years, being the first to seven games, with a tie-break game at six-all, "sudden death" on the second deuce and male to male or female to female serving at sudden death points during mixed doubles. The match schedule alllowed an average of 45 minutes for each match.
A heavy shower at about 9.30 am wet the courts and interrupted the men's doubles events and it took an hour out of the day while the courts dried out sufficiently to permit resumption of play. Fortunately, threatened rain held off for the remainder of the day, other than a very light sprinkling in the afternoon that did not interrupt play.
By the early evening, most scheduled matches had been completed, with some of the mixed doubles matches being postponed until a later day. Some participants were required to attend the 2021 Tennis Central Awards function at the Wellington Renouf Tennis Centre, which commenced at 5.30 pm.
However, it was possible during the day to complete both the men's and women's doubles main draws and consolation draws on the Sunday and play some intiial mixed doubles matches. Since then, the remaining matches in the mixed doubles main draw and consolation draws have been played in the succeeding weeks at the club, with the final of the mixed main draw being played at WRTC on Monday 7 June.
The results are as follows:
Men's Doubles
Winners: Raj Chakraborti & Warren Fraser
Runners-up: Kevin Wilson & Graeme Wong
Men's Doubles (consolation)
Winners: Greg Lynch & Marc Piercey
Runners-up: David Fitzgerald & John Hughes
Women's Doubles
Winners: Janina Pawlak & Glenda van Drimmelen- Craven
Runners-up: Diona Juriss & Tricia Will
Women's Doubles (consolation)
Winners: Debz Bognar & Sally Marett
Runners-up: Cheryl Moon & Wendy Thompson
Mixed Doubles
Winners: Rosstan Mazey & Tricia Will
Runners-up: Barrie Lucas & Megan Healy
Mixed Doubles (consolation)
Winners: Marc Piercey & Diona Juriss
Runners-up: Richard Mann & Shelley Best
Everyone participating in the three events appeared to have enjoyed their matches and we can no doubt anticipate further large entries in 2022.