The Stratford Tennis Club has been holding its 2009 Club Championship tournament over the last 2 weeks. Wednesday night was the singles finals in 4 categories and what a night it was. Over 50 spectators were treated to the finest men’s and ladies ‘A’ finals in the history of the club. Both the men and ladies championship matches went the distance, ending in tie-breakers in the third set. The calibre of play started at a high level and never diminished. It was an amazing finish to a great two week tournament.
The Men’s ‘A’ final was a match up of the club’s top two players over the season. 6 time champion Bob Tamblyn faced 2 time defending champion Max Besworth. Tamblyn took the first set 6-3, Besworth took the second set 6-4 leading to the drama of the third and deciding set. Besworth faced 2 match points when trailing 4 games to 5 but held them off to continue the match. Tamblyn held off a match point of his own when down 6 games to 5. Eventually the set went to a tie-breaker where again Tamblyn faced a match point. A big serve had the match continue. Finally Tamblyn converted his third match point opportunity to win the tie-breaker 8-6, taking the match and the championship. The 2 hour 45 minute final was the longest in club history and the highest calibre of play. The best men’s final in club history!
The Ladies ‘A’ final was also a long and dramatic affair. Victoria Garcia, a three time champion, faced Krista Plociennik, the two time defending champion. Garcia fell behind 4-1 in the first set but rallied to send the set to a tie-breaker where she prevailed 7 points to 1. Plociennik dug in and took the second set 6-3. On to the third set for the ladies. Garcia trailed 5-4 but won her service game to stay in the match. Plociennik won her serve to take a 6-5 lead, putting the pressure on Garcia’s serve again. Another service win lead to the third set tie-breaker. Many great rallies and great shots throughout the match continued in the tie-breaker. Back and forth it went. Garcia finally got her opportunity and took the championship by winning the tie-breaker 7 points to 5. The woman had matched the men in providing the best singles final in the history of the club.
The Ladies ‘B’ singles final was a battle between 2 first time singles finalists. Nikki Bowman faced Edda Lang. After a long and dramatic first set (that went to a tie-breaker) Bowman was able to prevail. The final score was 7-6 (7 points to 5), 6-0 as Bowman took the Ladies ‘B’ championship.
The Men’s ‘B’ singles final saw the tradition of an up and coming junior winning the title continue. Under 16 champion Nathan Walsh added the Men’s ‘B’ singles title to his seasons accomplishments. Walsh downed Paul Menary 6-1 , 7-5 in the final.
It was an amazing night at the Stratford Tennis Club. The 2009 club championship tournaments, which had the largest number of entries in memory, had finished with the best finals in history. A truly memorable night of tennis in Stratford.

Picture 1 – Nathan Walsh (Men’s ‘B’ Champion)