What happened the last few months on the tennis (competition) front:

28 till 31 July: Patty Witte was in Lisbon to participate in the Masters of the TTK Warriors Tour sub 12 and she won it!!! She will receive a sponsorship of one year for TTK clothing and has straight entry in the European Masters TTK Warriors Tour in the autumn.
Well done Patty!

15 July till 24 August: The Carvoeiro CdT Junior and Adult Masters Circuit took place. Both age groups played 6 tournaments, some of which in very, very hot weather, and both tourist- and club players survived them all!

It was a good competition, with some pretty good matches. Also, it was fun to organize.
See the photos at “club tournaments” - “Carvoeiro Masters Circuit for Juniors & Seniors”.

26 & 31 August: Masters tournaments were played. Exciting matches, never-ending games, fantastic points, an occasional dive in the pool and lots of fun. Both Masters days were great.

Winner and Runner-up of the Juniors: Andrew Raspin and Pedro da Silva. Their prizes were: The Topspin Yellow&Black shiny turbobag and The Head ATP pro-tour racketbag.

Winner and Runner-up of the Ladies: Gaby Piscarreta and Justine Baylis. The Men: Roberto Estorninho and Claus Mansfeldt. Each winner received the Topspin Yellow&Black shiny turbobag and each runner-up an “Equilibrium” power-balance bracelet, sponsored by Cliff Benford.

To celebrate the end of a nice summer competition everybody chilled with a cool glass of champagne, offered by the club.

Congratulations to all of you and well done!
See the photos at “club tournaments” - “Carvoeiro Masters Circuit for Juniors & Seniors”.

16 till 19 September: Stella Rocha participated in the National Individual Veterans Championships, held at Vale do Lobo TA. She conquered the following places: Runner-up Ladies Singles+45; Champion Ladies Doubles +45 (with Isabel Cunha d'Eça-CNG); Semi-final Mixed Doubles +45 (with Pedro Lhorca-CT Porto). This was a great “warm-up” because the day after the finals of this championship, another one had to be played...

20 till 24 September: Valentina Green and Stella Rocha teamed up for the European Senior Club Championships (Women 40+, 50+ and 60+) in age group 40+, at Vale do Lobo TA. This year's competition was extremely strong and counted with the World Champion Ladies 45+ (Belgium girl), a lot of former WTA players (some were in the top 50!!), an English girl who used to compete with players like Steffi Graf (and beat her!), a German lady, seventy years of age, who would probably beat our Carvoeiro team... well, most of these players play the international senior tournaments around the world, because their former live was professional tennis and they just keep going.
There were 11 teams in the 40+. One team did not show up, which resulted in a
bye for our team and a chance to fight for a place between the 5^th and 8^th. Both girls played their best, learned a lot, and had fun, especially watching all these fantastic players perform such great tennis. Valentina managed to win a singles match, Stella was not as successful, and the girls won a doubles match! They ended up at the 8^th place. Perhaps they can do better next year :-)

1 till 5 October: The Club's Senior team (Serge, Daniel, Danny, Fintan, Edwin) were due to play the National Team Championships. As all of you surely remember, they were the runner-ups in the Regional Team Championships and thus got entry in the Nationals. Unfortunately, as Fintan and Danny left, the team was incomplete and could not go. What a pity!

2 till 5 October: The Men's team +45 (Graeme, Woody, John L, Willem, Ton) travelled up to Guimarães in the north of Portugal, to participate in the National Team Championships Men +45, 2^nd division. (The team made it to Regional Champion in the beginning of the year). They knew that it was going to be a tough competition, between five teams who all wanted to advance to the first division. The men's 45+ have to play 3 singles and 2 doubles, so they played a lot. The end result is that they almost came 2^nd..... They lost 3-2 against the team from Club VII (Lisbon). Maybe next year guys!

The Ladies team +45 (Valentina, Stella, Debbie, Mo) also had the National Team Championships Ladies +45 scheduled in Guimarães. (also this team won the Regional Championships in the spring). They had to defend their title for the third time (yes, they were National Champions for two years in a row!) and it promised to be an exciting competition, because another three strong teams were participating. But, unfortunately two of the team members were unable to go, so they had to forfeit the Championship title to the Estoril team. Hopefully a “revenge” can take place next year (provided that the team reaches first or second place in the Regionals...).

Still to take place: Patty Witte is going to Barcelona at the end of October. She will participate in the European Masters TTK Warriors Tour which will be held at the Academy Sanchez e Casal.
Good luck Patty, just sweep your opponents off the court!


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