The 2021-22 summer of tennis was served with a bang across two big days of on-court action last weekend.
All eyes were on Olympic Park on Friday night when the grey clouds cleared just in time to squeeze in the opening round of the highly-anticipated Mount Gambier and District Tennis Association Division 1 season.
The highlight of the round was the competitive Reidy Park and Glencoe clash.
After being dealt with the wooden spoon last summer, the young and determined Reidy Park outfit showed it would not be a pushover this time.
The first singles contest was a quality tussle between opposing captains Zayne Young and Dylan Childs.
The maroon leader emerged victorious, but had to work for it six games to three, while Cade Kelly put Reidy Park on the board with a cruisy six-love set.
Joel Childs continued Reidy Park’s momentum with a 6-1 triumph over Cameron Brooks.
But Glencoe turned the tide winning the final three singles contests.
Laura Edwards and Jorja Mitchell had comfortable matches, while Sarah Edwards had the fight of her life overcoming Emily Edwards.
The back and forth battle went down to the wire with both players poaching games off each other.
Eventually Edwards of the Glencoe variety emerged on top with seven games to six.
It gave the maroons the one-set advantage heading into the doubles and the side looked on track to open the season with success.
Dylan Childs and Tim Biggins combined nicely to snatch the opening doubles set 6-2 over Young and Kelly.
However, Young finally found some revenge on his opposite number when he teamed up with Joel Childs to knockoff Dylan Childs and Brooks by three games.
Kelly, Joel Childs, Emily Edwards and Jayme Young also notched up doubles wins to even the overall ledger once again.
The four participants in the 11th rubber were Edwards and the Glencoe varieties of Sarah and Laura emerged on top 6-2.
That result meant Reidy Park had to win the 12th and final set to avoid defeat and it went down to the final point.
Young and Sharon Edwards were forced to carry all of Reidy Park’s hopes on their shoulders, while Mitchell and Lauren Edwards were determined to ensure Glencoe secured the overall win.
Neither duo wanted to give in during a great display of tennis and a clear winner was tough to find.
The final game went down to a tiebreaker with both teams locked at six games each.
Amid the pressure cooker, Young and Sharon Edwards delivered when their team mates needed them most to score the winning point and win 7-6.
The result ensured nothing separated the rivals on the overall scoreboard with Glencoe and Reidy Park sharing six sets and 61 games each.
Reigning premiers Centrals/Uniting Church had a much smoother season opener against West Gambier.
The winners hit the ground running with simple singles wins to Andrew Van den Hurk and Mark Heemskerk.
But West answered back through strong performances from Ty Lang and Jessica Stutley.
After Jo Sealey overcame Jade Delaney 6-2, West Gambier enjoyed a one-set lead and a tight battle was on the cards for the remainder of the night.
However, it was all one-way traffic as Centrals/Uniting Church flexed its muscles.
The reigning premiers showed their class by dominating the final seven rubbers.
Heemskurk and van den Hurk maintained their perfect records, while Ben Gaffney and Nick Thomas had a tougher time overcoming Ty and Noah Lang.
Karen Mitchell and Delaney proved too good for Stutley and Sealey 7-5 before the last two doubles were fiercely contested.
Casey Walker and Karen Mitchel were pushed to the brink by Stutley and Brooke Winterfield, but the Centrals/Uniting Church pair won by a single game.
The final rubber was also decided by the slender 7-6 margin as Delaney and Walker edged out Winterfield and Sealey.
After rain had threatened to spoil the opening round, it was a great way to kick off the new summer of tennis.
