TWO teams from Warwick Boat Club will mount a double-handed bid for tennis glory on the international stage next month when they take part in the European Senior Tennis Club Championships.
The Warwick club will be represented this year by sides in the men’s over-35 and women’s over-65 categories when the tournament is staged at Europe’s premier sports venue in Murcia, south-east Spain, from September 13-26.
Paul Martin, Hugh Jacques, Gavin Henderson and Jonathan Searle will face opponents from Latvia, Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands in the over-35s competition.
And the experienced ladies’ trio of Susie Rowe, Jackie Robinson and Wendy Salinger also face a tough challenge on their hands if they are to be crowned European champions with a strong side from The 45 Club as well as teams from France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands awaiting them in Spain.
Organised by Tennis Europe, the event will feature men and women from its 49 tennis federations competing at the resort’s extensive 28-court academy for titles in 11 different age categories.
Founded in 1983, the championships are open to men over the age of 35 and women aged 40-plus from national champion clubs and the runners-up from the previous year in an international team competition across various age categories, as well as teams nominated by Tennis Europe member nations.
Each country can be represented by a maximum of two clubs in every sector at La Manga Club, with teams comprising between four to seven players for men’s categories and two to five for women.
This year’s event will feature one of the strongest challenges ever from England with three teams from Surrey, two from Leicestershire and south-west London and one each from Hertfordshire, Essex, Northumberland, Yorkshire, Dorset and Hampshire also taking part.
The clay court championships will see elite players in the Super Seniors categories compete at the resort from September 13-19, with men’s age groups ranging from 55 to over-70s and women’s from 55-plus to over-65.
Attention will then fall on the younger categories for the rest of the event, with seniors between the ages of 35-plus to 50 for men and 40-plus to 50-plus for ladies.
