Thorndon Men's Premier 2 season review - Wellington

This was a tough assignment, away at table-topping Wellington on their ultra sandy astro courts. This was a Wellington team with a distinctly French flavour, with a number 1 (Julien Bourdry) who had played some Premier 1 games and had once been a top ranked French junior. He'd even had his own article in the local paper! I drew some encouragement from the fact that if anyone dislikes sandy astro courts more than me, it's the French with their long cultured swings.

Kris and I took on the French connection of Julien and Herve Michaud in the doubles. In case we were still sleepy Herve woke us up by nailing Kris with a smash in the first game, and then tagging me about 3 times over the next half an hour. Julien meanwhile was showing a preference for neat little drop-volleys. But Kris was on fire and we powered to a 6-2 5-2 lead. There was some concern as a couple of poor service games saw us lose our lead and the second set 7-5. But we dug back in and took the final set 6-0 with some very solid play in tough conditions.

Richard and Brian were beaten 6-1 6-2 by the quality pairing of David Patterson and Mike Garnham, so we still had a lot to do in the singles.

I don't know if it was the tough doubles defeat, the sandy astro court, the windy and drizzly day, or a combination of all the above but Julien was not in the mood for our singles. He went for a winner on almost every ball and, while landing some spectacular winners, made too many errors. I got as many balls in as I could and that was enough for a 6-1 6-1 win and some welcome Topdog points against an S3. Julien indicated afterwards he was planning to give up playing matches as he wasn't enjoying them at all, so we finished on a low key note.

Richard had a hard battle with Patterson, who was heard saying "this bloke's better at singles than he looked in the doubles"! But Patterson hit his stride on his home turf and came through 6-4 6-2.

Brian faced top tot Kiranpal Pannu, who is small but steady! Brian went 5-1 down, came back to 5-4, but then Pannu finished the first set 6-4 and got the second 6-3. Brian had the greater weight of shot but couldn't consistently hit through his talented young opponent.

Match of the day was Kris vs Herve. Kris lost the first 6-3, won the second 6-2, then the third stayed on serve through to a tie-break. There had been some great shots and pulsating rallies in deteriorating conditions. Kris played well to get to 5-4 up in the TB, but Herve landed a couple of mighty blows to win it 7-5. Overall though Kris had a superb day, dominating the doubles and pushing a good S4 opponent to the edge.

So we took our first defeat, 4-2, but still had a useful couple of points in our bid to make the final.

Thorndon Men's Premier 2 season review - Khandallah

This was the first of our matches against our old friends from last season's Premier 2 Promotion league. If you're going to play a club on the top of a hill in Wellington then make sure you choose a particularly windy day. We made our way up the long and winding road in Brian's roaring team HQ and, after a quick browse round the cool Thump Sports shop, were ready to play.

Kris and I had a good 6-2 6-2 doubles win against the young and big-hitting pair of McDonald/Johnson. Khandallah fielded an absurdly good second pair of Callender/Liddell. Richard and Chris gave it a good effort but lost 6-2 6-2, so all square going into the singles.

I got beaten up on pretty badly for the first set and a half by young Mitchell McDonald. He was hitting very well in high winds and I was soon 6-2 and a break down in the second. But I started to get a foothold in the match, got the break back, and forced the second into a TB. The atmosphere was getting a bit tetchy by now. Mitchell and his dad complained that I wasn't allowed to talk to Brian at the change of ends, which turned out to be incorrect. I went 4-2 down in the TB but managed to scrape it and force a third set. Mitchell seemed to be suffering some cramps now and I got to 5-1 up and eventually took it 6-3. We finished up on good terms, though Brian still marched over to Mitchell at the end to wave the rule book in his face and prove he could talk to me all he wanted to!

Kris faced off against Guy Callender, who beat me last season. Similarly to my match with Callender, Kris got off to a good start but then Callender came back to take it 6-4 6-1.

Brian wrapped up an excellent 6-2 6-4 win against Suri Bartlett. Like a true Wellingtonian Brian was not remotely troubled by the wind and was seen repeatedly bouncing smashes over the back fence.

We needed a win from Richard to see us home and he delivered for us with a 4-6 6-2 6-3 win against Thomas Johnson. Richard enjoyed the wind about as much as me but found a way to cope and battled back from a set down against an opponent with a very good forehand.

I treated myself to a new backpack from the shop and we made our way to the Shepherd's Arms to recover from all our exertions in the wind. That's Kris, Chris, Richard, Brian (nice smile) and me from left to right in the photo.

Thorndon Men's Premier 2 season review - Upper Hutt

Double trouble for us today as Kris Funston played up for the Premier One team and Chris 'Epic' Patete was away. We faced Upper Hutt feeling seriously depleted, but fortunately with our ace coach Andy Wheeler stepping into the gap once again.

I picked up my old partnership with Andy and we carried on right where we left off, playing some good stuff to win 7-6 6-4 against the very decent pairing of Boyles/Hinton. Richard and Brian produced a fine comeback against Osborne/Quinn, winning 2-6 6-1 6-4.

My singles against Denzil Boyles was very tough. I don't remember when I last saw so many clean winners go past me. I lost the first set on a TB. The second set went to a TB and I was 4-2 down in it before clawing my way back in and nicking it. Denzil and I exchanged a couple of breaks in the third but I got to 5-3 up and managed to serve it out for 6-4. He was not happy, and I wasn't quite sure how I'd won it either. The sage counsel of acting captain Brian at change of ends was a big help.

Andy and Richard both managed to play their singles on the next court before I finished mine! Andy won 6-1 6-3 against Osborne before I'd finished my first set. Richard was similarly authoratitive, winning 6-1 6-4 against Hinton. Last match on was Brian, who won an entertaining game 7-6 7-6 against Quinn.

So another good win for us while giving up a key player to the firsts. Kris did himself proud in Premier 1, with a three set win over Jacob Emery and a first team shirt to keep (unlike me!).

Thorndon Men's Premier 2 season review - Wainuiomata

I didn't know how to spell it or where it was, but our next match was against Wainuiomata (or just Wainui). They turned out to be over the hill and far away around the harbour. Quite a nice club but with some seriously sandy astro courts, which are not our favourite.

Kris and I had a serious wobble towards the end of our first set but steadied the ship to win our doubles 7-6 6-1 against Keall/Dowman. Richard and Chris 'Epic' Patete lost 7-6 1-6 7-5 to McIntrye/Samuels.

I had the first of what would prove to be a series of three set singles matches. My topspin game was seriously off kilter on the sandy astro and I lost the first set 6-4 against Lance Keall. I started to play a lot more slice and took the second set by the same score. Lance seemed to tired in the third set, with his patience fraying in the face of all this slice, and I got it 6-0.

Richard bounced back from his doubles with a dominant 6-4 6-0 win against Earl Dowman. Brian had a hard time against Richard Samuels, who was smashing his forehands, and went down 6-2 6-3.

The last match on court by some distance was Kris against Alister McIntyre. Kris got the first set 6-3 but lost the second by the same margin. There were some huge rallies in the third set with both guys playing very steady games. Every time Kris surged forward he seemed to get lobbed, but then would run them down and the rally would start again. Alister was clearly cramping toward the end but continued to play well and forced a final set TB. Alister then played an excellent TB to take the match and end Kris' fine run of 13 consecutive singles wins.

It made sense that if anyone beat Kris it would be 7-6 in the third. Kris wasn't quite at his best and we knew he'd bounce back, more determined than ever. Fortunately the set he picked up meant we won the match overall on sets countback, so his efforts certainly weren't in vain.

A third win for us, and we were playing all the teams from last year's Premier 1 Promotion league first. We were starting to talk cautiously about trying to make the final.

Thorndon Men's Premier 2 season review - Tawa-Lyndhurst

The drama before this one was that our all-star first team, due to Nick White suffering a serious ankle injury, were asking us for a player. I agree to step up, which meant the rest of the team shuffling up the order to play Tawa. Fortunately our coach Andy Wheeler was available to step into the gap, despite an ongoing battle with a shoulder injury.

The match was split over two days due to rain. Kris and Chris Patete picked up their old partnership but lost a tight doubles 7-6 6-3 to Shane and Marcel Glover. Richard and Andy kept us in contention with a crushing 6-0 6-0 win at second pair.

Kris scored an excellent three set win over Shane Glover, with Shane saying he hadn't been so outclassed in a first set since he played Finn Tearney. Richard kicked off his singles campain for us with a 6-3 6-2 win against Marcel Glover. Andy shows a bit of rustiness on the singles court as he lost to Bruce Hollebone. Chris 'Epic' Patete came through 5-7 6-3 6-2 against Karl Romjin.

4-2 to Thorndon, and a good win without me! I had mixed feelings to find this fine bunch of players didn't need me anymore.

In the first team I enjoyed a doubles with Phil 'Crusher' Seemann - he was unstoppable and we had a comfortable win against Ngatitoa's second pair. I beat Steve Billing 6-0 6-1 in my singles. I really enjoyed the experience of feeling like one of the big guns for a day, but it wouldn't have been the same if my regular team had gone down.

Thorndon Men's Premier 2 season review - Titahi Bay

Nobody could remember whether Thorndon's second team had ever made it into Premier 2, so it was a big campaign for us. We were bolstered in pre-season by the arrival of Richard Wallace, who had been touting his services around the Premier 2 teams but took a liking to the scrappers at Thorndon and signed up.

In true Wellington fashion our first match of the season, at home to Titahi Bay, was rained off. TB were keen to play despite the courts being underwater, which led to Brian being forced into a futile attempt at clearing 3 inches of surface water from the astro courts. Eventually he explained to TB that we had British players on the team (myself and Richard) who just couldn't be persuaded to play in a swamp. Then the rain started again and everyone was finally able to agree it wasn't going to happen.

The rematch happened on a perfect Friday night, still at Thorndon. Kris and I were paired together for the first time and had a solid 6-2 6-2 doubles win against Pierre/Molnar. It gradually became clear that TB's fourth player wasn't going to show up so we got the second doubles by walkover.

I had a tough singles against big-hitting Jason Pierre, who also turned out to have a tricky moonball sliced backhand game to fall back on, but got through it 6-3 7-5. Kris had a hard fought 7-6 7-5 win against Molnar to keep his long unbeaten streak going. And Chris 'Epic' Patete came through 6-4 4-6 7-5 against Dale Keith.

Poor Richard, on his debut for us, didn't get a game as his opposite number hadn't shown up. But he showed great team spirit by hanging around to support us in the dark and cold, instead of racing away for drinks in town.

So we kicked off with a 6-0 win, which was a big confidence booster for the season to come. Our target was to finish top four (out of eight) and make it to the Premier One promotion league after Xmas.

Thorndon club tournament finals

Singles final:
Marc Paulik beat Nick White 6-1 4-6 6-2

Doubles final:
Simon Brown/Andy Wheeler beat Kris Funston/Chris Patete 7-5 4-6 12-10

The singles semi-finals were an all first team affair. Marc Paulik beat Robbie Kirkness and Nick White beat Phil Seemann. Both matches were played on Saturday morning to set up an afternoon final between the two men who were shortly off to play in the German Bundesliga.

In what turned out to be an absorbing final Paulik came through 6-1 4-6 6-2. Nick White did well to get back into the match after an excellent first set from Marc, who played deep and deployed his legendary backhand to good effect. In the second set Nick moved up the court and worked Marc very hard with some excellent angles, particularly off his backhand. But in the final set Marc looked a bit fresher and sealed the match with more excellent play, including a couple of memorable backhands down the line.

Phil Seemann and Marc Paulik were due to play the doubles together but had to drop out, due to Marc's Bundesliga commitments. That opened up the draw for the rest of the field! Speculation was rife that they hadn't fancied their first round game against Kris Funston and Chris Patete. Kris and Chris took advantage and stormed through to the final, with a 6-0 7-6 win over Steve Newman and Neville Thorn in the semis. They didn't have it all their own way though, coming back from 5-2 down in the second and having to save setpoints on Kris' serve.

In the other half myself and Andy Wheeler battled through. We had a 6-4 7-5 win against Mark Upton and Brian Francis, who put up some very spirited opposition. Then won our semi 6-2 6-4 against Chris Schilling and Dave Geange.

The final turned out to be a real classic. Andy and I won the first set 7-5. Chris and Kris came back to take the second set 6-4, and then go 4-1 up in the final set. Then we fought back to 4-4 and from then on it was nip and tuck all the way to 10-10! We had to serve to stay in the match several times, but also missed two chances to serve the match out.

Finally at 10-10 we managed to break the solid Funston serve, and then wrap the match up on my serve. To the end there was drama. Chris and Kris saved two match points at 40-0 down to get back to 40-30. On the third match point we had to play a let as someone threw a stray ball on to our court as I served. It was a generous gesture from Chris/Kris, as the serve I hit went out and a few other players would have tried to claim the point!



So Andy and I finally wobbled over the line at 4pm, having started at 12:30. Conservative estimates placed Chris Patete's banana consumption at 5.

We had a good crowd on the balcony, though a fair few were players who'd come down for club play at 2pm and wanted the court! We thank them for their patience and hope they enjoyed the game a bit.

Great to win back the title that we took two years ago. And the standard and spirit of the final were both terrific.