UNIVERSITY of ST ANDREWS TENNIS CLUB

TENNIS CLUB TOUR to LA BAULE: 24-28 May, 2012

University of St Andrews players

A Team:

Alan Conroy Matt Monaghan Calum McRae Catrin Morgan Tori Linton

B Team:

Ross Gamblen Ben Pearson Andrew Robson Emily Allen Emma Hughes

On Thursday 24th of May, 10 members of the University of St Andrews Tennis Club set off for the west coast of France to participate in a tennis tournament hosted at the prestigious Tennis Country Club Barrière in La Baule. The idea for the tournament, known as the KPMG Tennis Master Tour, was formed by a group of students from EDHEC Business School and has been running, with increasing success, since 2005. The initial aim of the tournament was to gather together students from prominent universities across Europe to 'promote sports values such as sportsmanship, competition and sharing'. In addition to providing three days of recreational activity, the tournament organisers hoped to give participants the possibility of future job opportunities through their sponsor KPMG. The fabulous location, which has played host to such notable names as Nadal, Federer and Sharapova, and the incredible organisation of the tournament itself made this trip absolutely unforgettable!

On the Thursday night the tournament organisers welcomed the participants and showed a video from past years as a snapshot of what to expect over the coming days - it certainly exceeded any expectations any of us had! The draw was done and the set-up of the tournament explained to us - in our teams of five, we were each to play singles against our equivalent seed from the opposite team and the competition would be knock-out. We were then treated to dinner and drinks at the tennis club and had a chance to meet some of the other students. Being the only British team we expected the language barrier might make conversation difficult but it turned out everyone spoke perfect English - the majority of us were very glad we didn't have to crack out our rusty senior school French! After a long day travelling we welcomed the announcement that mini-buses were leaving to take us to where we staying - we were provided with a house for the 10 of us and, after an inevitable argument over bedrooms versus sofa-beds (which the girls won hands down!) we all fell fast asleep, an early start ahead of us.

Play started early on Friday morning with both St Andrews teams on court over the course of the morning. The A team had a comfortable 5-0 victory against a team from École Polytechnique putting them into the second round of the tournament. Unfortunately the B team were drawn against one of the toughest teams in the tournament and suffered a 5-0 loss. However, a blessing in disguise, they were entered through to the consolation plate competition (not 'consolidation' as Emma referred to it for the majority of the tournament!). Lunch was served at the club before play got underway again. The A team began their second round match against strong team 'Trop Baule' and Calum, after a tightly fought third set, narrowly lost. Tori was also defeated, though by the opponents number 1 seed (due to an unfortunate mix-up) before play came to an end for the day. After a quick change back at the house, drinks and canapés were served at the club before a short walk down to a beach restaurant for dinner.

Another early start on Saturday, with the A team continuing their match from the previous afternoon. Matt played well securing an early win to keep the match alive. However, Catrin and Alan both lost close matches resulting in the A team being eliminated. It should probably be noted that 'Trop Baule' went on to compete in the final of the entire competition!! The B team began the plate competition and completed two 4-1 victories over their opponents, allowing them to progress to the semi-finals. An authentic French dinner was provided at the club with chefs serving up fresh crêpes in front of us before mini-buses shuttled us all to a club in a nearby town for some drinks. However, after a hectic day and with more matches to be played we soon headed home for a good night’s sleep.

Everyone arrived early at the club on Sunday and the B team continued their plate campaign - with loyal support from the A team they secured a semi-final win against the A team's first round opponents, cementing their place in the plate final. With some time to kill before the finals of both competitions later in the afternoon, Catrin and Tori ventured down to the beach to try their hand at volleyball, but returned assuring us they should probably stick with tennis!! We've agreed to get some practice in before next year...

The finals commenced with the main competition showcasing some fantastic talent. The plate final then began with play getting underway inside the stifling hot 'bubble'. To the annoyance of the other four sweat-soaked B team members, Emma managed to secure a court outside and set off to begin her match. The players inside battled through tight matches and Ben popped out to inform Emma that everybody's match had entered a third set. Confident with her 6-0 lead in the first set he returned to assure the rest of the team we still had a fighting chance! Eventually the entire St Andrews squad emerged to support Emma in her match, breaking the news that despite strong wins from Ben and Andrew, the score stood at 2-2 in matches... Pressure on! Unfortunately, after a tightly fought tie-break in the second set and then a match tie-break instead of a third set due to time constraints, Emma narrowly lost.

At the presentation ceremony the B team were awarded 'Best International Team' for a great run of wins in the consolation competition and went up to collect an armful of prizes including chocolate brownies, bottles of wine and boxes of salt! Afterwards, a hog roast and drinks were provided before a trip into La Baule to one of the clubs - a fantastic end to a brilliant few days!

Monday morning arrived and everyone reluctantly got up and packed to leave the house. After thanking the organisers and saying goodbye to friends we had made we went our separate ways, most of us driving over to Paris to catch a day of the French Open, while Alan and Ross began their lengthy road trip to Bordeaux... (we still have no idea why they chose to fly from there!!).

The tournament was a fantastic way to end the tennis season, especially for leavers Calum, Tori and Emma, who have participated in the club throughout their time at St Andrews. All 10 of us wish to extend a huge thank you to the AU for their generous support, which allowed this tournament to go ahead, and also to the tennis club for their substantial contribution. We hope that this trip will become a regular event in the tennis calendar at St Andrews and we wish future participants the best of luck!

By Emma Hughes and Alan Conroy