The Isle of Man LTA Veteran Closed Championships, sponsored by PokerStars, was completed on Saturday in brilliant sunshine – such a change from the rain on the opening day when some matches were completed even on wet courts.

The new courts at Albany are proving to be well worth the cost – not slippy and dry out very quickly. Sadly this year the women’s entry was very low. At the conclusion of play the prizes were presented by Brian Walton, Chairman of the IOMLTA and the Isle of Man’s LTA Councillor. He thanked the referee, Ian Watson and the Albany club for hosting the event.

Results: MS over 35 – q/finals Craig Blackwell bt Karl Moore 6/1 6/1, Yannis Xirotris bt James Clarke 6/1 5/7 (10-7), Tim Davies bt Nerijus Gricevicius 6/2 6/2, Tim Woakes bt Rob Colquitt 6/1 6/1; s/finals Blackwell bt Xirotris 6/0 6/0, Woakes bt Davies 6/3 7/6;final Blackwell bt Woakes 6/0 6/0. MS over 35 consolation draw – s/final Karl Moore bt James Clarke 6/1 6/0, Rob Colquitt bt Nerijus Gricevicius 6/2 6/4; final Moore bt Colquitt 6/0 6/0. MS over 45 final Steve Falconer bt Paul Coppell 6/0 6/4. MS over 55 Final Peter Dunworth bt Graham McFarlane 6/0 6/0. MS 0ver 65 r/r Winner Philip Bannan, r/up Graham McFarlane. MS over 75 Graham McFarlane bt Bryan Sharp 6/0 6/2. Mens'doubles over 35 q/final Alastair Montgomery/Jim Travers bt Rob Colquitt/Paul Reid 6/2 6/2, s/final Rob Mason/Neil Ronan bt Montgomerie/Travers 6/1 6/0, Craig Blackwell/Peter Dunworth bt Falconer/Moore 6/1 6/4, Final Mason/Ronan bt Blackwell/Dunworth 7/6 6/1. MD over 45 – r/r winners Phil Bannan/Alastair Montgomerie, r/up Stuart Colligon/Robby Orr. MD over 55 final Dunworth/Montgomerie bt Roy McLean/Bryan Sharp 6/0 6/0. Women’s doubles over 35 r/r winners Seraphina Batty/Tania Thomas, r/up Linda Faragher/ Jacinta Holland. Mixed doubles over 35 final Steve Falconer/ Tania Thomas bt Paul Coppell/Linda Faragher 6/0 7/5

The Zurich Schools Mini Tennis finals will take place at Albany in the indoor court on Thursday 26 May from 1 – 3pm These young children can really play and are worth watching so if you have a spare hour go to the club and watch the future of Manx tennis. I guarantee you’ll be impressed.

Congratulations to one of our mini Tennis members, Cameron Roome, on receiving a Highly Commended certificate in the Sportsmanship category in the Young Citizens of the Year Awards. Amongst the many sports Cameron enjoys, besides tennis, is cricket, hockey, football. tag rugby and cross country

This Saturday during the Mini Tennis coaching programme there will be a final collection for The Friends of the Children or Chernobyl. This charity organises and funds the month long holiday given to children from the disaster area. It’s 30 years since that dreadful day and still the children are affected by the contaminated air. We have 17 children coming this year and they will spend a morning at Albany learning to play tennis and then join us for lunch. So a ?1 donation from all our juniors would help to raise some useful funds.