Babolat Cork Tennis League Updated Scores

After the recent tournaments here's an updated list of how the scoring looks.

James Cooney 16 points

Tim Ryan 13 points

Conor Ahern 5 points

Piotr Czarnecki  5 points

Sheila Stokes 21 points

Trish O Leary 8 points

There is still plenty of time to register and lots of tournaments to play to give yourself a chance of winning the fabulous prizes on offer from Cork Tennis and Babolat.

Find out how here.

Munster Senior Open 2011 - Results

The Munster Senior Open finished at Sundays Well Tennis Club on Saturday in tough windy conditions.
The weather however didn't dampen peoples spirits as there was a good turnout of supporters who were provided with some very entertaining matches throughout the day.

The Munster Senior Open is a title everybody wants and this was obvious all week when you could see how hard players battled to get through to finals day.

The event was very well organised by Stephen McCarthy, Alice Fawsitt and the rest of the team and on arrival you were always greeted with a warm welcome.

One of the talking points of the week was the food.  This was supplied by Brook Catering who were also the title sponsors.  This made perfect sense to me and I can't understand why it hasn't being done before.  How often to sponsors get an immediate return on their investment and also have the opportunity to promote what they do best to a large number of people.  This could be start of a trend, Liam.

There are so few tournaments where all grades are represented and also where players get the chance to play singles as well as doubles.  In fact there are only two and this definitely adds to the event.

A few players did the double and they are worth mentioning, Clodagh Fitzgerald, Joanne O Keeffe, Jamie Blake and Ronan Conway.  Well done to all on their great achievement.

Another player worth mentioning is Nicola Drummy from Dublin (but of Cork blood. Nicola's father Victor is a four time winner of the premier singles).  Nicola at 14 is possibly the youngest winner of the Ladies Premier Singles.  That is a fabulous achievement and Nicola is a player definitely worth watching in the future.

Results:
MS1 Jamie Blake V Rob Leahy 6-1/6-4
LS1 Nicola Drummy V Lucy Easton 7-5/6-2
MD1 Jamie/Cian Blake V Antoine Bercy/Rob Leahy 6-2/6-3
LD1 Niamh Coveney/Joanne Williamson V Deirdre Collins/Toni O Keeffe 6-0/6-2
MS2 Conor McCarthy V Silvio Di Blasi 6-3/6-3
LS2 Clodagh Fitzgerald V Un Ryle 6-2/6-3
MD2 Paul Cotter/Joe O Donovan V Silvio Di Blasi/Donal Neary 6-3/2-6/7-5
LD2 Clodagh Fitzgerald/Siobhan Murray V Connie Creed/Grace Reidy 7-6/6-7/7-6
MX2 Sommer Craig/Dave Thompson V Sinead Power/Eddie Ronayne 3-6/6-3/6-2
MS3 John Ryan V Gerard Sheehan 6-2/6-2
LS3 Karen Barry V Joanna O Riordan 7-5/6-2
MD3 Richard Bywater/Jeremy Forde V Paul O Callaghan/Hugh Harrington 6-0/6-3
LD3 Gillian/Louise Brohan V Kay Lynch/Daragh Quinn 3-6/6-0/6-2
MX3 Carol Daly/Niall Aherne V Daragh Quinn/Hugh Harrington 7-5/6-3
MS4 Rob Jenkins V James Cooney 6-4/6-2
LS4 Ilona Stuntebeck V Tara Mukerjee 6-3/2-6/6-2
MD4 Dominic Crowley/Tom Reidy V Leo O Leary/Rob Jenkins 6-1/6-2
LD4 Joanne O Keeffe/Margaret Roche V Nime Stefanstonn/Sandra Higgins
MX4 Joanne O Keeffe/Brian Dennis V Sandra Higgins/Declan Malone 6-4/6-3
MS5 Ronan Conway V Diarmuid Hurley 6-4/7-5
LS5 Marie O Sullivan V Dervilla Griffin 7-6/6-4
MD5 Ronan Conway/John O Donovan V Kenny Ding/Tim O Donovan 7-6/6-2
LD5 Jo Cahalane/Jenny Warren V Therese Horn/Carol O Shea 6-0/6-4
MX5 Sarah Dwane/Kenny Ding V Kitty Collins/Paul O Connell 7-6/6-4
MS6 Brian Hennessy V Martin Hurley 6-2/2-6/6-4
LS6 Emer Groarke V Roma Buckley 6-1/6-3
MD6 Tony Lyons/Uilliam O Lorcain V Daragh Fitzgerald/George Ross 6-1/6-3
LD6 Kitty Moynihan/Sheila Stokes V Tina Bushe/Shirley Kennelly 6-3/7-6
MX6 Alicia Collins/Diarmid Cronin V Martina O Sullivan/Paul Hogan 6-3/6-4.

Congratulations to the winners and the runners up.

Babolat Cork Tennis League points picked up by Sheila Stokes and James Cooney.

Finalists make note you are all missing out on the chance of winning a full kit including racket from Babolat.

Best of luck Conor.

I know everyone will have their stories about the time Conor did this, or when I played Conor, and this I'm sure is the same all over the world as many players play Wimbledon for the first time this year.

But if anyone deserves their chance to perform on the big stage it is Conor and knowing him he won't be thinking about just one match, he will have his sights set on a certain Roger Federer.

This achievement alone will do more for Irish tennis than anything or anyone gone before him.  I say this without being disrespectful to Louk Sorensen's achievement or as the media are mentioning Matt Doyle, the last 'Irish' man to play in Wimbledon.

The difference for me is, Conor grew up playing his tennis in Ireland, he travelled around playing the tournament scene, he played interpros for Munster, he has won Irish titles, he plays and trains in Dublin so he is more accessible to the Irish public and much better known.

All our up and coming juniors know Conor and have met him and no doubt have received words of encouragement or wisdom from him at some point.  To a lot of them he is their inspiration and tomorrow he will be their hero playing in, what to us, is the biggest of the Grand Slams.

I have no doubt when I say 'GOOD LUCK' to Conor, I'm not just saying it from me, I'm saying it from the whole tennis population in Ireland.

Read a very interesting article written by Conor for this blog and you will get an insight into how tough it is on the tour and how hard you have to work to make a living.  And then you will get an appreciation of what Conor has achieved in qualifying for Wimbledon.

Kinsale Open Results

LD 1\2  Lisa Long\Mary Claire McCarthy V Aine Kiernan\Joanna O Riordan 6-2\6-3
MX 1\2 Lisa Long\Conor Kelly V Sommer Craig\David Thompson 6-2\6-4
MD 3 Radim Pokopochiem\Frank Walsh V Jim Connolly\Leo O Leary 6-3\6-4
LD 3 Marion Healy\Rom Preston V Marion Gargin\Monica Williams 6-4\6-3
MX 3 Kay Lynch\Niall Cloke V Jesse Morris\Jim Good 5-7\6-2\6-3
MD 4 Rob Jenkins\Leo O Leary V Martin Neary\Declan Alton 6-3\6-3
LD 4 Sabine Graef\Jesse Morris V Therese Hurley\Tara Mukerjee 6-1\6-3
MX 4 Deirdre Duby\Kevin Moynihan V Jesse Morris\Sebastian Kadau 6-3\3-6\7-5
MD 5 Derek Murphy\John O Donovan V Brian Hennessy\Ken Hourihane 6-4\1-6\6-2
LD 5 Ursula Hogan\Jacqui O Mahony V Jo Cahalane\Jenny Warrren 6-1\3-6\6-3
MX 5 Catherine McCarthy\Niall Coonan V Sarah Morris\Paul Hogan 6-1\6-4
MD 6 Garry Fitzroy\Tony O Reilly V Alan McCarthy\Niall Stanley 6-3\6-4
LD 6 Kitty Moynihan\Sheila Stokes V Julie O Sullivan\Susan Wallace 7-5\6-3
MX 6 Therese Crowley\Brian Hennessy V Majella Daly\Tony O Reilly 6-3\6-0

Well done to Kinsale on another very successful open tournament.
Congratulations to the winners and runners up and to all who took part.

Babolat Cork Tennis League Points from this event.
Sheila Stokes 8 points.

Amusing!!

I find it very amusing the way the Irish media jump on the band wagon of tennis when one of our guys is on the verge of a breakthrough into a Grand Slam.
Don't get me wrong the coverage is great for the game, but why can't it be covered on a more regular basis.

Tennis is played all over Ireland week in, week out.  With competitions running all year round.  We play in hail, rain, sleet and sometimes snow but without a mention.

Our open tournaments don't get covered by local papers, our Interprovincial championships might get a mention (a few lines in a small column in one of the national papers) and our Davis Cup or Federation Cup might as well be invisible.

People might say well would you not contact someone, or provide the papers with some information, but even this isn't always enough.

Last year prior to the Interpros for the U-14, U-18 and Senior teams, I contacted a local and a National paper and offered them information on who was playing, where the events were being held and also said I would feedback to them afterwards with results.  None of the two papers replied.

The events were played and the Senior team returned victorious, their first win after seventeen years, and again there was no mention of this in the papers.

After speaking to a few people about this and them agreeing it was a disgrace I decided to contact the papers again and one of them replied saying if I put something together they would publish it. 
They did! without any editing and gave credit to one of their reporters.

My point in all of this is, if you go through the local papers you will see pages on local GAA, local soccer, horse racing, road bowling and hockey, local dart leagues are mentioned, premiership soccer or intercounty matches have about four writers writing about the same match, yet tennis can't get a look in.

What do we need to do to get the papers to help us promote our game?

It would be great if people took it upon themselves to keep onto the papers about the lack of coverage our sport gets and hopefully they might give it a mention in the future.

All that being said Best of luck today Conor, you're doing us proud.