DORCHESTER Tennis and Squash Club began 2024 with a bang courtesy of a maximum capacity turnout for the first ‘Fun Tennis Tournament’ of the year.

The format for this tournament was Fast4 mixed doubles and everyone played four sets with different partners each time, trying to win as many sets as possible. 

Fast4 tennis is played to normal tennis rules with the following exceptions.

Each game has a deciding point instead of deuce and the receiver will always be the same gender as the server.

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Each set is the first to four games with a tie break at 3-3, tie-breaks being first to five points.

There are also no lets, when serving. If the ball goes into the correct service box after hitting the net, play continues, but either receiver can hit the ball which made for some exciting points.

Of the maximum 24 entrants, four women and men were assigned to each of the three courts and the top man and woman on each court then progressed to the semi-finals along with a lucky loser man and woman, who were the top performers overall not to win their courts.

The tennis was fast and furious and after a fun round-robin session where everyone played a set with all the other people on their court of the opposite sex.

The top woman and man on Court One were Joy Hennessy, one of only two people to win all their round robin matches, and Derek North.

On Court Two, the results were very close with two men and women each winning three sets, so the winners had to be decided by the ratio of games won to games lost.

Claire Thomasson just pipped Ann Williams to become top woman and Mike Williams edged out Will Stein to become top man.

Both Ann and Stein were the lucky losers to progress to the semi-finals though as they were the only other people to win three of their four sets. On Court Three, the top woman was Sue Ramsbottom, the only other person to win all four sets, and the top man was Al Clark.

The first semi-final was over quickly as Hennessy and Mike Williams quickly and decisively beat Ramsbottom and Stein 4-1.

The second semi-final was a much closer affair, going to a tie break at 3-3, where Ann Williams and Clark just edged out Thomasson and North to win 4-3.

The final was very close with Williams and Clark serving for the tournament at 3-2 and 40-0, but Hennessy and Williams managed to save four match points to break serve and take the match into a tie-break.

Hennessy and Williams then emerged victorious in the tie-break to take the match 4-3 which meant that Hennessy was undefeated all day.

At the presentation ceremony, club chairman Clark presented the prizes to the winners and said: “I’m delighted to see so many people out on court at the start of the year and also thankful that we managed to play this tournament in dry weather despite the terrible forecast.”

The club is also running a New Year’s promotion of a three-month introductory membership. For more information, visit: www.dtsc.org.uk or email: admin@dtsc.org.uk or phone: 01305 268103 from 9-11am on weekdays.