From: The Racketeer 14, April 1995
Woodthorpe Walloped
by John Broomfield
WHERE WERE YOU on Sunday July 8th? Stuck in front of the goggle box watching Sampras and Becker play some obscure Grand Slam final at Wimbledon?
Well, you should have been down at the club where the real entertainment was taking place.
The Men's 1st team were playing local rivals Woodthorpe's 2nd team in a Division 2 league match. Earlier on in the season our team had achieved a momentous victory over Woodthorpe's 3rd team, so we were expecting a tough battle; Woodthorpe would not want to be beaten twice in one season by a club who have rarely beaten them in the past.
After a closely fought struggle, Mapperley Park were trailing by 2 sets to 4 after the first rubber, and were still two Sets adrift after the second rubber. With the score at 5-7 to Woodthorpe this meant that we needed to win four of the six remaining sets to draw the match.
Adam Richardson, playing with Duncan Burd on no. 2 court, was displaying his usual array of shots, while maintaining his concentration throughout - not an easy task for Adam, considering he had already been to work earlier in the day. Duncan, playing his first match of the season, with a spare racket borrowed from his grlfriend, had lost none of the skill and athleticism which had helped him to win two singles titles last year: the Jack Britton and the Mapperley Park Men's Singles. This pair was quickly off court, having destroyed their opponents 6-1, 6-1.
Jeremy Freemantle and John Broomfield were playing on no. 1 court against Woodthorpe's first pair. This pair play regularly for Woodthorpe's first team in Division 1 and at this stage of the match had not dropped a set. Our pair lost the first set 3-6 and were 1-2 and 30-40 down when a disputed line call put our side 1-3 down. Things did not look good. But, spurred on by this incident, a deep desire to win was kindled in our players, and was fuelled by the support of the growing crowd (Cynthia, Adam and Duncan).
Jeremy was serving and volleying with great power and accuracy. His long arms seemed to acquire a few more inches as he made one superb interception after another at the net. It was this that turned our fortunes, earning our pair a 6-4 victory in the second set. A tremendous result.
We now needed one more set to draw the match - it was all down to our third pair, playing on no. 3 court. The situation looked hopeful as Robert Collins had not been heard to lose his cool, and his racket was still firmly in his grip. Mark Fletcher, his partner, was playing out of his skin: chip shots, lobs, drop shots, volleys, and was thinking about each shot. In support, Robert thumped winners on both backhand and forehand sides and was even making regular visits to the net to volley and smash. Amazing stuff from an ardent baseliner.
The body language looked good: a bounce in their step, shoulders back, chests out, heads held high. They had won both sets, coming from 1-3 down in the second.
We had won the match!
Cheers were coming from the clubhouse, players were shaking hands, slapping each other's backs and laughing. But best of all Woodthorpe were stunned into silence and looked totally dejected.
But what of John Broomfield? Little has been said of his role. Well, he provided the orange and lemon squash (even if there wasn't enough of it), and collected the match taxes - a true captain's performance.
The match tea was wolfed down and the team descended on the local pub to celebrate the magnificent victory. Congratulations to all members of the team. This has to be one of the best team performances and victories I have been involved in since I became a member of Mapperley Park.