Last week, Sidmouth Tennis Club’s Ladies’ A and B teams began their respective campaigns, with good wins on home turf, writes Vici Topping.

The competition has been labelled the special Covid Winter League, where there is no relegation or promotion at stake.

This week it was the turn of the boys when both Men’s A and B played their first home matches.

First up was Men’s B, playing in Division Three, under the acting captaincy of Bob Hefill who led the team of, ‘Demon’, David Watkins, George Buttgieg and Martin Dawes to a sweet 6-2 victory over Exeter Golf and Country Club’s C team.

The fact that it was a star lit, beautiful, autumnal evening beside the sea was an added bonus!

In contrast, with Storm Alex fast approaching, it proved to be a blusterer and tougher task for Men’s A.

Playing in the highly competitive Division One, they welcomed a strong Tipton St John side to Fortfield Terrace.

In spite of the youthful talent of brothers Greg Shipp and Jed Ionov-Flint, and the superb Spanish signing of Guillermo Rodriquez along with stalwart Chris Woodruff, the home team went down narrowly 5-4.

Captain, Greg Shipp, is determined to reverse this result and get revenge when the team travel to Tipton for the return match!

Nevertheless, all Men’s and Ladies’ teams have made an exciting and promising start to their Covid league campaigns setting a high bar for the forthcoming home matches for both Mixed A and B teams, and for Ladies’ C!