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After two days of glorious weather, the rain arrived with a vengeance to limit the play at the Brodies Champions of Tennis tournament in Stockbridge in Saturday.

A capacity crowd turned out to see the great John McEnroe play his first singles match in the Scottish capital for more than 25 years, and speaking ahead of the game, the 54 year old former Wimbledon champion explained his reason for playing in the tournament: “We want to show we can still play, and I think people will be surprised at the level of tennis they see here. I love to play still; I love to get out on the court. I work out regularly and I like to try and show the 50 plus people that it can still be done.”

Opponent, 49 year old Swede Mikael Pernfors said: “I don’t think any one of us have travelled to Scotland to lose,” so the stage was set for a competitive encounter.

The game was delayed whilst the volunteers tried to dry the court, but it eventually started around 2.30pm. McEnroe served, but lost the first two points, the second when his backhand volley hit the top of the net, then, to the amusement of the sell-out crowd, he checked the height of the cord.

McEnroe then fought back, but with the scores at deuce, the rain returned and the players had to leave the court.

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Play eventually resumed after three and a half hours and it was decided that the match would be settled in one set with the winner being the first to reach eight games. After a hard fought contest, McEnroe took the honours by 8-4.

With Wimbledon starting next week, everyone wanted to hear McEnroe’s thoughts on Andy Murray’s chances: “I think it very well could be Murray’s year,’ said McEnroe. ‘I was beginning to wonder if he could do it because these other guys are so great but he really stepped up with the Olympics and then he dug deep at the Open to win that. He’s as confident as he’s ever been, he’s handled the pressure well for the most part so when the going gets tough he’s got to step up.

“The thing is that he’s playing great,’ he continued. ‘He’s positioned himself well having not played at the French; I think that will help him. And obviously winning Queen’s is a nice positive for him. But the draw is tough, there’s no doubt about it. Tsonga in the quarters is tough because for me he’s the guy best positioned outside of the top four to win. And then he’ll have to play one of Rafa or Roger in the semis and then another guy that’s not too shabby Djokovic in the finals. So he’s got his work cut out for himself no doubt about it. But having won a Slam and won the Olympics now he’s really comfortable on this court and on the biggest stage.”

Next up came Mark Philippoussis against Carlos Moya. Moya started strongly, but the Australian fought back well to win the first set after a tie break, before the rain returned.

Play was eventually suspended around 9pm despite the fantastic efforts of the volunteers.

The tennis starts at 10.30am tomorrow with the fixtures still to be announced.

lifecareSeventeen volunteers will be out in force on the final day collecting for Lifecare, a charity that supports the independence and wellbeing of older people in Edinburgh, at Brodies Champions of Tennis.

Each volunteer will be wearing a Lifecare t-shirt and trying to raise as much money as possible to fund the charity which has helped a lot of people over the 72 years it has been running.

Photographs by John Preece

http://www.photoboxgallery.com/jlp-photography

 

 

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John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.

5 COMMENTS

  1. I have spent a wet cold very expensive afternoon at the Brodies Champions of Tennis. We saw John McEnroe play for Under an hour and we watched one set of the second players before play was suspended. By this time – 8.15 most people were cold wet and disappointed not to mention angry. I have just read a paragraph in one related website which stated that “a specially constructed canopy would ensure that rain would not stop play”. This was a very misleading if not erroneous statement. We watched as very many people tried to dry the court with towels, brushes etc.. Did nobody realise that in Scotland rain doesn’t fall vertically and that we have strong winds here! The lady whose dream this was lives here and should have known better. We paid £80 for a disappointing experience and I am sure that I am not alone in feeling very let down.

  2. If you book tickets at the Royal Albert Hall in December you can watch indoors in comfort. I was there, I didn’t notice a wind, and my guess is the players were as disappointed as the spectators. Brave to risk such a tournament in Scotland, even Wimbledon is often a wash out, good now they have the roof.

  3. This day out on Sat 22nd for myself and husband was his birthday present. To say it turned out to be a very expensive non event which along with 2 tickets at eighty pound each and a night in a hotel all in all it cost around three hundred pound . The advertising for this event was for a fully covered experience. Which I took to mean even the spectators would be covered due to the nature of our weather. To say I was surprised that only a part of the court was covered and knew the predicted showers due that day day it came as no surprise I spent 3 cramped cold and uncomfortable hours in the beer tent the only area big enough for the spectators to shelter from the rain. We were really disappointed with the tennis we got to see it had no value of the price of the ticket ticket and I was lucky not to have travelled too far. From a very disappointed fan who was left to feel totally ripped off by this company’s promises.

  4. I have to agree with Valerie.
    I took my eleven year son to watch the old champions in action and what a disappointment it was. Yes the canopy looked good but was completely useless
    against any rain accompanied with a bit of rain.

    The volunteers tried their best with makeshift equipment to dry the court but after 2:45 minutes waiting about in the rain we abandoned the event.
    I was prepared, as a spectator, to suffer the randomness of Scottish weather but I would have thought the organisers should have had the experience to design a venue that would allow the tennis to be unaffected by the rain.

    I believe this is the first of a three year contract to host the event but I am afraid they would have to do a lot of convincing with a change of design of the venue before I would waste my money on it again.

    Pity as it could have been so good for the city.

  5. I also shared a very disappointing and expensive Sunday waiting to watch tennis. When booking our £80 per head tickets we specifically asked it the court AND seating was covered as we are well aware of weather conditions in Scotland. Being reassured it was ‘covered’ we booked only to find that the cover did not extend to any if the seating and was not adequate to stop flooding if the court. Yes actual flooding!! There were vain attempts to sweep the water away and even vain we attempts to dry the court with towels. It was a complete farce – incredibly badly organised. We are trying to get a refund on the basis of ‘ mis- selling’ . It’s the one time you really hope your calls ARE being recorded.

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