Tennis: Bay seniors' golden glow

Hawke's Bay medal winners at the national seniors tennis tournament from left Craig Giddy, Jane Wyllie, Janine Perkinson, Cathie Clarkson, Margaret Hall and Victoria Kerrison. Photo / Warren Buckland

Call it the biggest week in Hawke's Bay tennis history and you'll be spot on.

Five days after the Bay's senior team retained the Christie Cup, the symbol of Central Districts tennis supremacy, with a 21-3 drubbing of Taranaki at Greendale, seven Bay players travelled home from the national seniors tournament in Hamilton with eight gold medals, six silver and one bronze last week. Hastings professional coach Craig Giddy, 50, was the toast of the Bay contingent after winning his third consecutive 45-plus singles title.

"I could have gone up to the 50-plus age group but I decided to for one more title in the younger age group," Giddy said.

The top seed was unbeaten in all three of his round-robin matches, didn't drop a set and beat Aucklander Feleti Sofele 7-5 6-1 in their final. Giddy and Sofele won the 45-plus doubles title with four wins from as many round-robin matches and Giddy and Greendale's Jane Wyllie finished second in the 45-plus mixed doubles with three wins and one loss.

"I could have played in the Christie Cup fixture but opted to focus on the national seniors. It was good to see so many Bay players up there and performing well," Giddy said.

From three appearances at the senior nationals, Giddy has won four golds.

Wyllie, 49, was playing at her first senior nationals and in addition to her silver in the mixed doubles she returned home with two golds. Wyllie won the 50-plus singles title with two wins from as many fixtures and combined with clubmate Janine Perkinson to win the combined 45-plus and 50-plus doubles title with four wins from as many matches.

"We only dropped two games in our doubles and had won 28 in a row before dropping those two," Perkinson explained.

"Jane and I combined really well. While we had common goals, we both stressed the importance of having fun," Perkinson said.

A former Auckland senior and junior representative, Perkinson has been Hawke's Bay-based for the past seven years. She combined with Aucklander Peter Stokes to win bronze in the 55-plus mixed doubles.

Fellow Greendale player Victoria Kerrison, who has represented New Zealand at seniors level on numerous occasions during the past 25 years, also captured two golds and a silver. She combined with long-time partner Sandy Tritt of Waikato to win the 70-plus doubles title with three wins from as many matches, Dave Meredith of Christchurch to win the 70-plus mixed doubles title with the same record and finished second to Tritt in the 70-plus singles.

Havelock North's Cathie Clarkson displayed the benefits of recent sessions with her coach Shane Wilson when she combined with clubmate Carol Thorpe to win silver in the 60-plus doubles. She was playing at her fifth national seniors tournament and was eliminated in the second round of the 60-plus singles by eventual runner-up Karen Cranston of Whanganui.

Clarkson will hear during the coming weeks whether or not she has been selected for the world seniors 60-plus tournament in Florida during April and May. Her clubmate Margaret Hall, who has represented New Zealand at seven world seniors championships, arrived home with one gold and one silver.

Hall won gold in the 80-plus doubles with Wellingtonian Jill Roberts. They won both of their matches and Hall also captured bronze in the 80-plus singles. Hall played at last year's 80-plus world championships in Croatia and is likely to be in the New Zealand team again when they travel to Spain for the October worlds.

All seven of the Hawke's Bay contingent will play in next year's Nelson-hosted national seniors tournament and all of them apart from Hall will be in action at the Hawke's Bay-hosted national seniors teams tournament during Easter.