The last tennis competition of the year saw a full house for the Mid-Week Doubles Challenge.
The term challenge is appropriate as over the course of two hours each doubles partnership competes against every other doubles pairing over a series of timed playing periods. A challenge indeed in terms of tactics, skill and stamina.

The eventual winners may not have beaten each and every team they might simply have scored consistently or had a particularly good round or two. It was a good mix of nationalities, ages and ability. The overall standard of play was good with many interesting clashes and not a few surprising outcomes e.g. the eventual winners were beaten in the first round, the third place beaten by the sixth place and so on.

Countries represented on this occasion included England, Germany, Lithuania, America and Norway perhaps demonstrating the global appeal of this little corner of paradise.
The results were as follows:
Winners - Ralf & Elka Koppe - 37 points
Runner's Up - Gabriele & Edgar Zujus - 32.5 points
Third Place - Tony & Mary Ward - 28 points
Only 4.5 points covered the placings from third to sixth place.

The photo below shows the winners on the left, and the runner ups on the right.

The next tournament is the Sunday "you can not be serious" all-comers mix and match doubles, on New Year's Day, starting slightly later than usual to allow an extra hour for any sore heads to ease or for the hang-over cures to take effect (11.00am start)
The organisers would like to thank each and every player who has supported the Sunday and Mid week competitions over the last year and wish them a happy, healthy and tennis filled New Year.

Not, mayybe for the ordinary club player, as there are a couple of things she does that may not be for us on our Planet Tennis.

But there is no getting away from the fact that this stroke is one of the reasons she is the new No 1 WTA player.

1. Azarenka is in perfect position to really hit this backhand. Her back foot is the key to the setup: She uses it to balance the rest of her body. Her arms are relaxed, her shoulders are turned, and her racquet is up, which will give her swing the loop necessary to create topspin. The best word for this picture is comfortable. Azarenka has no tension in her body as she prepares to hit the ball.
2. Azarenka has turned so much, that her back is nearly facing the net - this would be too much for the club player - you need to be very strong and agile to achieve this. As the ball comes into view, Azarenka begins to drop her racquet and transfer her weight to her front foot. She keeps her back straight, her knees bent, and her head still.
3. As she begins to uncoil, Azarenka drops the head of her racquet below the level of the ball. There’s a lot of flex in her right wrist, as if she’s curling the racquet around her body. There’s slightly more weight on her right foot. Notice that even though the ball is at shoulder level, Azarenka has flex in her knees. That will allow her to swing from low to high.
4. This photo reveals how unique Azarenka’s backhand is. Most players keep their hands together on the racquet handle. Azarenka hits with about an inch of space between her hands. She uses her off hand to drive through her two-hander as much as anyone on tour—it looks like she would have a killer left-handed forehand. She hits the ball well out in front and her knees straighten as she makes contact. The energy from her swing propels her forward.
5. Azarenka’s backhand has a lot of whip because of the way she holds the racquet handle and the fact that she uses her left hand so much. Her technique won’t work for every player, but great strokes usually have a few things in common: Balance, timing and fluidity. You can see from this picture that Azarenka has it all.
6. Azarenka follows through around her head and watches the ball zip toward its target. Her belly button, which faced sideways and slightly backwards in the first photo, now faces the net. So do her feet, which puts her in perfect position to plant and move to the next shot.

And here is a slo mo video of this great stroke.

Photo from tennis.com