Sports / Other
Zimbabwe Tennis Club launched its inaugural season in UK
12 Jan 2016 at 07:41hrs | Views
The Zimbabwe Tennis Club launched its inaugural season with the Winter Championships on Saturday the 9th of January held at the Aldershot Tennis Centre. Nineteen men and six women competed in the two main draw sections.
A lot of different tennis styles were on show for the enthusiasts inlcuding sluggers to slicer dicers to finesse among those shown. A highly unorthodox yet effective game plan as well as the tenacity and grit of Collean Jeche carried him to a final were he faced the efficient and sometimes Federer-like smoothness of TJ Mushonga. While Collean had an impeccable serve and could cut a slice of bread with his racquet, TJ had too much firepower in the end and stormed to the finish line using a breath taking array of inside out forehands as well as knee buckling drop shots.
The ladies final was more competitive as Terrie Manoah and Michelle Mutenure traded brutal baseline shots from start to finish.Both had made up their minds to attack from the go which gave the audience watching from the comfort of the balcony a mouth watering finale to the ladies draw. Both exhibited stratospheric levels of consistency with more than a dozen rallies that went over thirty shots in the ultimate test of concentration. Terrie managed to snatch it with one heart rending break of serve and with that managed to run away as the victor in what was the match of the tournament.
The Zimbabwe Tennis Club was created to bring Zimbabweans all over the United Kingdom together and on Saturday it the certainly did. The camaraderie among the players was there for all to see with those that lost turning into coaches, umpires as well as supporters for those that marched on. Over sixty people turned out to the first meeting of the year which was sponsored by Airtime Sharing a Zimbabwean owned company that delivers VoIP and international roaming services as well as the convenience of being able to pay bills for loved ones back home from across the globe.
Up until the new year the Club had been a WhatsApp group for tennis with members meeting once a month to play but now with a following of over a hundred, the club has now voted in a committee to ensure the smooth arrangement of meetings as well as ensure the club goes from strength to strength. The committeee will be chaired by Shungu Dzirutwe under the tutelage of club president, Kossam Mhangami.
The next meeting will be on the sixth of February with a dedicated team of three coaches on hand to introduce new members to tennis. More information can be attained by texting 'Tennis' and inserting a full name to 07949703485.
Tournament breakdown:
Gentleman: Tawanda Mushonga (Champion)
Collean Jeche (Runner up)
Ladies: Terrie Manoah (Champion)
Michelle Mutenure ( Runner Up)
Best Serve: Tatenda Mavhera
Best Forehand: Roy Charinda
Best Backhand: Tapiwa Dzirutwe
Most Potential: Freddie Mutenure
Players Player of the Day: Ladies; Fadzi Nyambe
Gentlemen; Ignatious Goremucheche
A lot of different tennis styles were on show for the enthusiasts inlcuding sluggers to slicer dicers to finesse among those shown. A highly unorthodox yet effective game plan as well as the tenacity and grit of Collean Jeche carried him to a final were he faced the efficient and sometimes Federer-like smoothness of TJ Mushonga. While Collean had an impeccable serve and could cut a slice of bread with his racquet, TJ had too much firepower in the end and stormed to the finish line using a breath taking array of inside out forehands as well as knee buckling drop shots.
The ladies final was more competitive as Terrie Manoah and Michelle Mutenure traded brutal baseline shots from start to finish.Both had made up their minds to attack from the go which gave the audience watching from the comfort of the balcony a mouth watering finale to the ladies draw. Both exhibited stratospheric levels of consistency with more than a dozen rallies that went over thirty shots in the ultimate test of concentration. Terrie managed to snatch it with one heart rending break of serve and with that managed to run away as the victor in what was the match of the tournament.
The Zimbabwe Tennis Club was created to bring Zimbabweans all over the United Kingdom together and on Saturday it the certainly did. The camaraderie among the players was there for all to see with those that lost turning into coaches, umpires as well as supporters for those that marched on. Over sixty people turned out to the first meeting of the year which was sponsored by Airtime Sharing a Zimbabwean owned company that delivers VoIP and international roaming services as well as the convenience of being able to pay bills for loved ones back home from across the globe.
Up until the new year the Club had been a WhatsApp group for tennis with members meeting once a month to play but now with a following of over a hundred, the club has now voted in a committee to ensure the smooth arrangement of meetings as well as ensure the club goes from strength to strength. The committeee will be chaired by Shungu Dzirutwe under the tutelage of club president, Kossam Mhangami.
Tournament breakdown:
Gentleman: Tawanda Mushonga (Champion)
Collean Jeche (Runner up)
Ladies: Terrie Manoah (Champion)
Michelle Mutenure ( Runner Up)
Best Serve: Tatenda Mavhera
Best Forehand: Roy Charinda
Best Backhand: Tapiwa Dzirutwe
Most Potential: Freddie Mutenure
Players Player of the Day: Ladies; Fadzi Nyambe
Gentlemen; Ignatious Goremucheche
Source - Press release
