Out! Tennis Team denied promotion in play-offs

With a wide variety of sports teams representing St Andrews in various competitions and tournaments as well as putting on some of the most rowdy socials this semester (Rugby lads, I’m looking at you), it can be hard for the smaller clubs to keep up; in spite of this, the men’s 1st tennis team has done an exceptional job in recent competitions against other universities in Scotland and has continued to do St Andrews proud.

The first team usually consists of the top 4 ranked players in the University. The team is chosen in preseason and trials at the beginning of the year. Whilst this top 4 is not fixed, the regular players this year include Craig Stevens (captain), Matthew Monaghan, Ross Gamblen, Finlay Hutchison and Alex Kamieniecki.

They say love means nothing in tennis, but the men’s 1st players have to love their sport in order to fully dedicate themselves to the team. Preparing for these matches is no easy task: a regular week consists of 3 hours on court training sessions and two sessions in the fitness suite. On the off chance (ha ha) that rain and wind threaten to undermine their powerful strokes, the boys train on indoor courts in Kingsbarnes. The man behind the scenes, Mike Aitken, also gives them additional individual sessions and supports his players by coming to matches and fully dedicating himself to their development.

So what good has come of all this hard work? Our team won the Men’s Scottish Division 1A for the first time in St Andrews tennis history. This is a major achievement and a well deserved feat, considering it is the first time in 12 consecutive years that a team from Stirling University has not won this league.

After a pivotal win against Edinburgh 1sts some weeks after, the boys were really getting into the swing of things; the men’s 1st team won the division by 3 points after beating the favourites, Stirling, very convincingly in the return leg. The odds seemed to be against them due to the loss of last year’s graduating #1 player, as last year almost saw them get relegated, but the team’s hard word paid off and some individually brilliant performances guided them towards first place.

This phenomenal win gave them the opportunity to play for promotion into the BUCS Premier Division which would involve taking on some of the top teams in the entire Britain. They brushed against the Coventry 1st team in convincing style (5-1), then travelled down to Leeds to play Leeds Met 1sts. Unfortunately, they proved too strong a side and St Andrews lost valiantly (5-1). However, this is the strongest season our first team has had and it looks promising for years to come! The tennis team makes a strong case for the AU Team of the Year Award.