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February (updated 22.2.26)
What soggy times we are having! Our club sessions have been rather intermittent, owing to the rain, but fear not, Spring is on the way and we shall soon be enjoying ourselves chasing around those fluffy yellow balls on a regular basis. Hartfield Village Fete Committee have kindly donated £250 to our club, which will be used to replace the wonky net post on the top court.
As mentioned in the renewal letter, we have not been able to enter a team into the Weald League of late and so, if anyone is interested in representing the club, please let us know. We hope to return to competitive tennis in Winter 2026 with our new Team Captain Adrian Sainsbury. Matches typically take place at weekends and result in a friendly and enjoyable encounter with neighbouring clubs.
The Australian Open Men’s title was won by Carlos Alcaraz, who defeated a resurgent Novak Djokovic who is now World no. 3, behind Jannick Sinner. At 22 years old, Carlos is the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam (Steffi Graff achieved this for the women at the age of 19 years).For the Women’s title, Elena Rybakina was the surprise winner over Aryna Sabalenka and adds this to her recent WTA Finals title. Britain continue to dominate in the Men’s Doubles, with Neal Skupski and his American partner Christian Harrison taking the title.
Britain’s no. 1 Jack Draper had been out of competition owing to injury, but had a successful return, helping Great Britain overcome Norway in their Davis Cup match. Cameron Norrie is gradually improving his ranking and is now World no. 26 Emma Raducanu continues to frustrate her fans with her variable performances, frequent injuries and coaching changes, though she has crept up the rankings to become World no. 25 Katie Boulter has ended her lean period to take a WTA 250 title and is back in the top 100 at no.76.
We are particularly interested in recruiting female members to the Club Committee.
Hartfield is going to be the centre of world attention this year, with the centenary of the publication of the first Winnie-the-Pooh book. The National Trust property Nymans Gardens, near Haywards Heath, has recently opened a Three Cheers for Pooh story trail, which will continue until 15th March. Why not come along to the Carlo Lounge, East Grinstead to see our esteemed member Tony Bye and his group Scuffle on 27th February? The Spring Craft Fair at Hartfield Village Hall takes place on 21st March.
If you have any news, or would like to comment on any of the above, I would be delighted to hear from you at madden47@hotmail.com.
Thanks,
Bernie M.
Hartfield Tennis Club 