Having woken up to the winds blowing hard across Cabrera, our lovely President and those with the first game hurried down to the Court to start the sweep up exercise of all the leaves so the players could at least see the lines they have to stay within!
The Round Robin Teams comprised of Roger & Sjan, Frank & Jane, David & Veronica, and Luis & Adrienne (The Red Team) and then Mike & Chantal, Nick & Jackie, Davie & Lynda and Chris & Heather (The Green Team)
The Red Team
The Green Team
Finally, only 15 minutes behind schedule the first game commenced and gradually during the course of the morning, we caught up, amidst lots of challenging rallies, games decided on via sudden death at deuce, laughter and the odd swear word. (The Club really should invest in a swear box for these occasions), until we broke for lunch, kindly hosted once again by Lynda & David Middleton.
All the players and other kind members of the club did the luncheon event proud with plates of coronation chicken, curried rice, South African baboutie, homemade tortillas, abondigas, quiches, interesting salads and wonderful desserts to keep our energy levels up, not to mention the odd glass of beer or wine to keep the nerves at bay!
Just after 2pm, the final round robin games were played and the results produced a draw in the Red Team for the Ladies No2 spot between Lynda and Jackie so a singles tie break was hard fought, resulting in Jackie pairing up with David to take part in the first semifinal against Mike & Sjan. Chantal was then paired with Luis and Jane paired with Chris for the second semifinals.
Both sets were again hard fought, with Mike and Sjan pulling through with a score of 6:1 and Luis & Chantal with 6:2, however the score lines really meant very little as almost all games went to sudden death and kept all the spectators riveted to their seats heads turning from one side to the other, just as if they had prime seats at Wimbledon!
So it was, with the light fading, Luis & Chantal found themselves up against Mike & Sjan, Were they destined to be the bridesmaids for the 5th year running when paired together? The odds were against them, but with a cracking start they found themselves with a break and 2 luv up…. Could this really be their time? The spectators were on the edge of their seats, as the break was soon recovered and the score levelled out at 2 games all! The rallies got longer, harder and with more oohlalala’s, until it was match point in Luis & Chantal’s favour.
Our Autumn 2019 Finalists, Mike & Sjan v Luis & Chantal, Please God, don’t let them be the bridesmaids again!!!!
With an exclamation from Chantal of “Don’t’ say it!” (having been there before against Mike & Glynis and then losing 7:5) Luis, under no pressure whatsoever, let off a steaming serve and that was it, finally Luis & Chantal as a team would get to put their names on the much-coveted trophy!!
So with no further ado, we all headed back to the Middletons’ to celebrate, and of course polish of the food and vino not quite consumed at lunchtime.
Sjan & Mike, our Runners Up 2019
The Cabrera Sybil Cup 2019 Winners!
The fabulous day finally came to a close at 8pm with everyone dashing off to watch Lewis claim his 6th World Championship at Austin, and the Committee would like to thank everyone who took part, players and spectators alike, without whom the day would not have been such a success.
Photos Taken by Chantal, with the help of Jackie & Graham. Watch this space for Davie’s!!
