Captain Ian Gillespie says Shropshire’s over-35s men’s tennis team will be determined to quickly bounce straight back up next year in the LTA’s Over-35s County Cup.
A narrow last-day 3-2 reverse against Berkshire meant Shropshire were unfortunately relegated from a strong Group 5B in the popular annual event played on the grass courts at Eastbourne.
Shropshire had opened their group fixtures in style by beating a Northamptonshire side, which included Alex Ward, a player once ranked as high as 242 in the world during his days as a professional, 3-2 at Devonshire Park.
They they lost 5-0 against a strong Lincolnshire team featuring Dan Cox, who reached a career-high of 206 during his professional career.
Cox also reached the final of the 2015 Aegon GB Pro-Series tournament in Shrewsbury, losing in three sets to French player Quentin Halys, now ranked in the world’s top 50.
Non-playing captain Ian was quick to praise the efforts of his side with James Knight, Hugh Jaques, Alex Parry, Ben Disley and Adam Baldwin representing Shropshire on the south coast.
“We will take the positives from the weekend,” said Ian. “We’ll learn from the whole experience and will look to bounce back strongly next year.
“Division Five was a very good level this time when you’re coming up against players like Alex Ward and Dan Cox, who have been as high in the rankings as they have during their careers.
“We pulled off a fantastic win against Northamptonshire. It was a very tough battle with every team member contributing in a significant way.
“Lincolnshire were then very strong with Dan Cox, their leading player, proving to still have the professional edge.
“We couldn’t find a way through their doubles teams, but they were good competitive matches with lots of quality tennis.
“The final day was about gaining the advantage over Berkshire to secure our future in division five, a fixture that was played at the Moira House School courts.
“We got off to a great start, winning both of the first two singles matches in straight sets in very convincing style.
“Our doubles pairs fought with everything they had, but unfortunately couldn’t quite get over the line.”
The Shropshire men’s over-35s team had prepared for their latest County Cup campaign by practising at Wimbledon before continuing their journey to Eastbourne.
“It was very nice to be able to use the courts at Wimbledon,” added Ian. “It was good to get an hour and half there on the grass. We ended up on Court 7, which was fantastic.”
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