ALVARO FERNANDEZ has hailed the home-grown nature of his National Tennis Centre side and its unity as the key to their second successive LTA National Club League Championship and immediately vowed to make it three-in-a-row in 2023.
Fernandez skippered a side that included Jorge Martinez, Nikhil Mohindra and Alfonso Patacho to a dramatic victory over noisy neighbours Roehampton which was clinched on an epic 13-11 champions tie-break victory on Sunday.
The Spaniard, who is also head coach of the GB Ladies team who will compete at the World Championship qualifiers in Derby next week, has no doubt that team spirit was behind his men’s victory after they also edged Chelsea Harbour on a match tie-break in a cliff-hanger semi-final.
He said: “What made the difference in this tournament was the group of friends that we created and that was what gave us the trophy.
“I think everyone followed their instinct to do their best for the team and it proved what our camaraderie meant and also our ability to keep our minds and bodies in the present.
“On court we fought for everything and for each other and I am just really happy for us all. Now the target is to go for three-in-arow and retain our title.
“Nikhil is a great guy and an amazing player with a big future. Jorge is also playing at his best level and is winning everything in the UK while Alfonso has been a GB international and is just a top-level player and these two produced when it mattered most to win the super tie-break.
“But the key is we are all friends, we fought for each other and we will be back!”
NTC progressed from a group comprising of Rocks Lane, Harrogate and Stratford who were late withdrawals to beat Harbour Club Chelsea in their half while in the other semi-final Roehampton dispatched Rocks Lane 2-0.
In the final Mohindra and Martinez defeating Chris Salisbury and big-name Swedish import Adam Knutsson 6-2, 6-2 in the opening match before Roehampton fought back strongly to level proceedings after Francis Langan and Team GB star Louie Harris prevailed 5-7, 3-6.
All of which set up a nail-biting finale in which scratch combinations involving one player from each couple combined to battle it out for the glory.
While NTC paired Patacho and Martinez, Roehampton combined Harris and Langan and the latter immediately stormed into a seemingly unassailable 7-1 lead.
However Patacho and Martinez roared back to go 9-7 up before ultimately prevailing 13-11 in the most dramatic of fashions to seal a memorable victory for the hosts.
For GB international Nikhil Mohindra the victory was made even sweeter by the fact that NTC did not import any foreign stars to augment their ranks although he admitted this had lifted the level of the tournament quality-wise overall.
Mohindra said: “Because we are all local it meant a lot. Other teams brought players in from Sweden and Spain and so to be part of a team who are a group of good friends and local just made it a very special win.
“But with the foreign players involved it was a really high level and there was Alex Grilo, an ex-top-50 Spaniard, playing for Rocks Lane, so that really underlined the extent teams went to try and win the tournament and just how much it meant to them.
“Fair play to Roehampton, they must have bussed in about 25 supporters and they got right behind their team but when it mattered most Alfonso and Jorge held their nerve and it is great to be two-time champions.”
Meanwhile in the ladies event Chelsea Harbour Club triumphed over Tennis World Middlesbrough in a dramatic deciding set super tie-break 11-9.
Earlier Catherine Rose and Iva Saric beat Helen Crook and Jo Ward 6-0, 6-0 to lay the foundations for the Chelsea victory.
But Libby Fletcher and Claire Smith claimed a rollercoaster super tie-break success 11-9 to level the match and put everyone on the edge of their seats.
However in the decider former Wimbledon tennis player Tordoff and Cat Rose were to exact sweet revenge with a 11-9 tie-break victory over Jo Ward and Claire Smith to clinch the title.
The Chelsea team consisting of Abi Tordoff, Laura Robson, Iva Saric, Catherine Rose, Amanda Elliott maintained an unbeaten record throughout after defeating Rocks Lane and East Gloucester 4-0 in the group stages.
With Harbour Club Chelsea coached by Team GB Ladies No.2 Max Lutostanski, Great Britain international Tordoff says the victory is fitting reward for all their hard work.
Abi said: “Chelsea Harbour Club are so happy to win the women’s National Club League and it’s why we’ve been working so hard!
“There were some great teams playing and the atmosphere was fantastic as you had the top men and women’s teams from across the country and everyone was getting behind their team-mates and it was just great competitive fun.
“Also the matches were all of a really good standard and it was just brilliant to see so many people competing against each other but also watching the padel and all from different clubs.
“Our toughest match was against Middlesbrough who had Libby Fletcher, Claire Smith, Jo Ward, Helen Crook and Karen Hazzard and we came through on what was a second super tie-break decider in an unbelievable match which was really nerve wracking.
“Now we are already looking forward to defending the title next year and I’m sure there will be a lot of new teams which will make the event even better and more competitive.”
In the other placings Rocks Lane were third and East Gloucester finished fourth.
All the draws and match results can be found here.
