After a long weekend in London the Fitzwilliam Cup finally came to an end on Sunday 30th August. Teams participating from Fitzwilliam (Ireland), Kung. Lawn Tennis Klubben (Sweden), and The Cumberland (UK) came together at the host venue The Cumberland Lawn Tennis and Squash Club. A hard fought event saw teams compete in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Two girls and two boys participated for each team.

Friday saw the start of the event and start of the singles matches (best of three sets, championship tie break at one set all). After the teams arrived and enjoyed a fantastic lunch it was straight down to the courts to get warmed up. The weather was brilliant and supported some well-matched singles, each match offering some fantastic points and well skilled players. By the end of the afternoon the Fitzwilliam Team had opened up a lead after both the girls and boys had won all of their matches against both number one and two seeds from each country. The Kung. Lawn Tennis Klubben team closely followed by taking two sets from Cumberland in both girls and boys singles. Notable matches included a valiant effort from Jasmine Dedakia (Cumberland) against Sofie (Sweden), narrowly losing out after a deciding championship tie break and the incredible level set by Rohan (Ireland) and Gustav (Seeden), again finishing in a deciding championship tie break. Both the Irish number 1 girl and boy dominated in their singles matches.

After a long day for all the visiting teams using both the new Acrylic and Clay tennis courts, everyone settled down to enjoy a BBQ together on the veranda at the top of the club before making their way back to their hotel.

When Saturday came Fitzwilliam had opened up an 8-4-0 over the Kung. Lawn Tennis Klubben and Cumberland teams respectively. Both teams hoping to claw back some rubbers in the doubles. Teams played full best of three set matches.

The doubles matches saw the Kung. Lawn Tennis Klubben boys come out firing taking a 6/4 6/3 scalp over the Fitzwilliam boys pair, even though the Irish boys utilised some ‘Bryan brothers’ tactics with ‘chest bump’ celebrations, they couldn’t hold out! The girl’s doubles saw a tough match between Kung. Lawn Tennis Klubben and Fitzwilliam pairs with the Irish girls keeping their form from the previous day, although the Cumberland pair were downed by both teams playing with great effort considering their opponents abilities.

Moving on to mixed doubles, the weather didn’t look too great so it was decided that a ‘one set shootout’ would be the way to go. Although at this point the Fitzwilliam team now held an 11-7-0 lead.

Unfortunately after just one set the Great British weather wreaked havoc with the hard courts so it was decided that the competition would come to an end.

The Fitzwilliam team, Anna, Eimear, Vuc and Anna came through the weekend taking a 12-8-0 win.

Finally the teams all met on Saturday Evening for dinner at a local eatery in West Hampstead.

After all the weekend’s events it was time for the teams to meet Sunday morning and have some fun. We met on the AstroTurf courts and all paired up with players from other teams, including both coaches from Kung. Lawn Tennis Klubben and Cumberland, to participate in a fast paced doubles drill session. After a great weekend of tennis, it finally came to an end with the presentation of the Fitzwilliam Cup to the Fitzwilliam team Captain Vuc and his team, ready for them to take it back home.

All participants in the Fitzwilliam Cup received their own medal and embossed towel from The Cumberland before making their way up to the clubhouse for our final meal together.

On behalf of The Cumberland, it was an absolute pleasure to be a part of the competition and host the event. We look forward to seeing both of the visiting teams soon, and would like to say it was a privilege to meet everyone involved with each team.