Annual Invitation Tournament 2022

The Annual Invitation Tournament took place over four hot and sunny days from Friday 29th July to Monday 1st August. Celebrating one hundred years since the Club was founded and the first tournament was held, some 210 players came together to do battle on the Club’s outstanding grass courts.

The standard of tennis was extremely high throughout. The men’s singles final saw a repeat of last year’s match, with top Queen’s Club player Matt Brooklyn taking on eighteen-year-old Thomas Drayton, who recently joined the senior circuit. With some fierce rallying from both sides and great tactical play, Brooklyn’s experience won the day in a close contest (7-6, 7-5), despite some determined opposition from the talented teenager.

In the ladies’ singles, the last-minute withdrawal of Croatian former ITF player Iva Saric, the number 1 seed, left the field wide open. Last year’s singles runner-up, Marine Beugre-Guyot from France, a 2019 Rye ladies’ doubles winner and this year’s number 2 seed, powered her way to the final once again to meet former ITF player and Hurlingham First Team member Camille Goodman. Having come through a close semi-final against talented ten-year-old Milena Nahomaya, Goodman found herself up against a sparkling Beugre-Guyot who, having defeated her doubles partner Nicola Guzowska in the previous match, stormed her way to victory.

The ladies’ doubles final was a closely contested match between last year’s winners, Victoria Brook and fellow Surrey County player Natalie Haden-Scott, and Marine Beugre-Guyot and Nicola Guzowska of Cumberland Tennis Club. After some hard-hitting exchanges, Beugre-Guyot and Guzowska just got their noses in front to take the title.

In the men’s doubles final, Queen’s champions Matt Brooklyn and David Scales faced previous Rye winners Mark Hadley and Lewis Burton. After some fearsome ground strokes and quick-fire net play, the Queen’s pair just gained the upper hand and took the match.

The mixed doubles saw Dusan Miljevic and Alice Keddie pitted against last year’s winners Henry Moore and Muriel Wacker, all Camden Hill LTC players, with Moore and Wacker retaining their title in a close contest.

The B groups and Handicap sections also witnessed an exceptionally high standard of play, with some very competitive matches and wins for Rye LTC members Jill Gradon in the ladies’ singles and Kitty Kittley, playing with Freddie Chambers, in the mixed doubles.