The Tennis Hampshire Podcast

Send us Fan Mail Join us on the podcast's first ever Road Trip, which takes us to Indiana, deep in the US Midwest, where we find young Hampshire tennis star Magda Kornijczuk at the very beginning of a two-year tennis journey at the University of Indianapolis.  Magda shares her journey from the UK to the US, some of the cultural differences, the intensity of college tennis, and the supportive...

Send us Fan Mail This week on the pod we catch up with Twyford’s Dick Moulds - groundsman, trustee, diplomat, gentle club godfather and sports omnivore.  A member for 50 years, Dick is the man behind the scenes for most of what you may know already about Twyford tennis club, and a fountain of wisdom on club lore. Did Matt Le Tissier really play for the club? Are there strategically placed divots i...

Send us Fan Mail Join us for our 50th episode, with a HUGE thanks to all of you who have supported the show over the past 18 months. Whether you've been a regular listener, an occasional visitor, a correspondent or a guest, your support is the fire in the belly of the show. In this episode we look back on 50 episodes and think about how to grow the show from here, wonder if our recording sess...

Send us Fan Mail Winter is here! And it's the best part of winter... the very beginning. Everything is still possible, and it isn't even that cold, that dark or even that rainy. Remember this feeling when December arrives. We talk festive calendar dates (the tennis kind - get ready to mark your calendars for AGMs and the Solent Cup). We also examine the start-of-winter split in the David...

Send us Fan Mail We ran out of time on summer wrap up last time out, so this week we take the deep dive on how ladies and mens doubles closed out the summer.  We review Warsash's remarkable run to win mens doubles overall. Is this the springboard they need to have another go at the Apsley next summer? Where are they in the winter leagues? Tom's troops from David Lloyd WestEnd also had a...

Send us Fan Mail Division One ended in style, so we take a final canter through the Apsley League to celebrate the winners, and commiserate with the losers.  No fewer than three teams managed to trip the Apsley League's new points deduction rule, giving up two points each for every fixture that they conceded as a walkover. All three went down in the end, and it didn’t have to be that way. Hav...

Send us Fan Mail The sun is dropping that bit earlier, players are dropping out of the pro tour to rest and there are just four fixtures left in the Apsley League - summer is well and truly coming to an end around us.  With the final weekend ahead, we look at the biggest prize left on offer - Division One survival. All four teams at the bottom of Div One are in action this weekend. Which two teams...

Send us Fan Mail Thornden have won the Premier Division for a third successive summer, but Riverside took them all the way in their fixture - so nearly getting the win, and forcing a tie.  Wellow are on the up, we debate whether their new courts - subject to local press interest this week — will be enough to help them stay in the Premier Division next season, now that they are locked in for promot...

Send us Fan Mail Saturday September 13 was originally scheduled to be the end of the summer season when Apsley schedules came out all the way back in April.  As it happens, this summer’s rollercoaster of heatwaves and washouts means we will still have a dozen fixtures left after Saturday is done, but plenty of things will be decided this weekend. Tom doesn’t see any way Thornden can’t realisticall...

Send us Fan Mail We’re getting to the business end of the season, which is a terrible time for Dave to be stranded in America and Tom to be busy in Southampton.  We can’t unite for a dual podcast this week, but we’ve got a Quick Hit update here to get you up to speed.  The County Champs are over - it looks like a changing of the guard among some of the elite men could be on the cards, while on the...

Send us Fan Mail We're reunited in the UK and joined by another special guest!  Pete Guerreri, from tennis royalty in Swanmore and currently captain of the National League team from David Lloyd West End, joins this episode. There's certainly plenty to talk about. Pete and Tom shares some memories from their debuts at the Hampshire & Isle of Wight County Championships, which wrap up t...

Send us Fan Mail This week we look back on a high-octane weekend of action that made Thornden champions-elect, brought Winchester A its first win for almost three seasons, and shows us that South Hants B could sweep in on Division Three out of nowhere. The County Championships start this weekend. Tom is taking part, and we get his thoughts on signing up, the onerous availability requirements (turn...

Send us Fan Mail Club summer seasons will be made and broken this weekend in the Apsley League, so how could we possibly leave you hanging without an episode? Dave is in Greece and Tom is working hard on the day job but we found a way to make this episode against all the odds. We talk about where the tables stand now that the season is 75% complete — and who has promotion or relegation on the line...

Send us Fan Mail Mike and Jay Barry join as our sixth and seventh guests on the podcast.  We talk about the origins of Riverside Tennis Club, who they consider their biggest rivals, and what the future holds for the club. On a more personal note, we reflect on sibling rivalry, their pathways into coaching, and their advice for young Riverside players who want to push on into semi-pro tennis. Stick...

Send us Fan Mail The summer is flying by, and this weekend could bring the first crown in the Apsley as Compton look to see off resurgent Winchester in Division Four.  Elsewhere, Riverside play Destroyers of Dreams as David Lloyd Southampton make the pilgrimage to Wiltshire. Can they equal or better Twyford's 1-7 loss last week? Premier Division survival could depend on it.  We had a lot of g...

Send us Fan Mail Three out of five Summer Ladies Doubles divisions have been won, but the very highest honours are still being disputed by Bassett and Thornden. Could Winchester sneak through and take the top prize? We discuss from around the 18 minutes mark. And there's nothing more dangerous than Tom with a spreadsheet... we find shenanigans in Division Four. Though we're sure no one d...

Send us Fan Mail After last week’s grim statistics showing age spreads across the Hampshire inter-club leagues, Venus Williams gives Dave some inspiration this week. Tom has been in deep correspondence with Apsley League chief Geoff Prince on how the league positions work. If things are looking a little wonky to you too, there’s a good reason for it! Meanwhile, who needs league tables when there a...

Send us Fan Mail Mens Doubles is the most popular Hampshire & Isle of Wight doubles event over the summer, so take a deep breath with us as we run through all nine divisions to see how things are shaping up now the end of the season is in flight.  Two of those divisions have already been won — congrats to Riverside and David Lloyd West End on getting some early titles in.  The men's doubl...

Send us Fan Mail A major heatwave is grabbing the southern UK during peak tennis season for the first time in two years, so new rules created back in 2023 will be put to the test this weekend.  In this episode we discuss the moral quandary around postponing a match in 29 degree weather (feels like 31!), and whether or not there will be any funny business going on after fixtures start, should one s...

Send us Fan Mail We take a step eastwards in Episode 2.11, exploring how the East Hants league works for clubs that lie out towards the border with West Sussex. The East Hants chat starts on the 20 minute mark. We find a smaller but more perfectly structured set of events out there, but no website to help us make sense of it all. Does East Hants have a website? Please let us know if there is one. ...

Send us Fan Mail We dropped an epic episode last week (thanks for all the feedback!), so it’s just a Quick Hit with Dave this week. It took nine weeks, but Thornden are back at the top of the Premier Division. Will anyone knock them off their usual perch from here on out? Wellow also made big gains in the league, but we're keen to see if they can build on that this weekend. Meanwhile the late...

Send us Fan Mail Dave's on the road and no one's heard from Tom since he went to that stag do in Poland a week ago. But never fear, Edwin Lau is back!  And just as well, since we have a bumper round of Apsley fixtures to talk about. Bassett's winning streak came to an end at the top of the Premier Division, Division Two bought us a real slugfest, and it seems we've all been sle...

Send us Fan Mail There are only three Saturdays in the summer when 28 teams go out and do battle over 14 fixtures, and this weekend is one of those Peak Apsley moments. Bassett face a proper test in the Premier Division against Riverside, who have their own Super Day to worry about at the same time.  Division One will be fully in action, with just one of the nine teams left to sit things out. Divi...

Send us Fan Mail This week we take a closer look at Ladies Doubles in Hampshire, and see who's battling it out for top spots across the county's five divisions. That discussion starts at 27 minutes in. The contest to find the best women across the county also has a big impact on the Apsley League, and we take a look back at Week Five's results, plus check in on the tables.  Two club...

Send us Fan Mail Paranoia strikes this week, as Dave spots something suspicious in the Hampshire Tennis Awards, and Tom dissects A versus B team selection theory.  Are shenanigans afoot, or are we just seeing ghosts in the shadows? It’s all just tennis, right? Meanwhile, we've got one of the county's blockbuster weekends ahead. 26 teams will be on court in the Apsley, and there are two c...