The Tennis Hampshire Podcast

Send us Fan Mail After a busy start, the Apsley League is in a bit of a lull. So after covering Twyford's Super Day and looking ahead to this weekend's four fixtures, we take a look at Men's Doubles.  There are nine divisions, 48 teams and more than 200 players in the men's doubles competition. But the real question is... can Tom do well enough with David Lloyd West End to join...

Send us Fan Mail Six ambitious clubs field three or more teams in the Summer Apsley League.  At least once a season the league organizers oblige each of those clubs to field al of their teams at once -- a phenomenon we call Super Day.  This week we look ahead to Twyford's Super Day, which hits on May 17, and look back on Swanmore's Super Day last weekend.  After that, there are four more...

Send us Fan Mail We've got one week in the bank for the season, and we've learned a lot about how things are shaping up in the Apsley league - Hampshire's best tennis tournament.  Tom and Dave dissect the action from up and down the divisions, and take stock of what it all means for the May 10-11 weekend, where 28 teams go into battle.  The sun is shining and we take this pod outsid...

Send us Fan Mail This week we interview Mark Jackson, racquets manager at David Lloyd Southampton West End.  Mark picked up tennis at a young age up in Lincolnshire, but it wasn’t necessarily the sport he’d had in mind as a starry eyed kid.  His path to managing racquets at one of the biggest clubs in Hampshire came via a year looking at a possible life in pro tennis, and a coaching career that ma...

Send us Fan Mail We’re back! Commissioned for a second season, we start with a little look-back at Season One before jumping right into the Solent Cup.  Will Portsmouth recover from its 8-0 mauling by Southampton’s finest? And if the league organisers want more attendance for this big county event, why id there no advertising? Maybe we can help with that.  Meanwhile, Tom has discovered the HIOW Si...

Send us Fan Mail Champions have been crowned in 11 of the 18 Winter Divisions in the Southampton LTA. We weren't among them this time, but we're happy enough with how our winter went, how about you? It's a big weekend for the remaining seven divisions. By next week we should know how the rest of the divisions squared away, which leaves us with a few weeks to get ready for... THE SUM...

Send us Fan Mail All Brits love a quiz, so we put Tom’s local knowledge to the test with our Hampshire Club Explorer Quiz, His response is… pavlovian! In other testosterone-driven news, it’s time to check in with the Men’s Winter leagues, where Dave is pleased and relieved to report that he is back in the top half of the individual performance table. Welcome to Episode 21 of the Tennis Hampshire P...

Send us Fan Mail The Apsley fixtures are out, which means it's time to start marking your calendars for another great summer of tennis ahead in Hampshire.  We check in with the Winter Ladies Doubles leagues, and Tom finds a thrilling conclusion underway in the top division. Just about any club can win it... except for the one club that is currently at the top! We've created the Hampshire...

Send us Fan Mail Winchester Raquets didn't love our debate last time around about their patchy league efforts in Episode 18, but that was nothing compared to the national media debate this week that would come to surround the future of padel at the "posh tennis club"  in Bereweeke (blame the Daily Mail for that one, lol).  Cue lots of pictures of disgruntled neighbours in the papers...

Send us Fan Mail Moves at Winchester kicked off a busy January transfer window in Hampshire's tennis coaching market. We explore whether a blockbuster move between JEM and Swanmore could shake up the league come the summer.  It's also time to check in on the Winter Men to see how they're getting along. The fixtures have passed the half-way mark. Did Absolute Men drop the mic for Chr...

Send us Fan Mail After a break so Tom could hunt for club glory and we could both spend some time with the family, we're back!  Did you miss us? Our bad maths and tennis resolutions will soon put that to rest, after which we take a deeper look at the very competitive Ladies Winter Doubles Leagues.  Welcome to the Tennis Hampshire Podcast as we start the New Year with the very best of intentio...

Send us Fan Mail It’s the most wonderful time of the year… Tennis AGM season! Tom and Dave bring you the latest from the Southampton LTA and Apsley AGM meetings. The top brass was voted in once again for another year, but with the committees filling up at last there are signs of new life in the corridors of power. One of the podcast just became one of the youngest committee members ever. Congratul...

Send us Fan Mail We're joined this week for a Courtside Chat with George Thomas from Romsey-based Tennis HQ (www.tennishq.co.uk).  Did you know you don't have to trek all the way to Farnham to get your hands on higher-end tennis gear so you can try before you buy? Neither did I. George takes us through the kinds of issues to consider before you spring for a new racquet, strings, tennis b...

Send us Fan Mail Gemma Hargrave joins the show this week from David Lloyd West End. We take a little walk through hot topics like club-hopping before getting into the heart of what it means to captain teams at a mega-club like David Lloyd. Can you bring the small club feels to big club environments? We find out more.  Gemma shares her vision for getting young players through those tricky late teen...

Send us Fan Mail Tom and Dave man up in this episode and get stuck into seven divisions of Winter Men's Doubles Tennis, the fastest-growing tennis format in the county. One in five fixtures have been played already, so we have a sense for how things are going. But not everyone will have the stamina to hold onto top spots until the end of the season.  Do Absolute Men have the coolest team name...

Send us Fan Mail We took a few weeks off to get the summer done once and for all, and spiff up the website.  Check out the new inforgraphics on THPod. UK! It's just the start of how we think about visualising tennis data in ever more compelling ways. And please send us your feedback, it helps make the content better and all your ideas have been excellent so far.  Meanwhile... we take a run th...

Send us Fan Mail September 22 is the final day of summer, according to the astronomical calendar and, indeed, the Apsley fixture list! Dave reckons Tom has had a Brat Summer without realising it, but Tom won't be drawn into that one. Very wise. We talk about who had Apsley seasons to remember, and what going up to the Premier would mean for giant-killing Twyford A and the players there.  Ther...

Send us Fan Mail Champions are being crowned in the County Cups and in everyone's favourite club competition, the Apsley League. We look at who the big winners are as the summer leagues start to wind down.  Meanwhile Tom and I rolled up for separate clubs (awkward?) at the Winter League Meeting in Southampton and had very different experiences. As the veteran of the two, Dave shares what YOU...

Send us Fan Mail The County Cup burst into life over the last Bank Holiday weekend, and some players have gone deep in the competition just when their clubs might need them for the end-game in Apsley.  What will the players choose... cup glory or take one for the team? We know what Tom would do! We take a little look at who the favourites are for this coming weekend's County finals at Winches...

Send us Fan Mail This week we look forward to a weekend with five fixtures, but one of them is already done -- sending us into a bit of a statistical melt down in the forward look.  Dave is wondering if it's time to start a Senior team, bit will it be chill or a date with a future of fiery fixtures? Also... can we get those midweek fixtures in? We learn more about the Senior Doubles tennis to...

Send us Fan Mail Another week of Hampshire tennis is in the books, and divisional leaders up and down the Apsley League are peering nervously into the depths to see what could be coming for them. Thornden dish out a merciless win in the Premier to move up the table, while South Hants A are quietly circling the top three in Division Two with intent after another statement win. We look back at a ful...

Send us Fan Mail This week we welcome Edwin Lau, who recently landed in Hampshire after a glittering career in Berkshire tennis. We talk county comparables, whether or not there's anything quite like Apsley across the border, and what the future may hold for one of the young guns in the county game.  Is it harder to get a driving license or a level three coaching badge? Who's the model t...

Send us Fan Mail With Hampshire's favourite inter-club event heating up AND now going weekly in its schedule, we drop you a quick update on how last weekend went, what it meant for the tables, and who's next on deck over the August 3-4 weekend.

Send us Fan Mail One of us makes it back from the beach just in time to release this edition ahead of July 27's Apsley matches. Not that we need to see any more action, because Tom has built a crystal ball that tells us all how the divisions will end anyways! Deep stats ahead! Meanwhile it's Dave's turn to research a Hampshire tennis event, and we dig into Hampshire & Isle of Wi...

Send us Fan Mail Tom's started his own National League team, which prompts the question... what's this National League, then? And how did Tom get into it?  Hold on tight as Tom explains how the upper reaches of club tennis work in the UK, and how Hampshire's clubs are faring up there.  Back on terra firma, the heat is on for the Apsley League's Premier Division as Thornden and...