For the second year running Geelong Lawn Tennis Club members have been part of a Geelong team that have won the prestigious Hopman Cup. On the weekend the Victorian Regional Squash Teams Championship’s were held at Gladstone Park squash centre where three major title’s were up for grabs. Geelong contested two of these, the Hopman Cup and the Royal Trophy. The Hopman cup is so named after the same Harry Hopman of tennis fame. Like current tennis stars Federer,Nadal and Murray he was also champion squash player and a perpetual trophy was created in his honour and is contested by all the Victorian regional centres annually. The coveted trophy has ended up in Geelong again for the 14th time in 20 years.
It was secured by a mixed team of 3 ladies 3 men and two juniors with Corey Robertson getting his name on the trophy for the 10th time in 20 years and Dylan Rae and Sandra Creek for the first. Run over the weekend the eligible teams from Bendigo ,La Trobe Valley, Goulbourn Valley ,Mornington and Geelong displayed the highest degree of athleticism and fitness demanded by this sport now recognised as the most aerobic in the world. Similar to last year it was the ladies that paved the way for the victory with Mary Sceney(ex number 10 in the world) and Maree(no mercy) Alfredson winning all their matches in straight games ably supported by Sandra Creek and Jenny Clark who secured 2 more between them. A nail biting finish to Clarks second match saw her go down by the narrowest of margins in the 5th 9-10 but epitomized the fighting spirit and determination of the team as she fought extreme fatigue for the last game. So too Josh Mac Millan(junior boy) battling a dose of flu and sleeping in between matches managed to win three out of his four and Belle Reid achieving the best result for a Junior girl in 10 years. The men got off to a slow start with Michael Walker(2/3) going down in a close encounter and Ruari Regan losing to La Trobe’s Brad Soutar 0/3, but both redeemed themselves in the afternoon session with 3/0 victories. Corey Robertson had a close encounter winning 3/2 in his first but easing through his second. Sunday’s games got off to a slow start on the men’s team with Dylan Rae and Byron Shaw losing both their matches but once again the ladies came to the rescue aided by the juniors and David Tink winning both of his in his swansong appearance in the competition. Geelong finally triumphed in the final match coming out clear winners by 2 matches over their nearest rivals La Trobe.
