Two of
Bucks leading senior players, Sue Bartlett and Chris Hearn, were at the forefront as teams from Great Britain achieved some excellent results in the recent ITF World Team Championships which were held in Florida. Both Bucks players are seasoned senior competitors who have represented GB teams for a number of years and have won a number of national titles, both at singles and doubles.
The competition catered for teams of four with age ranges from O50 to O85. Teams are initially arranged in groups which play off in a Round Robin format which then leads into further play-offs as the final order is determined, and GB fielded a full complement of teams. Each event is named in honour of a famous player.
For the first time ever two Bucks players captained teams as Sue and Chris led the O60 sides. Both teams emerged as winners of their preliminary groups but in very different fashion. The men did not lose a rubber in winning their three matches, but the ladies suffered a narrow defeat to Spain in their first match and only a nail-biting win over the Netherlands in their final match saw them squeeze through on percentage of games won.
This success put the women in the top four play-offs where they first faced eventual champions Germany who beat them 2-1. The Brits then took the Bronze medal in an exciting final match against Australia winning by 7-6 in the final set of the deciding doubles. Sue was unbeaten in all five doubles matches. Fourteen nations competed in this event, the Alice Marble Cup.
For the men there was a 1st to 7th play-off and a win over Germany followed by a loss to Spain took GB into a 3rd/4th play-off against France which they lost by 2-0. Twenty-one nations played in the Von Cramm Cup.