The President’s Cup is a single day tournament where every contestant plays 4 matches over 4 hours. It’s a test of endurance where even if you lose you end up playing someone else who lost at the same point as you. So every player ends up playing a final for the “direction” that their results take them. Only the organiser (Romanshu) truly understands this. Everyone else just goes to the court they are told to.

I had the pleasure of walking around the courts and watching people squirm as I pointed a camera at them during their matches. The number of double faults rose exponentially as everyone tried to look good for the camera. The truth, though, is that for most of us the attractiveness of our technique is much the same as how good we actually look in our birthday suit.

Here are some “interesting” action shots from the day, and by “interesting” I don’t necessarily mean good (division 2 outshone div 1 in this metric).

The Ponds Tennis Club celebrated its 10th year anniversary at its annual general meeting tonight. Back in 2014 Indraj (Sunny) Sinha got together with some mates to play some social tennis and through word of mouth the club has grown from there. Today we are 100 members strong and are constrained by getting access to enough courts for our members to fill.

During the afternoon the club hosted its members at Swing City golf driving range at Bella Vista where we got to see everyone's golfing technique! A lot of fun was had with various distance and accuracy games in each bay.

At the AGM in the evening we celebrated our first members to reach 10 years active membership within the club. Quite an achievement, and oh, how the club has grown in this time.

Our 10 year members are:
Indraj (Sunny), Amar, Som, Yogananda (not pictured), Anshuk, Ameet, Niranjan, Craig, Pujit (not pictured), Nikhil (not pictured). Congratulations gentlemen!

The Ponds Tennis Club held the inaugural President's Cup in August 2023. This was a single day tournament where each competitor played a fixed number of singles games, with a win or loss determining the "direction" their draw progressed. That way each competitor plays a final for their "direction".

While the tournament was in full swing on Sunday I was able to walk around each game and get some action shots. I wanted to try to get at least 1 good technique shot of everyone, but it quickly became apparent that I would instead get a large sequence of double faults everywhere I pointed the lens. What I ended up with can best be described as The Good, The Bad and The Downright Funny. As someone whose serving technique is accurately modelled by the club’s logo (go look it up) and has been painfully photographically documented over the years (thank you Nikhil), I am well credentialled to adjudicate the grand displays of technical mediocrity on show.

I have tried to show at least 1 photo of everyone, and I apologise if I missed anyone. I have no action shots of Ankit, but that’s probably because I turned up about half an hour after it started and he had won by then already. Camera appreciation on the courts also ranged along a scale from Japneet (“You’re putting me off!”) to Avi (“look at me, look at me, did you get that one?”).

The Ponds Tennis Club held our annual end of year awards night last night to celebrate all the tournament winners and the contributions of various people within the club throughout the year. Due to the growing size of the club we had to hire a larger venue this year and all told we had approximately 100 adults and children in attendance.

This year the club invited Elton Stoney, tennis manager of Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope, and his family as special guests and to help present the tournament prizes. Elton and Blacktown Leisure Centre Stanhope have been instrumental in supporting the club and allowing it to flourish so more people can enjoy playing tennis.

Special recognition awards were given to:
• Anshuk, Prasoon, Amar and Harry for organising the doubles tournament back in May.
• Romanshu, Sambhav and Ankit for organizing the just completed singles tournament.
• Swami and Maninder for their volunteering efforts in umpiring the doubles and singles tournaments respectively.
• Manoj received the good sportsman award for being a good team player, always positive, respectful and fair.
• Mithu received the club spirit award for exemplifying cultural spirit of the club in everything he does.
• Sandeep received the debutant award for recognising how well he has slotted into the club and a great attitude he has brought in while being a new member.
• Romanshu (team lead) received the Hercules award for carrying so much load and responsibility yet exercising it with great integrity and poise. His contributions to the club have been immense this year.
• Mini (partner of Sunny) and Chandana (partner of Nikhil) were given Behind The Scene awards to recognise their background contributions and support of the club in various different but critical ways.

We also recognised our club sponsors for this year whose funding have enabled us to get kitted out in our own custom shirts – North Square Kellyville, Esteem and SRK Real Estate. Also Avisun Finance stepped in to award a best dressed gift to the two best females in the room.

Then it was time for the tournament awards, presented by special guest Elton, tennis manager of Blacktown Leisure Centre, Stanhope:

• Doubles Consolation Runners-up: Sambhav and Pujit
• Doubles Consolation Winners: Ritesh and Sumit
• Doubles Main Runners-up: Craig and Romanshu
• Doubles Main Winners: Siva and Krishna
• Singles Division 2 Runner-up: Krishna (yes, again)
• Singles Division 2 Winner: Avi
• Singles Division 1 Runner-up: Monte
• Singles Division 1 Winner: Ankit

And just when club President, Sunny, thought it was all over the rest of the leads surprised him and Mini with a thank you gift for all the tireless work that they both put in behind the scenes and the leadership and vision that has allowed The Ponds Tennis Club to grow from 4 to 65 in just a few years.

A fantastic night was had by all, with good food and great company. It truly lived up to the club spirit of “What brings us together is tennis, but what keeps us together is our friendship”.

The annual singles tournament kicked off early this year as the tournament organising committee trialed a few changes in the tournament format. Firstly, players were split into two separate divisions based on their playing ability rather than having first round losers going into a consolation round. Secondly, all players would be required to play a number of seeding games against other players in their division to establish a seeding priority. Due to there being 16 players in each division a couple of months was allocated to everyone to try to get through as many of these games as they could in their own time.

With the seeding complete, the tournament kicked off in early November with two rounds of round robin games within each player’s group of four. The top two went through to the quarter finals whereas the losers got to quickly lament lost opportunities. With the increased size of the club and its playing ability these round robin games were very closely fought and this led to some surprising results: In division 1 past singles runner-up Josh lost out on the back of equipment failure and having to use a borrowed racquet; Siva (past singles champion) failed to progress with a very tough draw and a lack of consistent playing of late; Monte (last year’s semi-finalist) just snuck into the last quarter final spot in his last round-robin game.

From the quarter finals on it was knockout time. Best of 3 sets and winner progresses through. This is where rankings in the round robin became very important as they decided who played who. In div 1, Anshuk was dealt a tough draw facing hot favourite Ankit, and 35 minutes and 2 sets later he was sipping down the cold ones and contemplating next years event.

The semi finalists were as follows:

Division 1 – Ankit vs Anchit, Craig (last year’s champion) vs Monte.
Division 2 – Japneet vs Krishna, Avi vs Nagesh.

Long timer’s Avi dealt with Nagesh (6-2 6-2) to stamp his authority in division 2 while newcomer Japneet took Krishna to 3 sets before Krishna got the better of him 4-6 6-3 4-6.

In division 1, Ankit overcame a nervous Anchit (6-0 6-2) to book his place in the final whereas Craig and Monte decided to slug it out across 3 sets for 4 hours over 3 days before Monte prevailed and got retribution for losing to Craig in the semifinal last year 6-7 (6-8) 6-4 6-3.

The division 2 final had the talkative Avi matched up against the quiet guy Krishna, but Avi simply had more attacking shots that forced errors on Krishna’s behalf and Avi won the division 2 final in straight sets 6-2 6-2.

It was always going to be a monumental tough ask of any player to take on someone with the skill and experience of Ankit, but Monte had won the right to do so in this year’s division 1 final. Ankit showed his class by running Monte around all parts of the court, but Monte did well to simply hang in there and keep returning the onslaught. In the end it wasn’t enough though and Ankit emerged the victor 6-2 6-2.

Special thanks to Romanshu, Ankit and Sambhav for their efforts in organising the tournament and corralling all the players. And also thanks to our sponsors who have helped us fund club shirts for all members – North Kellyville Dental, Esteem and SRK Real Estate.

The Ponds Tennis Club recently concluded its popular annual doubles tournament for 2018. More than half of the membership turned out to participate in this competitively social event and it was great to see the strength of the club on show as we filled all 16 courts at Stanhope for the preliminary group stage.

Participants were divided into two groups, roughly based on ability and teams were selected by drawing chits from each group, thus ensuring a more balanced and fun pairing. Even though the drawing of chits was videoed, questions were raised as to how the tournament committee managed to all score themselves good partners, and what exactly did Josh do to end up with Sunny as his doubles partner for the second year running? The rumour mill was in full swing.

Each team was also asked to come up with a team name because there was a distinct lack of confusion in the plans issued by the tournament committee. A variety of creative names then followed suit including “SERVIVORS”, “COMPLETELY DEUCELESS”, “SMILING SMASHERS” and many more.

32 players then descended upon the Stanhope courts for the initial round robin group stage. Each game counted as a point and teams played cutthroat tennis to secure as many points as possible to qualify for the knockout finals. The leaderboard was vigourously studied at the end of this first round to see who needed to be knee-capped in the dimly-lit car park afterwards.

A week later and we had a second round robin stage where it was clear that many teams had done their homework and strategised well on how to nullify their opposition when not in the dimly-lit car park. The result of this was the top 2 teams from each group went through to the quarter finals, the 3rd placed teams went into the consolation finals and the 4th placed teams shared the ignominy of being bundled out early and collecting the TFC awards.

The knockout stages soon followed and despite careful planning, the fine prize cows that were the tournament committee doubles teams soon found themselves bundled out by a lack of foresight that saw two Gods paired together (Siva and Krishna - “THE WRECKERS”) and two leads together (Romanshu and Craig - “DEUCEBAGS”). In the process the “TERMINETTERS” were terminetted, the “AK47s” were out gunned, “BLACK & WHITE” came out purple and red, “PONDY PACERS” ran out of puff, “A’VENGERS” decided to save it for next year and “ACE HOLES” were just that.

So the final came down to Siva/Krisna (“THE WRECKERS”) vs Romanshu/Craig (“DEUCEBAGS”), with each team boasting a past PTC singles champion in their midst. The first set was a tight, see-sawing affair as Siva/Krishna took an early break before Romanshu/Craig fought back later in the set and levelled it up. Finally the first set went 7-5 to Siva/Krishna. There must have been something dodgy in the water because the second set saw Romanshu/Craig dominate Siva/Krishna on the scoreline and comfortably took the set 4-6 to set up a tie-breaking third set. With time against us and the threat of having the lights turned off mid-game, both teams pushed on and decided to play short deuces to help get through the games. Unfortunately the Deucebags decided this wasn’t necessary and gifted The Wreckers too many easy points for it to get to deuce. Siva/Krishna took control of the momentum and quickly finished off the set 6-0 to take the win and be crowned Ponds Tennis Clubs Doubles Champions for 2018!

The players and audience then proceeded to cheer on the consolation final that was still being fought out on the second centre court (see next news item) before everyone retired to the Ettamogah pub for drinks and food to celebrate another amazing tournament.

Big thanks to the doubles tournament committee of Anshuk, Prasoon and Harry for organising such a fun event, as well as all the other people who pitched in their help. Look out for the singles tournament later in the year!

The Ponds Tennis Club's 2018 consolation final was fiercely fought as expected. Sambhav & Pujit had their nose in front most of the match. However, cool calm and composed Ritesh & Sumit came out on top. Ritesh & Sumit showed great coordination with Ritesh firmly at the baseline and Sumit playing with soft hands at the net - a great strategy.

Sambhav & Pujit played great with some power baseline hitting. Both teams served great with possibly 1 or 2 double faults only, expected from a final. Sambhav & Pujit powered ahead with a lead of 5-3 in the first, before Ritesh got some terrific winners off his forehand - Ritesh & Sumit clawed back into the game with 6-6. Ritesh & Sumit swept the tie break 7-3 winning first set.

Sambhav & Pujit were tighter in the second with some strategy working in their favour and winning it 6-4. In the middle of the 2 set there was a massive rally between the teams, which went on for few mins, after which the umpire forgot the score. There were a few controversial line calls by the umpire during the game, but ensured both teams had their share of it.

With 30 mins remaining on the clock for the last set it was decided to have game point on first deuce of a game (short deuce), with the receiver choosing to receive either forehand or backhand side. Almost all games in the final set went into deuce and to the crucial game point. Toward the end of third set we had an audience join in after watching the main final and cheering for both teams. Ritesh & Sumit prevailed winners, winning the third and final set 6-4. Both teams played great and kudos to both for a great show.

The final Score was 7-6(7-3), 4-6, 6-4 to Ritesh and Sumit over Sambhav and Pujit.

The Ponds Tennis Club held its 2018 AGM and it was very pleasing to see such a large turnout of approximately 40 members from the club. Being a volunteer-run, not-for-profit club, this is the prime opportunity for members to hear about how the club is going, how it is being run and where it is being led.

It was great to catch up with everyone off the court and to enjoy amazing catered food. As is always the case, the party carried on late into the night.

The Ponds Tennis Club has proudly concluded it’s 4th annual singles tennis tournament, and this year it was even bigger and better than ever. 32 members signed up for the tournament and for the first two rounds The Ponds Tennis Club was occupying all 16 tennis courts available at Blacktown Leisure Centre, Stanhope. A great sight to behold!

The tournament featured players of all abilities, yet gave them all hope to do well with its dual playoff structure. Players who lost in the first round immediately went into a consolation draw to play off against each other, which guaranteed all players a minimum of 2 rounds to stake their claim.

After the first two rounds, players were ranked on a points system with points allocated for the number of games won and points deducted for the number of games lost over the previous rounds. This then determined the match-ups for the quarter finals, semi finals and final of both the main round and consolation round draw.

The main round quarter finals featured some particularly tough match ups, with Siva (2015 winner) defeating Anshuk (2016 runner up) and Harry defeating Josh (2015 runner up) in a gruelling 3 setter. In the consolation draw quarter finals, Sambaran came from a set down to defeat Balaji.

The semi finals featured players whose skills levels were so even that it was too close to call. In the main round Harry and Siva battled it out over 3 sets and almost ran into the centre’s closing time before Harry got a break deep in the 3rd set and took it 8-6 to book his place in the final. Meanwhile Craig and Monte slugged it out over two sets with Craig taking the first set 6-4, then Monte racing out to a 0-3 lead in the second before being reeled back in to send the set to a tie breaker. Up 1-6 and with 5 set points for him, Monte was unable to convert and eventually succumbed the set and the match 6-4, 7-6 (9-7).

In one of the consolation semi-finals Maninder faced Manoj. These two have always had neck and neck battles, but this time it was Maninder who held his nerve and upset Manoj to win through to the consolation final. On the next court was Pujit and Sambaran, where Pujit survived 15 Sambaran aces to set up a consolation final against Maninder.

All finalists had some very sore legs to overcome before match time. Both the main round and consolation round finals featured very long rallies as all players didn’t want to give an inch to their opposition. In the consolation final, Maninder took the first set 6-3 before turning the screws on Pujit and racing away with his maiden consolation win 6-3, 6-0.

The main draw final between Craig and Harry was a game of cat and mouse. Craig keeping the ball firmly on Harry’s backhand, and Harry countering by running Craig to all corners of the court. Each player trying to play to their strengths - Harry with his court coverage and opposition wear down, and Craig with his shot consistency. Harry broke Craig’s serve in the first game but Craig hit back and was able to take a tight first set 6-4. The second set featured many long rallies and in fact the first game of the second set took 8 minutes to complete! Both players were beginning to tire but trying not to show it. From 2-2 in the second set Craig got the break and forged ahead to 5-2 but just couldn’t seem to close out the match. Harry fought off 8 championship points and came within a whisker of levelling the set at 5-5 when Craig finally prevailed and took the championship 6-4, 6-4.

We would hearby like to thank all players for their sportsmanship and for making this tournament the marquee event that it is. An extra special thanks to the tournament sub-committee (Anshuk, Monte & Romanshu) for such a well-organised event, as well as Romanshu, Sunny and Avi for their help in umpiring the semifinals and finals.

The Ponds Tennis Club’s annual doubles tournament wrapped up today with the final being closely fought out between Amit (Mr Performance-Enhancing Headband) & Manoj (Big Bird) vs Udit (The Ball Machine) & Sambhav (Top Gun). The doubles tournament is always a very social competition as top ranked players are partnered with lower ranked players to ensure an even field. As such, picking the doubles winner is never an easy task.

A total of 12 teams took part in the event and after being split into two groups of 6, each doubles pair played 6 games against each of the other doubles pairs in their group. Each pair gained one point per game won and at the end of the round robin the top two teams from each group square off in the semi-finals.

The variety of shots and techniques on offer throughout this process was as pleasant as fingernails down a blackboard. But that didn’t stop everyone having a lot of fun.

In the first semi final, Amit (Headbands) & Manoj (Big Bird) defeated the highly backed Prasoon (Net Ninja) & Nikhil (The SuperCoach), while in the second semi final Udit (The Ball Machine) & Sambhav (Top Gun) outgunned the power couple Josh (I Eat Technique For Breakfast) and Sunny (The Man With No Backhand).

So with both the second ranked teams from each group making it through to the final game, it was a really even match up. Amit (Headbands) and Manoj (Big Bird) took the first set in a tie break 7-6 and eventually got the break late in the second set to take the set 6-4 and with it the glory of being crowned The Ponds Tennis Club Doubles Champions for 2017!

The conclusion of the tournament was celebrated later that day in a local park with drinks and finger food with friends and families.

A big thank you to Romanshu and Nikhil for organising such a great event!

An article about The Ponds Tennis Club was published in The Rouse Hill Times today. Courtesy: Rouse Hill times (21 December 2016 edition)

Ponds Tennis Club members celebrated the 2016 singles tournament winners and runner-ups with a family social night at The Australian Brewery in Rouse Hill. It was great fun to catch up with everyone with plenty of banter and laughs. The official tournament trophies were presented to the deserved winners and runner-ups of both the main draw and the second-chance draw.

Many thanks to the tournament committee for organising a great event.

The 3rd annual Ponds Tennis Club Singles Tournament has now concluded and after a gruelling elimination draw, the final was played out between Nikhil and Anshuk. Nikhil eventually came out the winner 6-4 6-4, to add his second singles championship trophy to his pool room in addition to the trophy for the inaugural singles tournament.

The tournament also featured a second-chance play-off for those players who lost their opening round. The final of this second-chance play-off featured Som playing the master of the swing server, Avi. Som came away with the win, 6-4 6-4, after trailing in the second set 1-3.