Finals Day of the 2024 Collaroy Club Championships was (finally) held on Saturday December 14. The originally scheduled date, a week earlier, was completely washed out, forcing the re-schedule.
Unfortunately, a few of our finalists were unavailable on the new date, so there are still two Finals to be played – the Open Ladies and Open Mixed Doubles. We’re hoping to include these as part of our AO Grand Slam celebration on Saturday 25th January (to be confirmed).
The good news is that all other Finals have now been completed. Here’s a summary of results…
Sky reigns!
While rain fell from the sky to wash out our first-planned Finals Day, the following Saturday dawned fine and clear and it was our gun junior Sky who reigned supreme over her opposition. In an incredible tournament for the teenager, Sky made it through to three Finals… and so far has a 2 from 2 perfect record!
First up, she completed a ‘take no prisoners’ victory in the Junior Girls Singles Final, comfortably defeating young Gaby C. who, while putting in a brave effort, was no match on the day for her 2 years older opponent. There’s little doubt that, with another year under her belt, Gaby will present stiffer opposition.
Later in the day, Sky played the Open Ladies Singles Final against a formidable opponent in Kim D. Again, the teenager was dominant in a straight sets 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Congratulations to Sky - the youngest Collaroy Open Ladies Singles Champion in many years! And she still has another Final to play, when she partners fellow junior Maia in the Open Ladies Doubles against Eri and Lauren! (That’ll be one worth watching!) The other delayed Final will see young Maia and Harrison take on siblings Kelly and Michael in what should be another thriller.
In other Junior results, Nick L. won a hard-fought victory over Jesse S. (6-3, 7-5) to take out the Junior Boys Singles, while Marley F and Harrison won the Gender-Neutral Doubles event, beating Charlie R and Jesse S. Harrison had a good day, also winning the Open Men’s Singles Plate event in a must-watch Final against Geoff A. The older player gave it everything, but in the end, having taken care of some promising juniors in earlier matches, Geoff was overwhelmed by a combination of youthful exuberance and power hitting.
Teenager Harrison takes out the Men's Plate event, beating Geoff in the Final
‘New-ish’ member Fiona K won the Ladies Plate event, defeating Sasha B in the Final, while in an excellent Men’s Masters Final, another member enjoying a breakout tournament, the affable Damian G. triumphed over long-time club stalwart, Martin F. This was a great contest with the final result 6-3, 6-4 to Damo. Fresh from this victory, Damian backed up to partner Stuart S. in the Open Men’s Doubles Final against ‘that Pommy pair’ – Chris E. and Tom S. This time Damo didn’t get the chocolates as the ‘English gentlemen’ triumphed 6-1, 6-3, celebrating their win by drinking beer from their trophies at the presentation! (Better than a ‘shoey’ I guess.).
Left to right: Damo with his trophy, Damo and Martin, Stuart and Damo with Tom & Chris
And now it came down to the big one… the match that everyone was anticipating – a replay of the 2023 Men’s Open Singles Final between reigning Champion, Chris G. and a resurgent Michal K. Formerly ranked ITF No. 3 in the world in the Over 55 category, Chris was unable to play many tournaments throughout 2024. Conversely, Michal had been busy on the circuit and had risen to an ITF world ranking of 32 in the 50+ category. This, combined with form throughout the tournament had many predicting a close match.
But there’s something about defending his Club Singles title that lights a fire in the belly of Mr Gillis. The first few games were really close, but Chris then started to wear down his rival with a strategy that was simply relentless. His stunning sliced backhand, perfect placement and superb touch game proved too much for the gutsy, perennial contender and eventually saw Chris win a 4th consecutive Collaroy Men’s Singles Championship in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Congratulations (again) Chris.
At the conclusion of matches, a large group of members (those who’d come to watch the Finals as well as players) gathered to share some Christmas cheer and congratulate winners at the presentation of trophies. Special presentations were made to our oldest and youngest Club Champs. competitors – Konrad (82) and Maia (12) respectively – and to good sport and fun competitor, Anita.
Konrad, Maia and Anita receive their special awards
A big Christmas raffle saw members win sponsored prizes from caps and other merch., to chocolates (thanks Kenny) to United Cup tickets donated by Tennis NSW. All in all, it was a fitting end to another great year at our Club.
2025 will get off to a great start with our first Grand Slam event of the year – this one celebrating the AO, to be held on Saturday January 25. Then we look forward to a huge Open Day on March 22nd as Collaroy participates in the inaugural, national Pride in Sport Festival. More news coming soon.
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