The Wallenberg Trophy - 2025 Making Wallenberg Great Again (MWGA) This year Great Britain hosted the Wallenberg Trophy. A super-fun format with teams of 4-7 players from the ICs of Great Britain, Sweden, Germany and France playing age group singles and mixed doubles. M45, M55, L35, L45. St Georges Hill was the venue, and what a venue, coupling tradition with the contemporary in every sense from the cuisine, the excellent staff and facilities made available to the international visitors. This year the match manager extended the format to make the event both more challenging and hence rewarding by playing 3 full days of tennis, with each team facing each other in a round robin format. Each match consisted of 4 singles (M45, M55, L35, L45) and 2 mixed doubles (M55/L45, M45/L35) rubbers, each with a championship tie break 3rd set if required. Any matches resulting in 3-3 at the end of the day would be decided by a ‘free for all’ championship tie break. With only 1 point up for grabs from each match, the potential for high drama tie break shootouts took the atmosphere to a daily fever pitch. The international teams were not taking this competition lightly, each fielding players with excellent current and previous world seniors rankings and a smorgasbord of quality ex professionals. Day 1 -Practice Crucial to doing well was arriving early for the practice day. The ‘all weather’ artificial clay courts required for the event would prove unusual for the international visitors, and familiarity counts for a lot. It turns out they proved unusual for the GB team as well, a home advantage only if you’d done a ski season in your early twenties. Introductions, welcome drink and dinner in the evening, set the scene for a great 3 days of competition. Menu: Corn fed chicken supreme, wild mushroom, leek and Stilton sauce, celeriac and potato mash and Cavolo Nero , with salted caramel cheesecake for dessert Day 2 – Match day 1 summary The home side came out all guns blazing with Katie O’brien and Eilidh Smith channelling Katie Boulter and Harriet Dart to win comfortably versus the French ladies. Meanwhile Craig Edmonson crept over the line in a championship tie break after a sterling come back in the second set by Nicolas Fourcade, but Pieter Van Houten (despite Pieter’s Dutch nationality he is a full member of the IC of GB) didn’t quite get going in his match v Phillipe Joliot, a regular winner of the French Nationals in his age group. Sweden looked very fresh against Germany who arrived late the previous evening and didn’t get a chance to practice. Great Britain v France 5-1 Sweden v Germany 4-2 Menu: Slow-cooked beef cheek with a braised button onion and Guinness jus, rosemary and thyme roasted potatoes and purple sprouting broccoli, with lemon meringue tartlet with raspberry coulis for dessert. Day 3- Match day 2 The scouts had been out on the previous day, checking the legitimacy of world rankings and aligning them with current form. On das papier, Germany looked very strong, not much to choose between Great Britain and Sweden with France the potential ‘chevaux sombres’. Pieter Van Houten was no match for Andreas Lindgren, current World Individual Championships doubles finalist, on this surface. He’d clearly been practicing footwork and movement drills on the Swedish fjords with Bjorn Borg and made Pieter feel as though he was playing in clogs.Pieter Van Houten was no match for Andreas Lindgren, current World Individual Championships doubles finalist, on this surface. He’d clearly been practicing footwork and movement drills on the Swedish fjords with Bjorn Borg and made Pieter feel as though he was playing in clogs. Charles Durham followed playing Peter Reijer. Both proponents of moving and sliding on artificial clay until 4-4 in the first set Charles Durham, whilst sliding into a backhand, caught an edge, gouging sand into his right knee, exposing numerous capilliaries to the autumn breeze. In the true spirit of the IC, Peter made sure he’d secured the winning volley before enquiring whether an ambulance was required. The groundsman was nowhere to be found to prevent 2 more falls before the Brit went down 6-4 6-4. Meanwhile Katie drew on her professional experience to win v Nadja Miro in a thrilling championship tie break 3rd set and Kerry Quirk won comfortably v Maria Lofqvist. At 2-2 in rubbers, the mixed doubles were going to be crucial. Pieter and Katie played great tennis to go one set up against the younger pair of Swedes, faltering in the second and not quite clinching the championship tie break. Meanwhile Charles and Kerry applied themselves well to the other Swedish pair and so at 3-3 in rubbers, a deciding championship tie break ‘free for all’ would determine the match winners. Charles and Katie took the opportunity to go 4-0 down before rallying to 6-5 but ultimately falling short due to great coordinated doubles play by the Swedish pair. The one that got away for the British team. Meanwhile, Lauren and Matthias, in the younger German category struggled to take a comprehensive hold over the French over 45’s. Chantal Grimal and Nicholas Fourcade put up sterling fights but ultimately the younger German team took the wins. Sabine Gerke won v Betty Michel and Phillipe Joliot beat Stefan Hecknams making it 3-1 to Germany prior to the doubles. Germany ultimately winning 4-2 Great Britain v Sweden 3-4 (match tie break decider) France v Germany 2-4 Menu: Smoked salmon and trout cannelloni with salt baked beetroot and sauce Gribiche *****Baked Cod supreme with a Parmesan and herb crust, cheddar mashed potatoes, baby leeks and a Wholegrain mustard, chive vermouth velouté followed by Tarte aux framboises with dark chocolate shavings, and vanilla sauce anglaise for dessert. Unfortunately the German team, only recently appointed, did not have the opportunity to acquire the Wallenberg trophy and transport it to the UK prior to the event. Stefan, as captain, was very apologetic but that didn’t prevent some significant teasing from the other teams. Some very appreciative speeches and gifts were exchanged in the evening and after only 2 days, connections and friendships formed. Prior to the final day of matches, any one of three teams could still win the trophy. Only France were unable to take the overall victory, but could they stave off Sweden for Great Britain or Germany to win... Day 4- Match day 3 The weather had been kind to us since Thursday, with sparkles of sunshine and low winds making for some great tennis. However, Sunday brought with it some inclement rain and some slightly surprising results. A shorter format was played with each match starting at 2-2 in each set to cater for the rain and slightly delayed start. This left no room for figuring out one’s opponent as players had to be quick out of the blocks. Katie Obrien found herself in another 10 point tie breaker in her singles versus Lauren Wagenaar of Germany, currently ranked no 3 in Masters tennis o30 category. Lauren took the victory this time having grown comfortable with the surface over the preceding 3 days. A reintroduced Eilidh Smith took to the rainy court versus Sabine Gerke who retired with a hip injury through fear of doing further damage. Disappointing, as this was expected to be a thrilling ‘battle of the lefties’ match. Meanwhile Adam Boucher put up a sterling performance versus a very strong Matthias Hahn to lose 6-3, 6-4 and Charles managed a 6-4 6-4 victory over Stefan the German captain, as well as managing to avoid falling over or trips to the hospital. This left the tie at 2-2 prior to the mixed doubles. Meanwhile 2 of the French 4 managed wins versus the Swedish team, also leaving this match teetering at 2-2. So, Sweden, Germany or Great Britain could all still win the event.The rain persevered but so did we, with the match manager deciding to curtail the event to one final mixed doubles rubber to decide each poised match, any pairings of age groups allowed. Volunteers were required to play in the increasingly robust rain to decide the trophy. The British pair Adam Boucher and Eilidh Smith would take on Lauren Wagemaar and Mathias Hahn whilst the young Swedish pairing of Nadja Miro and Andreas Lindgren would take on Germany’s Nicholas Fourcade and Chantal Grimal.The final rubbers of the weekend went Germany and Sweden’s way! To cries from the match manager of ‘Wie komme ich am besten zum krankenhaus bitte!’ Great Britain v Germany 2-3 (reduced rubbers due to rain) Sweden v France 3-2 (reduced rubbers due to rain) Overall champions of the Wallenberg Trophy were Sweden, to a chorus of ‘’The winner Takes it All’’. Presented by Peter Harding, overall Captain of the IC of Great Britain. Congratulations and thoroughly deserved, albeit down to the wire. Particular thanks go to Nicola Henesy who volunteered to be match court coordinator over the 3 days. Duties included; court allocation, tabling of scores, facilitating catering numbers, and her speciality of socialising with all of the players. She did a fantastic job in all. 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