Final faithful to proud tradition

On Tennis: Midweek and sandwiched between the County Dublin Championships last week in Carrickmines and the Davis Cup this weekend in Fitzwilliam, there is, for anyone who wants it, good tennis in Dublin, writes Johnny Watterson

On Saturday as Stephen Nugent and Colin O'Brien fought out the men's final over three sets during which the match swung back and forth before the lefty O'Brien won it on a tie-break, the recurring thought was 'why were there not more people here watching what was a testy and compelling final?'.

At one point late in the third set during a fit of anger, O'Brien bounced his racquet off the ground so hard that it ended up on the adjacent court, where Yvonne Doyle was busily adding another Carrickmines title to her long list. Querulous probably describes the look of the two women as the 2004 champion sheepishly went to fetch his equipment; there were pitiful howls from both Nugent and O'Brien over line calls and their own errors or awkward bounces on the grass; the umpire was regularly berated; the ball girls and ball boys were glowered at for moving and the crowd was right on the court enjoying every twist and turn.

That it was entertainment in perfect weather should have come as no surprise as Carrickmines, still one of the most picturesque clubs around despite the demolition of the old pavilion some years ago, has a distinguished history of offering good value.

The County Dublin Championships were first played in Lucan back in 1886 before they moved to Lansdowne and in 1892 the men's singles title was won by the righteous-sounding, Joshua Pim, who also won the Wimbledon title in 1893 and 1894, beating Wilfred Baddeley in successive years. Baddeley had beaten Pim in the previous two Wimbledon finals, perhaps the old amateur sense of fairness coming into play. Two apiece seemed right.

Pim later served on the Carrickmines club committee with Willoughby Hamilton, who had the distinction of beating William Renshaw 6-8, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the 1890 Wimbledon final. Although the 2006 ATP men's guide to tennis lists the 1890 winner as William Hamilton, the Carrickmines souvenir programme refers twice to him as Willoughby. Renshaw, however, won six Wimbledon titles in succession, a mark that no one since has equalled.

This was obviously the golden age of Irish tennis as Pim's friend and doubles partner, FO Stoker, won the County Dublin singles championship of 1894 after the pair had won the Wimbledon doubles title the year before, having already won there for the first time in 1890. Stoker was a relative of Bram Stoker, the creator of Dracula.

In 1921-23 American Liz Ryan won three titles at Carrickmines and in 1921 almost added a Wimbledon crown, making the final but losing out to the legendary French player Suzanne Lenglen. Ryan had the misfortune to lose again in the 1930 Wimbledon final, again to one of the legends of tennis, Helen Wills Moody.

That was also the era of Vera McWeeney, who won Carrickmines in 1937 and the programme kindly points out that she was to become "the popular Irish Times tennis columnist for many years." In 1963 Geraldine Houlihan (Barniville) earned the first of her nine Carrickmines titles before retiring from tennis in 1977, but not without the scalp of the last British Wimbledon champion, Virginia Wade. Barniville dominated the game in Ireland. She was also a top class squash player too, and won 71 caps for Ireland.

Others have come and gone. Matt Doyle won it in 1986, while Siobhán Nicholson, who works in Wimbledon each year with IBM, triumphed in 1985.

Since then all of the names that have popped up on Davis and Federation Cup teams have appeared in the Carrickmines honours list including the defeated Nugent, his brother Michael and cousin, Karen, as well as current Davis Cup captain, Owen Casey.

While O'Brien and Nugent may not quite have the rich and historical backgrounds of some of those who played on the historic grass courts, the two players can at least claim to have served up a fittingly competitive match.

IRELAND'S 3-2 DEFEAT by Finland in their last Davis Cup match means that a win this weekend against Slovenia in Fitzwilliam is crucial if their place in the European-African Zone Group Two is to be maintained. While Peter Clarke is unavailable due to injury, this Irish team is vastly more experienced than the one selected last time.

There are three changes with former Berkley University student, Conor Niland, (ranked 434) coming in with Stephen Nugent (ranked 1432). Nugent is back playing tennis after a break of over two years. James Cluskey (ranked 1537) is also included with Kevin Sorensen (ranked 858). Sorensen is the only player in the side who played against Finland.

Non-playing captain Owen Casey's ambition from the start was to survive this group and, Clarke aside, he probably has the strongest side available. Play starts on Friday.