The 2019 British Open Seniors Indoor Championships took place at the Tipton Sports Academy in the West Midlands from 18-27 January.
The entry level at entry/withdrawal deadline was similar to last year, with 433 entries in 2019 compared with 423 in 2018, which is the maximum we can accommodate within the schedule and court capacity. As such, we kept to published draw sizes and were unable to accept any late entries. Although we had limited the number of matches to 42 per day, we still had a couple of late finishes, which necessitated Centre staff staying onsite much later than their 10pm finish.
A total of 21 singles and 15 doubles events were completed over the course of the tournament, with some finals played earlier in the week.
Although all winners are not listed individually below, details of winners and runners-up in all age group events are available in the Roll of Honour.
Highlights
Paul French won the Men's 60 Singles title for an astonishing 5th year in a row, completing a feat that very few players have managed since the Championships began. He also teamed up with Jeremy Trafford to win the Men's 60 Doubles title for a third time, having also appeared in the doubles final in each of the past 5 years.
Henk Nijeboer retained his Men's 75 Singles title for the fourth year in a row, but Pauline Fisher was unable to retain the Women's 65 Singles title for the third year, as Shirley Freeman became Champion. However, Pauline and Shirley Fox retained their Women's 65 Doubles title for the third year in a row, defeating Lilian Geey and Susan Winters in the final.
Anthony Perkins, runner-up in the Men's 35 Singles in 2018, was able to go one step further, defeating Tim Webster to take the title in a high quality final. He once again teamed up with Thomas Wride to retain their Men's 35 Doubles title.
Another player 'doing the double' and new to Seniors events was Sarah Wright, who won the Women's 35 Singles title, defeating Debbie-Louise Hale and then teamed up with Maia Dunn to defeat Jane Bingham & Debbie-Louise Hale to win the Women's 35 Doubles.
Jeff Hunter won the Men's 45 Singles title for the 4th time in 5 years, defeating the 2018 Champion, Seb Jackson, in the final. There were also new Champions in the Men's 45 Doubles event, which was won by Paul Salter & Danny Ward.
2018 Men's 50 Singles Champion, Linden Hardisty, again reached the final but was defeated by Pieter Van Houten in a close three setter on finals day.
Teresa Catlin moved in to the Women's 50 age group this year, having won the Women's 45 Singles event in 2018. She continued her winning ways, by 'doing the double' and winning the Singles without dropping a game and teaming up with Anne Meredith to take the Doubles title.
Alistair Alexander won the Men's 55 Singles title he had previously won in 2017, defeating Andrew Hutchinson in the final and these two players had previously faced each other in the Men's 55 Doubles Final. Alistair was able to complete the double with his partner Mike Harpin, who retained their 2018 title with a win over Hutchinson and Andrew Sharp in the final.
Rosemary Dennis and Sue Webb won the Women's 55 Doubles title, having previously won the event when it was last played in 2017. They had also won the Women's 50 Doubles title in 2018, so have now won a Doubles title at this event for the past 3 years.
Sue Bartlett also did the Double, defending her Women's 60 Singles and Doubles titles, albeit with a new partner. Sue and Anne Clark faced Patricia Peal (who won this event with Sue in 2018) and Patricia Wire in the final.
Jasper Cooper extended his birthday celebrations of earlier in the week, by retaining the Men's 65 Singles title, defeating past winner Niall Sweeney in the final.
Marjory Love was also successful in winning both the Singles and Doubles events in her Women's 70's age group, partnering Christine Windmill in the Doubles and beating Christine Lockhart and June Peck in the final.
Ellie Krocke beat Frances Maclennan in a close three set Women's 75 Singles Final, after Frances Maclennan had teamed up with Jenny Waggott the previous day to defeat Ellie and her partner Jackie Boothman in the 75 Doubles final.
In the Men's 85 Doubles event, Michael Cottee and Peter Ellison defeated defending Champions, Tom Baron and Gordon Oates to take the title. Peter was prevented from completing the double, as he was beaten in the 85 Singles final by Leonard Phillips.
As previously mentioned, a number of Singles and Doubles finals were scheduled and played throughout the week - however, Seniors Tennis GB Chairman Keith Bland, was kept busy with presenting duties for finals played on Sunday 20 January and again on Sunday 27 January with 13 finals scheduled for finals day.
Photos of the presentations for each event are available on the Seniors Tennis GB Facebook page and full results are available on our Seniors' Competitions page.