Kingston enjoyed a winning start to the tennis season, despite only having three of the six floodlights fully working at their home ground of Tolworth Court.
A win in their first fixture of the season on the 8th of October against Roehampton university kicked off Kingston’s season with a deserved 5-2 win but the biggest issue was off the court.
Tennis players have been complaining that the floodlights have been broken for two seasons. Committee member and player Luke Dreyer told The River: “It’s far from ideal and something we’ve been battling with since last season.”
The team has had repeatedly sent requests to the University to fix the floodlights, but they’ve gone unanswered. Without any plans to fix the lights, the tennis team have been left in the dark on the court and off it.
As well as general frustration, it also raises questions regarding health and safety. One Kingston tennis player has already suffered an injury, after they ran into a wooden barrier when their vision was obscured without working floodlights
“There hasn’t been any correspondence from the university, it also makes practice less than ideal as every time we’ve been practising it’s been at night,” Dreyer added.
In brighter news, Kingston’s tennis team is the biggest it has been for years, with 12 male team members and nine female team members giving cause for great optimism.
The club was close to folding last year, with Dreyer having to take presidency of the club to stop it going void. This would have meant Kingston wouldn’t have had the chance to compete in the British University and Colleges Sport Leagues (BUCS) or even host social sessions.
“The interest in tennis seems to be really solid right now, we have the level now to have an amazing season and test our metal,” Dreyer said.
That interest was evident with over 60 people turning up to the taster session at the start of the academic year. This was despite the tennis team had been double booked with netball practise, resulting in the first taster having to be rescheduled under an hour before starting.
Despite this, it did not deter the students who turned up in great numbers, with the Committee putting on a two-hour long session catering to all levels and generating a competitive yet informative atmosphere.
Dreyer stated: “Conrad [the President] and Zeb [Vice] did a really good job organising the events, trials and sessions, coming from last year where it was looking bad, we’ve done a full 180.”
Reflecting on what the club means to everyone involved, Dreyer said: “The club is dear to all of our hearts, and we’re all really excited to see where everything goes now.”
