IC of France 25th-26th May 2019 Match Report GB WIN 12 - 8 Team – Mark Beim, Oscar Podlewski, Chris Hearn, Rupert North, James Turner, Mike Appleton, Henk Nijeboer, Clare Wood, Teresa Catlin We returned to the prestigious Racing Club where we played the match on grass courts in an amazing setting. We had a full two days of excellent tennis played in a fun IC spirit. Our GB players delivered on the low bouncing grass courts with extreme skill - even a few showers didn't put them off. The weekend was finished off with some excellent doubles play. Captain Mark Beim wishes to credit goes to all his players who were ''a pleasure to be with. Thank you for playing''. On Saturday evening there was a lovely dinner with excellent speeches from Clare Wood our IC Captain, who gave a personal and moving account of her fathers help in the Resistance. There were also entertaining speeches from Mark Beim, Thierry Pham and the IC Presidents of Uruguay and Argentina as well. At the closing presentation we also heard from 'the Rookies' of the team, Rupert North and Oscar Podlewski which were highly amusing. The weekend finished with an amazing day at Roland Garros where the teams had the privilege of seeing Nadal and Djokovic up close behind the court only 10 feet away! Thanks goes to our French friends once again who looked after us very well. We look forward to welcoming them back to our October fixture at Queens Club. Results: Matches were best of 3 short sets played with a tiebreak at 4 all. Saturday, May 25, 2019 French names first WS50 Sybille Niox Chateau Vs Teresa Catlin 1-4 3-5 MS55 Ollivier Lemal Vs Rupert North 2-4 3-5 MS75 Bernard Detroye Vs Henk Nijeboer 2-4 2-4 MS45 Laurent Schram Vs Chris Hearn 4-1 4-1 MS Open Axel Damiens Vs Oscar Podlewski 1-4 4-1 MS40 Christophe Damiens Vs David Collins 1-4 2-4 MS50 Jean Leclercq Vs James Turner 4-1 1-4 5-4 MS55 Philippe Pinet Vs Chris Hearn 4-5 3-5 MS60 Francis Boyer Vs Mike Appleton 2-4 2-4 MD60 Ghaleb-Lemal Vs North-Hearn 2-4 3-5 Day 1: France 2 GB 8 Sunday, May 26, 2019 MD50 Bonicelli-Schram Vs Catlin-Hearn 1-4 1-4 MS55 Jean Leclercq David Collins 2-4 0-4 MS55 Jean-Michel Hardouin Vs Rupert North 4-1 1-4 2-4 MS60 Luc Ghaleb Vs Mike Appleton 5-4 4-2 MS50 Laurent Schram Vs James Turner 4-2 4-2 MS55 Jérôme Vanier Chris Hearn 5-3 4-2 MS70 Pierre-Hervé Gautier Vs Henk Nijeboer 4-0 4-1 MD60 Renoult-Renoult Vs Appleton-Nijeboer 3-5 4-0 5-4 MD50 Boyer-Vanier Appleton-Turner 3-5 4-2 4-5 Day 2: France 5 GB 4 Final Score: France 7 GB 12