March 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to this months eZine

March 2014

It’s a busy season for Tennis and in this month’s edition, we congratulate our very worthy Fed Cup team for promotion to Group II, in early February… we look forward to an exciting build up to Davis Cup where we take on the Egyptian Davis Cup Team in April, more welcome discounted insurance from our sponsor AIG to the tennis community, and the Irish tennis seniors rev up a gear on their road to raising funds for the Grand Slam Dream.  Also don’t miss your opportunity to Volunteer at the upcoming Davis Cup!!

DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS

Ireland will take on Egypt in the upcoming Davis Cup by BNP Paribas at home in Castleknock LTC on April 4-6^th 2014 in the Euro/Africa Group 2 tie.

This is a much anticipated tie given the last time these teams met was in 2012 on foreign clay in Forty+ degrees. James McGee was the hero then taking the deciding match in five sets.

Clearly, this is a very important tie for the team and Egypt is expected to field a stronger team on this occasion. Their number one player, Mohamed Safwat, ranked close to 200 in singles  and their number two player, Karim Hossam, now ranked inside 350 are both likely to make the trip to Ireland.

With the Irish players also climbing up the rankings in the last 12 months this makes for a great weekend of competitive Davis Cup tennis.

We hope to see as many of you there as possible. Your support will help make this a true Davis Cup experience. Get your tickets here https://www.tennisireland.ie/davis_cup     

Save on insurance

Tennis Ireland members can avail of our highly competitive insurance products e.g. car insurance premiums starting from as low as €248*.

To get a quote today, please go to www.aigdirect.ie/tennis  or alternatively call our Tennis Ireland team on 1890 27 27 27 and say you are a Tennis Ireland member to avail of your discount!  Alternatively email directcarinsurance.ie@aig.com  and a member of our team will contact you.

*For Example – *€248 is a premium for comprehensive cover for a 45 year old person whose occupation is an accountant and has a 6 year no claims bonus, cover is for the insured and spouse, driving a 2007 registered or 7 year old vehicle, petrol 1.4 litre with a value of €6,000 living in the Dublin 6W area and for social domestic and pleasure use.  Price correct Jan 14

Fed Cup by BNP Paribas

Promotion of the Irish Fed Cup Team

The BNP Paribas Irish Fed Cup team have promoted to Group II of the Fed Cup after they defeated Greece 2-1 in the promotional play off of  Europe/Africa Zone Group III competition which took place at the Tere Tennis Centre  in Tallinn, Estonia in early February.

In the first singles match, Jane Fennelly was defeated by Valentini Grammatikopolou 62 60 whilst in the second singles rubber, putting the two highest ranked players against each other, Irish No. 1 Amy Bowtell defeated Maria Sakkari (WR 541) in three sets 46 63 62.

In the deciding doubles match, Amy Bowtell and Rachel Dillon had a straight sets win over Grammatikopoulou/Sakkari  64 63.

The last time Ireland played in Group II was in 2008 when the current Captain Yvonne Doyle was a member of the team.

Amy is the Irish number 1 female tennis player and competed with the Irish Fed Cup team during their successful promotion to Group 2 in early February this year.  She has joined the crowd funding platform on Pledgesports in a bid to raise funding  for her Grand Slam Dream.  You can check out Amy’s profile on Pledgesports  here:

https://www.pledgesports.org/projects/grand-slam-dream/