Cardiff Metropolitan University has won the National Premier League doubles tennis title for a record-equalling third successive year.
The four-man team secured the title at the national finals in Leeds, featuring the top 16 teams, qualifying from different regions throughout the UK.
The star-studded Cardiff Met team included Jonny Marray, who won the Wimbledon doubles title in 2012, and Marcus Willis, who went on a famous run at Wimbledon in the singles event last year.
The team was completed by Welsh ex-professionals Chris Lewis and Craig Evans. Lewis captains the team and is the head performance coach at Cardiff Met, while Evans is the head coach of Virgin Active Glamorgan near Swansea.
Facing the famous Queen’s Club (which hosts one of the pre-Wimbledon grass court events) in the final, both the Cardiff Met pairs won one out of their two matches to leave the score tied at 2-2, sending the match to a shoot-out with one player from each pair combining to play a first-to-ten-points ‘match tie-break’.
Team captain Chris Lewis paired up with Wimbledon champ Jonny Marray to win the shoot-out 10-4 and retain the trophy.
“This is a fantastic achievement for Chris and his team,” said Peter Drew, chief executive of Tennis Wales. “The NPL is a very high level of competition, and to bring the title to Wales for a third year in a row is quite remarkable.”
Full story at WeltchMedia.com
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