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The Hampshire & IOW County Championships get started on Sunday, August 23rd and they’ll be running all week. Dave and Tom call their favourites for Mens, Ladies, and the doubles events that are going on. 

Most categories are wide open. Will we see some batons being passed, or will some of the current big names keep their prime spots? 

Elsewhere, Paul Scullard puts Hampshire’s singles league players on the naughty step, and we support his message to the players. And that includes both Tom and Dave, who are among the players who are yet to get off the mark seven weeks into the summer. Hey… Spain, Wales, stuff… you know…. 

Well, the league has had enough! We reflect on our crimes against tennis, and think of ways singles could generate more momentum in what is already a pretty good event. 

And there are 14 Apsley fixtures this weekend including a few very exciting ones. As I write the show notes here on Saturday, I already know of at least one upset in the higher divisions. Speaking of batons being passed. 

But we recorded this on Friday, when all the matchers were still to be played, so no spoilers here. 

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Born in Bracknell, raised in Basingstoke, trained in Totton… Esther Adeshina eventually left Hampshire for the University of Tennessee and, a couple of years ago, joined the pro circuit. 

Unlike so many local juniors, Esther made the jump and pushed up the world rankings. In June she started to attract national attention with a big win at the Wimbledon qualifiers. 

Esther joins us to talk about managing life as a pro, staying away from injury, mental health and more. 

This one’s a must listen, especially if you dream of being a pro one day, or indeed, if you ever did. 

Check out Esther on Instagram here:  

https://www.instagram.com/esther.adeshina?igsh=OGRlY3B3bnc2OXVk

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Mind games are part of the core test that tennis offers, whatever level you’re playing at. Bluff, counter-bluff, these are table stakes. But what about the Cheeky Changeover, the Hooker and the Revenge Caller? 

Do you ever do the Slow Roll or the Switch-Up? If you listen to this podcast, you’ve definitely been Al Pacino’d and dealt a Michael Chang or two, whether you know it or not. 

This week we’re joined by Sam Tapsell, founder and host of the Absolute Football Podcast. He's also a father of two little ones and a top 10 player from Division Two in the Apsley League. Where does he find the time?. 

Who better than a tennis/football crossover to help us examine the Dark Arts of tennis. In this show we compare our top five mind games, including the acceptable stuff with a little bit of Beast Mode thrown in for when things start to get off the rails. 

There are also 14 Apsley fixtures to look back on from August 1-2, and eight more to come this weekend, as long as the Amber Heat Health Alert ends at 10am on Saturday like it’s supposed to. 

Meanwhile all hell breaks loose with the government’s new emergency alerts on our phones. Who’s setting off fireworks while we’re all sitting on a giant island full of dry grass? Sheesh.

The barbecuing I get... don't they do that in Manchester too?

Check out Sam Tapsell’s Absolute Football Podcast on YouTube at @absolutefootballpodcast

You can find Sam himself on Instagram at @samabsolutefbl

Michael Chang talking about his underarm serve against Ivan Lendl at the French Open: https://youtu.be/u0NkCiZsAJ4?is=Hgy0zm9PyiDzNvMz.  (to think all these kids think it was invented by Kyrgios!)

The conversation about Cam Norrie on The Tennis Podcast taken from “Does Sinner’s injury open US Open door?” Published on August 10, 2026.

Thornden’s coverage of the solar eclipse from their tennis courts is worth a watch: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db9CitoN6um/?igsh=bDYwbGhwbmk3dDc0

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We take a break from all the league action to check in with Freddie Bott, young entrepreneur and founder of Preserva, makers of re-pressurizing tubes for tennis and padel balls. 

Have you noticed a proliferation of these devices on courts near you? Balls certainly aren’t getting any cheaper in what is already quite an expensive sport to play. Plus, it’s pretty wasteful to move through balls too quickly. But are these balls really any good? 

We put these questions and more to Freddie, who joins from Crondall, northeast Hampshire. 

Find out more about Preserva here: https://www.preserva.co.uk

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It’s a seminal weekend ahead for Portsmouth & District summer tennis, and the top tables could be more or less settled across the Mixed, Mens and Ladies doubles leagues by Monday morning. Robin Ellison joins us this week to take a look at the fixtures that will play a big role in deciding things in east Hampshire. 

Meanwhile on the west side of the county, Riverside A claimed top spot in the Apsley league last weekend as Thornden sat things out. This weekend Riverside take a break while Thornden are back in action. Can Lee on Solent stop Thornden from reclaiming pole position? Their Premier Division survival could depend on it.

Rob Ernsberger's Twyford B team make the road trip to Riverside to meet their B team. Both teams have perfect records and the pennant is on the line. Who will win? Hard to say, but it's our first five chilli match of the summer. 

Meanwhile Dave discusses grumpy coaches in Spain, Robin has been to Wickham Festival, Milton on Sea host a Grade Four tournament and Colden Common Tennis Club turns ten years old. 

Find out more about the Milford Open: https://competitions.lta.org.uk/tournament/F7702E51-C6F6-4894-8553-80569225607A

Songs used in this weeks show: 

Opening “Classical Gas [Mason Williams]” performed by Tommy Emmanuel

Accompanying Mark Jackson's sting is “Deep River Blues” performed by Tommy Emmanuel with Jason Ispell

Find out more about Tommy Emmanuel here: https://tommyemmanuel.com and on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL-0gAth4u6Wp-9_98XU3nA

Send us your thoughts for (or about!) the show:

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Things are heating up around Hampshire’s leagues, and this week we take a closer look at some of the biggest battles in the Apsley League. 

Riverside have the chance to get back to top spot in the Premier Division after doing the hard work against Bassett last weekend. This time out they face newly promoted Kingsgate A - will they spoil their party?

Stanmore C play back-to-back fixtures this weekend in a bid to clear their backlog. Will the end the weekend bottom of Division Two, or surge up the division? All to play for there.

Meanwhile we check in with Mat Johnstone, who is climbing the world rankings in Para Standing Tennis, but he still sees a lot he’d like to do better as he pursues new heights. 

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Lots of news from around the shire this week - sign ups have started for the County Champs (coming your way in the last week of August), preparations have begun for the Winter League, and Hampshire have dominated their groups in County Week. 

Speaking of that last headline, Mats Colling from Thornden joins the show to talk about his participation in this prestigious event, what the Hampshire players do all week while on the road for the event, and how Buckinghamshire moved quickly to bring in reinforcements after a tough start in the box. 

We round out our coverage of how the National League closed the summer with a run though the third tier of National League - the three divisions of Hampshire & IOW National teams. Want does Tom want? Consolidation. When does he want it? Now. Will anyone ever respond to his emails? Let’s hope so…

Finally, the Apsley is back up and running at full steam this weekend, with 14 fixtures planned. Let’s go!

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The Apsley League gets back up and running this weekend, and we have the man who is single-handedly getting the ball rolling again on the show this week. Luckily he made it back from Croatia, which was a close call.

Before all that though we have news from the National League and the National Regional League, where the action is done for this summer and the results are in. Winchester have taken top spots again at the highest levels of club tennis in the country, but there is good news as well for Warsash, Thornden and Riverside, as their elite players brought home some very positive results. 

Speaking of which, Riverside and Thornden picked up some very odd looking wins against Warsash to deny their women’s team an historic win in the National Regional South West East league, if anyone can explain how Warsash lost those fixtures we’d really like to know - drop us a voicemail or an email? 

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTube using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast, including Robin’s explanation for how scoring works in Portsmouth’s leagues. 

Send us your thoughts for (or about!) the show:

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Sound the disappointment klaxon, all 12 Apsley league fixtures were binned off again this week as Rule 6ii was invoked again by the league. We’re not even half way through the season, and already there are 32 fixtures to reschedule and hotter weeks ahead. 

With the league making it clear that there will be no opportunity to revise the rule, get ready for more disappointments to come. 

Robin takes us through how Portsmouth has been handling the heat alerts. Seems to us that this is probably one area where Southampton can learn from Portsmouth. 

At least we had the Wimbledon this week - Robin saw Sinner, Dave saw Bahrami and Rusedski, which probably says a lot about their differing tennis priorities! And perhaps their luck in the ballot. 

This week we look more closely at Portsmouth & District’s Mens Summer Doubles leagues, where Court X continue to build on their excellent winter, Warsash are pushing for silverware and it turns out Rowlands Castle are the Colden Common of the east.

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTube using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast, including Robin’s explanation for how scoring works in Portsmouth’s leagues. 

Send us your thoughts for (or about!) the show:

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The Apsley League administrators called in their new rule on super heat for the first time on June 27th, leaving plenty of tennis players fuming as 18 fixtures were cancelled. Hundreds of players up and down the county were left adrift. 

The weather on the day wasn’t even that bad, so we ask… do the rules need an emergency change? We make the case for and against change, and then we ask Geoff Prince what he thinks. 

It turns out both Tom and Dave have been messaging the league admin for answers. While we feel a bit bad about that, we suspect their inboxes were pretty busy anyways, at least based on what we’ve been hearing from other clubs. 

Elsewhere, the Spring Season is done in the singles groups in Hampshire, well done to Stanmore players for winning three of them. We reckon at least one player has gone too far with bantz in the singles WhatsApp chat though. 

The ladies doubles leagues are hotting up - with bog matches this weekend looking likely to prove decisive for Divisions 3A, 3B and 4. Division One might go all the way though, and bring a repeat of the winter drama between Thornden and Winchester. Will Magda still be here at the end of August? Thornden hope so!

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTure using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast, including Robin’s explanation for how scoring works in Portsmouth’s leagues. 

Send us your thoughts for (or about!) the show:

[email protected]

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Facebook: The Tennis Hampshire Podcast