Kestc

The KES Tennis Championship, often abbreviated to KTC, or the Petitjean Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a hand tennis tournament held at King Edward VI Grammar School, Stratford-upon-Avon.

History

Origins

The then KES Cloak Room Hand Tennis Championships were founded on October 7 2009 at King Edward Sixth Grammar School, Stratford-upon-Avon, by hand tennis enthusiast Will Winthrop along with class-mate and normal tennis enthusiast, Dom Linton. It was on this day when the rules of the game were drawn up, and also the inaugural tournament began. A standard tennis scoring system is applied to the game, but macthes vary in length of games and sets.

KTC01

The first ever KES Tennis Championship event was won by co-founder William Winthrop, who defeated fellow co-founder Dom Linton in a pulsating five set thriller in the final. There were many shifts of momentum during the match, not least when a bet was placed on the outcome of the match midway through the 2nd set, but the strong serve of Winthrop in the final set saw him to his first title, despite passing up two championship points and going break point down when serving for the title. Winthrop held on for a 4-6 7-6 6-3 3-6 6-3 win.

Semifinals		Final

	Dom Linton

	BYE TO FINAL
		Dom Linton	6	6	3	6	3

		Will Winthrop	4	7	6	3	6
Will Winthrop

BYE TO FINAL

KTC02

The following tournament saw a repeat of the previous one in terms of its finalists. However, on this occasion Dom Linton was able to overcome Winthrop in four sets. The standard of serving was very high in the encounter with the first 32 games all going with service. The first set tiebreak was a record breaking 42 points, with Linton winning 22-20. A significant moment in this match was the second set tiebreak in which Winthrop held a 5-1 lead, only for Linton to turn it around to 6-5 as he took the breaker 8-6 to take a two sets to love lead. Winthrop did take the third set, but eventually was to fall to a 7-6 7-6 4-6 7-5 loss to Linton.

Semifinals		Final

	Dom Linton

	BYE TO FINAL
		Dom Linton	7	7	4	7

		Will Winthrop	6	6	6	5
Will Winthrop

BYE TO FINAL

KTC03

The tournament was officially declared as an illegal activity on October 13 by the school headmaster. Despite this, play has continued when the two landowners are confirmed to be elsewhere. However, final number three started, and sensationally once again the first 32 games went with serve, and after Winthrop scored the first break, he led 7-6 6-7 6-4. The fourth set also went to a tiebreak, and Winthrop had already blown a match point when a point of much controversy occurred. With the score at 8-8 in the tiebreak, a Winthrop serve appeared to be met with a return of serve winner from Linton to give him set point. However, a couple of seconds later Winthrop, realising the predicament, decided to sensationally contest the fact the ball was in. After no agreement could be reached the game was seemingly abandoned.

As no agreement could be reached, the game seemed dead. This was until the match was agreed to be restarted. KTC03 was contested once again between Linton and Winthrop and serve was more dominant than ever. The score read 6-4 6-7 7-6 3-6 5-5 when a shoddy service game from Winthrop gave Linton a gift of a break of serve. He duly served out for a 7-5 win in the fifth.

Semifinals		Final

	Dom Linton

	BYE TO FINAL
		Dom Linton	6	6	7	3	7

		Will Winthrop	4	7	6	6	5
Will Winthrop

BYE TO FINAL

KTC04

After a failed attempt to increase the entry list for the tournamnet, a fourth KTC event was started back in the original cloak room area. This time the competitors are playing strictly only afternoons to avoid the landowner issue. Adjustments were also made to the legality of serves to attempt to address the issue of how dominant service games were becoming. A very tightly contested opening two sets saw two time champion Linton take a fortunate two sets to love lead, 6-4 7-5. However, KTC04 was to deliver the greatest comeback in the history of the tour as an inspired Winthrop took two sets in just over a single period of school, dropping just four games. The final set was played after an Easter break for the players and Winthrop scored the crucial hold at 4-3 to leave Linton serving to stay in the match, which he failed to do. This gave Winthrop the title with a scoreline of 4-6 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-3

Semifinals		Final

	Dom Linton

	BYE TO FINAL
		Dom Linton	6	6	2	2	3

		Will Winthrop	4	5	6	6	6
Will Winthrop

BYE TO FINAL

KTC05, The Grand Slam and Demise

With KTC generating mainstream publicity across the globe, there were rumours that tournament organizers would look to expand the entry list of 2 atheltes. However, these pressures were resisted and KTC05 began in its previous format, with Linton and Winthrop reaching another final. Critics agree that this contest was 'pretty shit', the scoreline read 7-6 6-7 7-6 6-7 59-59 when, under the pressures of frustrated spectators, a tiebreak was agreed to played. Linton took the tiebreak 7-5, with matchpoint coming off of a mis-hit lob. However, this was to be erased from the record books after both players agreed it 'wasn't proper hand tennis'

There were attempts to launch a 20 man (despite the number 20 not fitting any kind of tournament bracket) KTC event, nicknamed 'The Grand Slam.' Group stages were completed but the tournament was sabotaged by a semi-finalst going on holiday to Brazil on the eve of his match. The easter holiday period then hit the Tour and not another point was played thereafter.

Stats

Past Finals

No.	Champion	Runner-up	Score	Date
KTC04	Will Winthrop	Dom Linton	4-6 5-7 6-2 6-2 6-3	1st March - 20th April 2010
KTC03	Dom Linton	Will Winthrop	6-4 6-7 7-6 3-6 7-5	9th October - 3rd December 2009
KTC02	Dom Linton	Will Winthrop	7-6 7-6 4-6 7-5	8th - 9th October 2009
KTC01	Will Winthrop	Dom Linton	4-6 7-6 6-3 3-6 6-3	7th - 8th October 2009

Player Statistics

Stat	Dom Linton	Will Winthrop
Matches Won	2	2
Sets Won	10	9
Games Won	93	102
Tiebreaks Won	3	2

Problems

Throughout the history of the KES Cloak Room Hand Tennis Championships, the player at the lookout end has had to keep a watch for the area landowner who does not agree with the existence of the KES Tennis Championship deeming the location a 'non-recreational area'. The KES Tennis Championships main show court possesses the problem of a drinks machine at the toilets end. It has been known for the machine to leak, causing a hazardous playing area. However, the toilets end tends to be preferred as there is no wall on the right hand side giving more of a free swing for right handers. Furthermore, holes and grooves on the courts surface have been known to lead to an uneven bounce which can often determine the victor of many points. As the tournament has developed, matches are dependant on players having free periods at the same time, something which is problematic in scheduling.

As both competition and practice moved to the Common Room, problems have came from sunlight getting in players eyes at one end of the court. Also, one half of the court is larger than the other. Despite everybody knowing this, nothing is done about it. Another flaw in the location is the fact that many students try to cross from one side of the common room to the other, and need to cross the court to do so. In addition to this, many students at the school aren't happy that the playing court takes up nearly all of the common room. On a playing level, there is a lot of debate over the legality of serves. In trying to keep close to tennis rules, serves that seem unreasonably deep to the receiver can be called as out by the receiver. Naturally, much controversy ensues. Another serving issue is that of the Will Winthrop serve, in which he looks to jam the ball under a chair out wide. While it meets the laws of serve, some believe it to be a little unsporting.

Linton vs Winthrop Rivalry

Much has been made of the rivalry between co-founders Will Winthrop and Dom Linton. Although it is largely a storied rivalry, spectators have compared the partnership to that of co-owners of Liverpool, George Gillett and Tom Hicks. In the fall-out from the inaugural tournament, Linton accused Winthrop of being unsportsmanlike, and "not humble enough to be a true champion". In this first final, Winthrop also incurred a number of point violations by kicking the ball towards Linton in an angry fashion, and continual gloating after key points. Throughout time, Linton was continued to question the sportsmanship of his rival. He was quoted as to saying "I can't play for the lines as it were, as if there is the slightest doubt to the outcome of a point regarding the ball being in or not, it always goes to Winthrop, without a shadow of a doubt".

On October 7 2009, in the tournaments inaugural final, two spectators decided to make a bet on the winner of the match. At this time, Dom Linton held a 6-4 3-0 lead over opponent William Winthrop and was looking on course for victory. However, after this bet was placed the tables were to turn, and Linton would surrender his lead and ultimately the match to the tournaments first ever winner, Will Winthrop. To this day, speculation remains over the sudden change in the two players and also if there was any scandalous behaviour involved in terms of the match being thrown.

On October 8 2009, Will Winthrop faced set point in the first set of the KTC02 final. The point was played to a conclusion which seemingly gave the set to opponent Dom Linton, only for Winthrop to call of a distraction during the point, this being the figure of the Cloak Room landowner. This has been referred to in the media as "Cloakgate". After discussion, Winthrop eventually conceded the set in a match he went on to lose. Whilst Winthrop continues to make a big deal out of it, Linton wants to forget it, declaring that "Justice was finally reached for once, and besides, the so-called distraction was only picked up upon after the point had finished".

The most iconic moment within the rivalry occurred on October 16 2009, when in the 4th set tiebreak of the KTC03 final, with the score at 8-8, a Winthrop serve has dispatched down the line by Linton to move onto 9-8 and the chance to serve out the 4th set at set point. But Winthrop heightened his bad-loser reputation by contesting the point, suggesting that it was actually out. An astonished Linton came close to retiring at that moment, he was said to be "shocked, angered and most of all, disappointed in my opponent". As an agreement couldn't be reached, time expired and KTC03 was left unconcluded in controversial circumstances.

Despite contesting numerous tournament finals against one another, Winthrop and Linton remained good freinds off court. They practice together as part of their intensive training programmes, and have played exhibition doubles matches together.