It’s here, it’s upon us, the UK Racketlon 2024 season is about to begin! In our first dedicated tournament preview of the year we take a look at the Garden City Open 2024, taking place this coming Sunday (25th February) at Letchworth Sports and Tennis Club.
Letchworth is always a popular venue due to its accessible location, and combined with the anticipation of a season opening tournament, this resulted in the men’s draw filling up within just over an hour of entry opening!
The Men’s A draw is looking strong, with number one seed and racketlon legend Dan Busby looking to retain his title, facing up against James Langworthy in the opening round. Number two seed Ross Wilson will take on dangerous newcomer Jonny Ritter in an intriguing opening encounter. New UK Racketlon Chairman Johnny Bispham faces a tough first test against the skilled Alex “ADN” Du Noyer and last year’s runner-up Jack Bishop starts his campaign against Cambridge student Anant Gupta. Anant is strong across the first three sports so it will be fascinating to see if Jack can endure the early pressure and let his tennis do the talking in the latter stages.
In the women’s draw, UK number one Matilda Parslow will be hoping to go one better than last year – where an epic final with Sophie Sawyer saw her edged out by a single point! Can she bring home the title this time with racketlon stalwart Diane Baker and rising star Holly Ranson standing in her way?
Next up we have the Men’s +40s – a category that didn’t feature in last year’s event. The round robin draw features some of the most experienced racketlon players in the country, with UK number seven Mark Steeden the favourite to take the title. Mark’s first round opponent is the towering Simon Lau, whilst the other opening match, between Keith Lesser and Ed Westmacott, looks set to be a close encounter. Keith and Ed sit next to one another in the UK rankings, at sixteen and seventeen respectively. Keith will look to build a lead in the first two sports before being hunted down by Ed’s strong squash and tennis game.
The Men’s B features a vastly different draw to last year, where table tennis ace Rob Rhodes is the only returning player. James Trueman will be looking to upgrade his title from last year, where he won the Men’s C in comfortable fashion. However, number one seeded Henry Jones will be the man to beat. Young prodigy Chase Burgess is seeded two and will face badminton powerhouse Jack Taylor in the first round.
Men’s C is headed up by number one seed and table tennis specialist Leigh Ware, however his biggest threats may come in the form of three rapidly improving youngsters Daniel Austin, Raif Fontanelli and Thomas Agombar.
Finally, we have the Men’s D category, in which all-rounder Lawrence Foster tops the billing as number one seed. Men’s D is however, notoriously hard to predict, with many first-timers proving to be talented racket-sports players. First-timer Andy Muir is a powerful county badminton player and one to watch. Chris Bickley (if my research is correct) is an experienced squash and tennis player and will be looking to upset number two seed and Letchworth local Chris Gibby in the first round.
Live results will be posted on Tournament Software so you can follow along at home, and keep your eyes peeled for the tournament review to come in the following week.
Happy Racketloning!