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It’s a full weekend ahead for clubs in the Southampton LTA’s Apsley League, with 15 fixtures across all four divisions.

Robin Ellison and Dave Ernsberger explore the top four fixtures from either side of the Solent this weekend. It’s Winchester’s Super Day, including a visit to Dave’s Twyford, can they keep up their blistering form? And a rare David Lloyd Apsley derby is in store, as West End host Southampton. Will up and coming Captain Aaron Williams resist the temptation to bring a ringer?

Over in Portsmouth, Avenue will be home to a lot of the top action this weekend, and we discuss club policies on spectators coming by to watch some of these great matches.

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.

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Milford Tennis made a big splash at the 2026 Hampshire & Isle of Wight tennis awards, leading us to wonder if they are on the ride in Hampshire. Better known for playing in the East Dorset leagues, can we encourage one of Hampshire’s finest clubs to give our own leagues a proper go? A hat trick of awards, their own seniors tourney and plum position in the New Forest makes us think so.

Having said that, Tom is still sore about some of their National League stuff… so maybe it’s better to leave well enough alone.

The HIOW Singles Groups wind up this round on June 27th. Have you played? Dave is done. Tom has yet to get started. Neither of your podcast hosts have any wins yet. So… let’s move on.

In the Apsley, 16 fixtures have given a real shape to the divisions. Thornden slapped down Warsash in the end, while ruthless Riverside are now up and running. The toughest contests were in Division Four, however, where two 150+ game fixtures were played out in the baking heat of May 30.

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.

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Summer has only just started but one of the biggest showdowns hits in the Apsley League’s Premier Division, as Warsash head to Thornden to find out if THIS is the year that they take back the biggest prize in county inter-club tennis.

Robin Ellison has reinvented himself since our Solent Cup episodes, and returns to the show as a tent pole of the podcast's growing coverage. Portsmouth & District has also been busily reinventing itself for the summer - with at least one new club, a number of new teams, and redistricted divisions, especially in the mixed doubles leagues - Portsmouth’s closest format to the Southampton LTA’s Apsley League.

We debate the merits of committee discretion about where to put new teams - Portsmouth has avoided a Group of Death scenario this summer, but does that bring any costs for the clubs that get passed over when teams are placed above them?

Robin shares his predictions for who will win each of the four mixed divisions. We look forward to checking back in on those with Robin as the summer progresses.

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:

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Only five weeks into the season, a summer-defining moment has arrived for two teams in the Apsley League’s Group of Death.

Newbies Wellow B take on surprise package David Lloyd West End B, and this fixture gets the questions flying. Who will show up for David Lloyd? Is this the time to regulate squad selections? And what would Tom do if he was Captain Alexandra Dukes? Tom spent quite a bit of time in his mind palace on that one, we had to edit it down for time.

We review last week’s Twyford match against Stanmore, where the Ernsberger clan met the Guerreri clan again on the field of battle. And we chat a bit about your reactions to our National League coverage last week. Tom pretends he knew Farnham Common wasn’t in Farnham, but as your show notes editor I will tell you now I’m not convinced.

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTure using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast

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This week we take a closer look at the National Tennis League, thanks to listener feedback from Riverside that we’ve been missing a trick there. Tom has been getting quite expert on how the higher levels of tennis work in NCL, and he shares his insights on the national, regional and county levels of the NCL.

Warsash and Thornden are clashing in the Hampshire NCL county level, just as they are in a bit of a show down in the Apsley Premier Division. But of the clubs we follow regularly, it turns out that Salisbury and Winchester have the highest placed teams in the NCL.

Elsewhere we get a complete run down of Week Three in the Apsley League, and look forward to this weekend’s only Apsley fixture - a visit to Twyford for Stanmore D in Division Four.

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTure using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast

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The Apsley fixtures are flowing now!

Guest host and Twyford B team captain Rob Ernsberger helps Dave dissect the best of the weekend action to come across all five divisions. Along the way Rob shares his goals for Twyford B this season, and the three teams in Division Two that he fears the most this summer.

Before that, we discuss listener feedback from another Apsley captain, Alex Dukes from David Lloyd West End B, and we debate if playing ringers is really worth it, and if it is theoretically possible to play a ringer in an A team.

We also check in with Mat Johnstone to see how his quest to break into the world Top Ten in Para Standing Tennis is coming along. Spoilers, he’s doing quite well!

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTure using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast

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Week Two of the Apsley League brought the first weekend of fixtures with all five divisions involved for the first time this summer.

So far Dave and Tom’s top picks for the summer are all off to winning starts - with some very big wins for some of them.

Two 8-0 shellackings in Premier show us that it will very likely be a season of “haves” and “have nots” at the elite level of play in the Southampton LTA.

Dave calls out a few ringers b being played in Division Four, only to (naturally) end up on court opposite one of them within hours of recording the show. Turns out he’s doing it for the very best of reasons.

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTure using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast

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Summer is here. At last!

We know because the Apsley tennis season is now underway. A well-endowed Division Four has already started playing its fixtures. With a ponderous ten teams - including three new entrants and two teams relegated from last summer’s Division Three,

Div Four is shaping up as Hampshire tennis’ Group of Death. As Dave’s natural hunting ground, it looks like there are a few tough shifts ahead.

Meanwhile, we preview all the action from the Premier Division onwards.

Beyond Apsley, Dave took on “Pistol” Pete Guerreri in the Hampshire & Isle of Wight singles league, and much discussion on how to handle rampant foot faulting ensures from there. Hear more from Guerreri from Episode 2.20, where he joined us to discuss tennis mercenaries.

We’re now on YouTube: Find future and archive show clips on YouTure using the handle @tennishampshirepodcast

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