The Tennis Hampshire Podcast
Catch up on the latest developments in club tennis across Hampshire, England.Email us at [email protected] us a voice message at https://www.speakpipe.com/THPodSocial media and podcast covers by Visualising Stories, original music by Jamie Noyce, podcast logo by Karen Holloway
THPod 3.27: Our Portsmouth picks for the Solent Cup
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The winter storms hit this weekend, so instead of playing a long-planned tennis friendly at CourtX, Dave and Robin recorded this episode together.
We explore how Portsmouth & District’s Winter Leagues have started, now that we are into Week 5, and Robin shares his expected winners and who might find it tough across the area’s top divisions.
Portsmouth have a strong turnout for winter this year, with 90 teams registered, representing 20 clubs. And things will be competitive at the very highest levels.
Robin shares who he expects Portsmouth to sen...
THPod 3.26: Kicking off Winter with David Lloyd Southampton’s Aaron Williams
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Three years ago he picked up a racquet for the first time, this summer he became David Lloyd Southampton’s most successful summer captain in the Apsley League. Aaron Williams joins the show to share his developing philosophy on tennis captaining, reflections on his surprises about captaining during his first year in the gig, and aspirations for next summer.
We look together at the start of the Winter Season in Hampshire & Isle of Wight’s mixed, mens and ladies leagues, including a closer look at the new rules for this winter. Think...
THPod 3.25: Quick Hit - the Summer Champions round up
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OK, someone has to call time on summer, and that time is NOW! We. celebrate the end of a great summer of tennis by looking through who won top spots and promotions across the Apsley, the Hampshire men's and ladies leagues, and the parallel leagues in Portsmouth & District.
We delayed the episode by a day to be able to incorporate the last results that will make a difference to promotions and relegations in the Apsley League, and I'm glad we did! Last ditch relegation battles for Littleton, Waterside, Portswood and Romsey...
THPod 3.24: Ventnor, Warsash chase top spot in Portsmouth Mixed
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Upstarts Ventnor and perennial champions Warsash are chasing top spot in Portsmouth's Summer Mixed Doubles league as the summer closes. Robin Ellison joins us from the blue side of the county to share with us how that's playing out, and delivers a full run down of how the mixed summer league is playing out.
The LTA has opened nominations for its annual awards recognising players, coaches, volunteers, clubs and much more. Why not nominate someone you this deserves a pat on the back for all their hard work? Link below.
THPod 3.23: Totton, Thornden close in on top summer spots
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The never-ending summer feels like it’s now quite close to ending, which makes this a perfect time to look at who’s celebrating the most as another Apsley comes to a close.
Thornden look odds-on for a pretty magnificent double this weekend, but we talk abut how Twyford - and all in their ilk - can only focus on what’s reasonably within their control as the season hits its finale. Speaking of controlling the controllables, Totton & Eling seem to have quietly but clearly turned things around. We reflect on their v...
THPod 3.22: Final countdown begins for this summer’s Apsley league
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We’ve only got four weeks to go and there’s everything to play for in just about every Apsley division. It’s been a competitive summer to say the least.
Things will start to get settled from this weekend though, especially in Divisions Three and Four, which started that bit earlier.
The MAIN EVENT is definitely Thorden A taking on Riverside A for the right to try and hunt down Warsash A for the Premier Division title. We examine the squads that have made both teams st...
THPod 3.21: Winter captains meet to kick off new season
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Dave’s back from the US Open, where the ratio of influencers to fans was getting a little out of control. Rob held the fort at the Winter League meeting for Twyford Men, getting the job done on the fixtures that will take us through the rest of the 2026-2027 season.
But first: Winchester-born Toby Samuel rakes in the cash with a career-high performance in Flushing Meadows, and Wellow take a punt on high profile Hampshire coach Taz Keens. Will it work?
We also take a look at last week...
THPod 3.20: Hampshire Summer Ladies wrap up, County Champs finals
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With just two fixtures left across all five of Hampshire’s Ladies Doubles leagues, we’re ready to call the results for the summer - the champions are in!
Tom’s had an email from the leagues about promotions and relegations in the men’s doubles, and he’s not particularly thrilled with the logic.
Meanwhile Mixed and Mens Doubles exploded into life at the Hampshire & IOW County Championships, while we get ready for singles finals day on Saturday, August 29th.
Plus Dave won in his Twyford A team debu...
THPod 3.19: Top Hampshire players gather for County Championships
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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...
THPod 3.18: Courtside with rising GB tennis star Esther Adeshina
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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 dre...
THPod 3.17: The top five mind games in tennis with guest Sam Tapsell
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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 o...
THPod 3.16: Why give re-pressurised balls a chance? Courtside with Freddie Bott
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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, northe...
THPod 3.15: Chichester, Ventnor strong in Portsmouth, Thornden back in Apsley Premier
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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...
THPod 3.14: Riverside push for top, Johnstone climbing PST3
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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...
THPod 3.13: Hampshire triumph at County Week, Apsley back in action
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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 i...
THPod 3.12: Winchester supreme as National Leagues close, Apsley reopens
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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...
THPod 3.11: Apsley down again, how does Portsmouth handle the heat?
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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...
THPod 3.10: Is it time to ditch Summer Shutdowns?
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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 messag...
THPod 3.09: Rebirths and meltdowns as Apsley nears midway point
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Week 12 of the summer season delivered rebirths and meltdowns among Hampshire’s tennis clubs.
Winchester are a new club under the leadership of a refreshed captaining structure. No longer the butt of our jokes on the pod, Winchester A showed what they can do when they visited Twyford A.
Winchester Captain Kevin Harris joins us to talk about how the new captains have turned things around this season, and why they will add some much needed quality back up in the Premier Division next season.
Elsewhere, it was...
THPod 3.08: Winchester Super Day and the David Lloyd derby
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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 Portsmou...
THPod 3.07: Milford Tennis rising, Apsley divisions taking shape
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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 leav...
THPod 3.06: Warsash take on Thornden, Portsmouth summer leagues underway
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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 red...
THPod 3.05: First showdown arrives in Apsley's Group of Death
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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...
THPod 3.04: Warsash, Thornden take rivalry to the National League
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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...
THPod 3.03: Apsley fixtures get the summer cooking
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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 po...
THPod 3.02: Our top picks mean business
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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...
THPod 3.01: Summer tennis gets going as the Apsley begins
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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 too...
THPod 2.44: Courtside with Portsmouth & District Chair Michael Isaacs
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We close our winter coverage with a courtside interview with Michael Isaacs, the chair of the Portsmouth & District LTA.
Michael has led a rejuvenation of inter-club tennis in the Portsmouth area for more than 15 years, helping re-establisb a league that is now fully competitive with every district in Hampshire.
We talk about Michael’s journey to become chair, why it is that league leaders are so busy, and what exactly it means to support “normal tennis players”.
Michale also shares some of the origins of the Solent Cup, an...
THPod 2.43: Warsash, Riverside claim 2026 Solent Cup
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The battle for the 2026 Solent Cup left honours split between Southampton and Portsmouth. Gate-crashers Riverside and winter-warriors Warsash took home the top winter prize in south coast inter-club tennis.
Dave Ernsberger & Robin Ellison were on site for six hours of top class tennis. Even furious wind and a biting chill couldn’t stop some top tennis being played.
In this episode we review the day itself, with a closer look at the teams that showed up and a deeper dive into how the spoils were shared.
We hear...
THPod 2.42: Who will win the 2026 Solent Cup?
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Winter is SO over! That leaves us with just one question to be answered for the season: are the very best teams on the South Coast from the Southampton LTA or the Portsmouth & District LTA?
Dave Ernsberger & Robin Ellison preview Winchester v Warsash and Court X v Salisbury, as the titans of Hampshire winter tennis get ready to meet at Thornden on April 11th.
We also discuss our plans to cover the event live from Thornden, and we hope to see you there!
We’re now on Yo...
THPod 2.41: QUICK HIT - The five fixtures that still matter this winter
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We're back with another Quick Hit, this time looking at the five fixtures that will shape the Southampton LTA's winter leagues.
Some of the men's divisions (we're looking at you, five and six!) are in a bit of a shambolic state, so instead we focus on the divisions that got their acts together, and where relegations, promotions and championships will be decided on the next two weekends.
In county news, it's a bit of good news/bad news for padel fans out there, especially if you like to play at...
THPod 2.40: Courtside with Portsmouth’s Robin Ellison
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Welcome to Episode 2.40, where we revisit the Portsmouth & District LTA — with a proper guide this time!
Robin Ellison cut his teeth with Southsea and moved on to take on captaining roles with Court X. Along the way, he started a weekly news report on tennis in Portsmouth & District, which makes him an ideal addition to the show.
Who are the big dogs in Portsmouth tennis? How do people sort out when to go to the Isle of Wight and when to call it a day on the weather? Learn the...
THPod 2.39: QUICK HIT as Winter Leagues race to the finishing line
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It's a Quick Hit with Dave this week as we look at the results from the past two weeks across the Southampton LTA's Mixed Doubles, Ladies Doubles and Men's Doubles divisions.
First though we check in on some Hampshire tennis news. The Apsley League dates are beginning to appear online, which means all you captains out there need to start dusting off your tennis rolodexes and getting your teams ready to roll.
Podcast favourites Magda Kornijczuk (Episode 2.30) and Toby Samuel have started their 2026 campaigns, and we check in with ho...
THPod 2.38: Kingsgate, Wellow rising to the top in Winter Ladies
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Kingsgate and Wellow are clubs on the march across the winter and summer leagues, and it turns out that they are both on the cusp of promotion to Hampshire’s elite first division in the Southampton LTA’s Winter Ladies Doubles league.
They are two of only four teams that still have perfect winning records as we head into the business end of the winter, but that can’t last for long - unstoppable force meets immovable object in February.
Elsewhere, Riverside top the first division for now, with Thornden...
THPod 2.37: Riverside, Thornden winter men slug it out
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Riverside and Thornden are slugging it out in the Winter Mens Doubles leagues, taking half of all the top spots across the Southampton LTA’s seven divisions.
Riverside hold the edge on ultimate honours right now, but how will things end? It’s still too close to call.
Before we get to that, Tom offers his defence for rough & smooth racquet calls, and we cover the latest news from Hampshire’s clubs and players.
Send us your thoughts for (or about!) the show:
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THPod 2.36: Winter Mixed Doubles restart after holidays
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This week on the show we take a look at how the Southampton LTA's Winter Mixed Doubles leagues are stacking up as players get ready to restart all the action after the Christmas & New Year break.
Rob Ernsberger, captain of Twyford Mixed, joins us to talk about life in Division Two for the team that has secured back-to-back-to-back promotions.
But first, Rob & Dave competed in their first ever match with LTA Umpires. We talk about what that was like, and our main takeaways from that experience. Learn from our do...
THPod 2.35: Courtside with Mat Johnstone, UK Number One Para-Standing player
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This week we welcome to the show Mat Johnstone, Hampshire tennis native and the UK’s Number One PST3 Para-Standing Tennis player.
Mat shares his journey from an up-and-coming tennis junior at Warsash to top Para-Standing Tennis player with an eye on the World Top Ten rankings for 2026. Mat shares his early experiences in tennis, the life-changing impact of meningitis at 17, and his subsequent rehabilitation.
We talk with Mat about his transition from wheelchair tennis to para-standing tennis, the challenges he faced, and his aspirations for the future. Mat’s lif...
THPod 2.34: Courtside with Richard Cutler from Hampshire & IOW Tennis
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Welcome to the show Richard Cutler, Charity Director and Councillor at Hampshire & Isle of Wight Tennis, the county authority for tennis that brings rhyme and reason to the way tennis functions across the county. Have we had a better opportunity so far to better understand how tennis works in Hampshire than this interview? I don’t think so!
Richard was well prepared for this one - lots of engaging discussion and plenty of facts and figures. Ever wondered how many tennis players there are in Hampshire? How Hampshire stacks up nationally? Ho...
THPod 2.33: Will Thornden claim Ladies Doubles this winter?
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We’re back from travels just in time to do our final Southampton LTA winter leagues check in before the end of the year.
This time we take a look through ladies doubles where 33 teams representing 21 clubs are midway through the season across five divisions.
There are a few surprises up and down the divisions, with the biggest of them all being the relative performance of last year’s dominant Bassett and the resurgence of Thornden in Division One. But is it sustainable?
Send us your thoughts for t...
THPod 2.32: Heated AGM debate yields surprise summer Apsley decision
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We recreate the magic (or the tedium, if you’re of that persuasion) of the big end of year league AGMs, not least for Tom’s benefit since family duty called him away. Would things have ended differently if he'd been there?
Before the AGM reviews, we discuss the emergence of a Hampshire tennis player in the professional world tour - will 2026 be the year that Ringwood’s Toby Samuel cracks the code on the tour? We’ll be watching.
And the men’s winter doubles leagues are far enough along...
