TAMWORTH’S Easter Tennis Tournament will be held at Inverell this year and Inverell Tennis Club manager and coach Jeff Blanck said he hoped to get about 250-plus players attending the event.
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“With Tamworth’s courts not being up to standard, we’ve got the tournament here,” Blanck said.
“We’ve got AMT Silver, which is pretty high national points for adults, and we’ve got the Silver Junior, which is pretty high points for the junior national points. Then we do have some novelty events, too, like the B grade and C grade.”
Retired Australian tennis champion Todd Woodbridge was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2010. In his youth he played many tournaments like this and thinks they are the lifeblood of modern tennis.
“Small town events are where all the great Australian players have learnt their trade, in these events,” Woodbridge said.
“So what’s going on up in your area is fundamentally crucial to young kids getting started and getting that experience. We totally love to see these events doing well.
“One of the great things for me now is my involvement in the game in all different aspects, trying to get it going and keep it going. In particular, to get the next generation of young Australians doing some great stuff on the world stage. The only way we get to do that is by getting our events and participation going around the country.”
Woodbridge said tennis had struggled in the past, along with all the traditional sports, to attract young players.
“We really focussed on that about eight to 10 years ago. We worked really hard on getting our schools programs up and running. Grades 3, 4 and 5 are starting to play tennis in the playground again as part of their physical education programs, and that has helped us enormously,” he said.
Another big help had been Nick Kyrgios, Woodbridge said.
“Champions generate champions and he’s been fantastic this summer,” Woodbridge said.
“He burst on the scene at Wimbledon. He has really had a lot of focus from young kids, they love him. He’s cool, he’s hip, he’s all those sorts of things that attract kids to their sport.”
Woodbridge said Australia absolutely still produces champions, even though many think we are not as good as we used to be.
“We’re batting above our average,” he said.
“We’ve got two young teenagers in the top 100, and we’re the only country in the world to have that. Over the last eight years we’ve had three world number ones in the boys and a number one junior girls.
“People don’t realise, when we talk about the top 100 here, we’re not talking about in Australia; we’re talking about in the world.”