Tennis ACT now hosts two Challenger Tour tournaments in the capital per year, and with eight players ranked in the top 100 in the world lining up for the main draw in 2017, it’s no wonder that the amount of spectators at the East Hotel Canberra Challenger 2017 doubled that of the inaugural 2016 event from approximately 3,000 in 2016 to 6,328.
Tennis ACT chief executive, Ross Triffitt said the Canberra Tennis Centre is now a world-class facility and the Tennis ACT has set the bar as a premium host for the second tier of international competition, the Challenger Tour.
‘‘Word has spread that Canberra has a world-class tennis venue and it’s reflected in the depth of the field we received this year,’’ Triffitt said.
New players to the $75K Challenger tournament were pleasantly surprised by the quality of the facility. German doubles champion Andre Begemann said he and his team felt like they were on holiday while competing Canberra.
“It feels like everyone is on vacation for a capital city,” he said. “It’s amazingly quiet and peaceful and amazingly nice people. They welcomed us and we had a good time.
“Unfortunately it’s only a week [in Canberra] and then we have two more [in Australia] coming up in Melbourne. But [we’ve had a] really great time here, it’s a great city, and we look forward to coming back.”
The East Hotel Canberra Challenger 2017 played host to 52 professional male tennis players from 17 countries.
59 matches were played – the longest game in the second round where Carlos Berlocq (ARG) defeated Quentin Halys (FRA) 7-6 [6], 6-7[0], 6-4 in two hours and 42 minutes.
55 locals volunteered their time to assist 15 tournament staff with event organisation. They worked across a number of critical areas including transport, court services, spectator services and player services. 30 of those volunteers were ballkids, who all gained valuable experience in ball skills, at the same time improving their fitness, listening skills and hand eye coordination.
1.6 kilometres of string was used to restring 170 racquets, where 680 knots were tied. American player James Cerretani’s racquet was strung with the highest amount of tension at 30 kilograms.
It was over 30 degrees Celsius each day, with hydration and player safety top of mind. 1,560 bottles of water and 480 bottles of Powerade were consumed and 16 ice towels made to keep the heat at bay during and post-match play.
And along with valuable ranking points, a number of cheques were awarded to players. Men’s singles champion Dudi Sela (ISR) entered the tournament as world No.93 and after winning the final round, exited at world No.64, taking home a cool USD $10,800 of the prize pool. Sela will go on to play at Australian Open 2017. More.
The finals weekend was a fitting finale for an event that delivered local tennis fans the opportunity to attend and watch some of the world’s best from across the globe compete for USD$75,000 in prize money and valuable world ranking points leading into the first grand slam of the year, Australian Open 2017.
Tennis ACT will now look ahead to 11 – 26 March 2017 when they will host the ACT Claycourt International an event combining two back-to back men’s ITF events contested on clay.
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