National Tennis League
What is the National Tennis League?
Team tennis (competition tennis) is a large part of Australia’s tennis culture. The pilot National Tennis League (NTL) has been created with the vision of working towards an Asian-Australian Tennis League (ATL) with franchised teams.
This innovative league will provide a strong platform for Australian players to earn income over a short period of time. It is hoped that this league can contribute to the professional playing opportunities available to aspiring ATP/WTA players.
The vision of the ATL is some time in the future, so Tennis Australia is also investing in a National Tennis League (NTL) with a national club championships. The National Tennis League (NTL) will consist of five individual but linked leagues around Australia.
There will be a league in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia, with the finalists from each league competing in a national championship to determine Australia’s best club. This semi-professional league will be a pathway to the ATL and Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams. It’s hoped that the NTL will become part of our pathway for aspiring players.
Why do we need a national league?
The strategy of the NTL is to lift the profile of competition tennis while expanding the professional playing opportunities for tennis players within a team-based environment.
Within the strategy there are several goals that have been developed to ensure success. The NTL will:
- elevate and re-position the profile of competition tennis in Australia
- introduce innovative formats to the Australian competition environment
- provide new income streams for players to assist with their careers, particularly those that are aiming to transition to the ATP/WTA tours
- provide another step in the competition pathway and keep players competing longer
- broaden the player opportunities for tennis players in Australia to keep pace with the other professional sports
- increase the profile of the players to create heroes for kids
- provide a marketing anchor for TA and the respective MAs to profile tennis
- create additional opportunities for club administrators, coaches and tennis officials.
Pilot program to launch in November 2011
In November 2011 Tennis Australia, in conjunction with Tennis SA, Tennis Victoria and Tennis West, will launch a ground-breaking pilot of the NTL. The leagues will be known as NTL-SA, NTL-WA and NTL-Vic.
NTL-SA and NTL-WA will consist of men’s and women’s leagues that will each be made up of six teams and will run over six weeks, while NTL-Vic will be made of up four weeks and will have a four-week season.
The leagues have been scheduled carefully so they will not conflict with existing competitions.
The top two teams from each state will then meet in Melbourne during the second week of the Australian Open to participate in the National Play-off to determine the national champion teams.
Tennis Australia is funding base player payments and team prize money in excess of $50,000 per NTL conference.
Play in the NTL
To join the NTL, you need to nominate yourself for a team. Nominate for the NTL