Macclesfield Tennis Club

Stan's SA Fan Club

The Macclesfield-Echunga community is cheering hard for Wawrinka

Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka will have a South Australian community right behind him when he plays his first grand slam final tomorrow night.

Macclesfield-Echunga is cheering for Wawrinka as part of the AO Blitz competition. The community is gathering at the Macclesfield Sporting Complex to watch the match together.

Macclesfield Tennis Club vice-president Peter Baraglia said it was an exciting time for the small community, which is in the Adelaide Hills.

“It’s been unbelievable,” he said. “We went into the competition positively and the cards have just been falling our way.”

Baraglia said the Macclesfield-Echunga community believed in Wawrinka, despite him having never won a set against Nadal.

“Stan is playing really good tennis but it is going to tough, he hasn’t beaten Nadal in 12 attempts. Their last match was closer though, so there is some hope there,” he said. “You never know with tennis.”

“We want to wish both players the best, we’ll be happy however it goes.”

The community will be rewarded with a town party should Wawrinka triumph, with Baraglia to score an AUD$10,000 ANZ Advantage Access account as the town’s leading individual points scorer.

“I’m not even thinking about that, the tennis club is more important,” Baraglia said.

He said the tennis club looked set to be the biggest winner from the AO Blitz competition.

“Little old Macclesfield does not get promoted much and we have been struggling with senior player numbers, so hopefully this will help us get more people playing,” he said. “The competition has already created more enthusiasm among our juniors.”

Wawrinka’s final opponent, world number one Rafael Nadal, is playing for the New South Wales community of Kendall.