Tennis NSW Metropolitan Region

Tennis NSW Premier League decided

The inaugural Tennis NSW Premier League has been decided this week with the City team taking out the first ever final in convincing fashion.

The concept which has first introduced at the local club/fixture level has moved through representative stages in both the city and the country regions culminating in the first ever final held at the Apia International Sydney on Thursday, 12 January 2012.

The final was hotly contested and the tennis was of a very high standard throughout the day. Courts 3 and 4 were used for the event and being so close to the Ken Rosewall Arena many spectators piled into the stands to enjoy this highly competitive event. Although the final result was a resounding win by the City side14 sets to 4, it was not an indication of the closeness of the matches and many sets were decided in tie-breaks.

The City team was represented by Glenn Knox, Nick Trkulja, Matt Mullane, Nathan Boniel, Paul McNamara, Melissa Anderson, Bree Calderwood, Stephanie Yamada, Caitlin Billingham and Casey Cross. Team Manager was Paul Hoysted.

The Country team was represented by Michael Evans (Richmond), Sam Fletcher (Shoalhaven), Ethan Coker (Newcastle), Rod Stubbs (Port Stephens), Greg Evans (Richmond), Brenda Foster (Wagga), Laura Kent (Shoalhaven), Tara Hamilton (Newcastle) and Alison Tinsworth (Albury). Team Managers included Wendy Saville and Andrew Mitten.

To reach the final both City and Country players progressed through a number of representative playoff stages from which the final teams were selected. Approximately 4,000 competitors were involved in Year 1 (2011) of the Tennis NSW Premier League competition which is set to grow even further in 2012.

Tennis NSW congratulates Andy Schymitzek on launching the competition in 2011, which has filled a void in representative team-based competition in NSW and is set to link up with the National Tennis League (NTL) competitions in 2012. Well done Andy.