Well today marks the end of South Australia’s inaugural Festival of Tennis. After seven days, eight events, four venues and over 1500 participants, the event that showcased the competitive pathway from participation to performance is being hailed as a roaring success.
Here is a recap on the week that was…
The WTC Corporate Challenge was held on Friday 20 November. The day started with 22-time Grand Slam champion, Todd Woodbridge, officially opening the Festival of Tennis. Todd then selected two teams to play for during the day as the ‘Ultimate Doubles Sub’. Grill’d Norwood and Bank SA were lucky enough to find themselves playing alongside Todd during rounds two and three. After a tough battle during the day, Bank SA took the win over The Drive in the premier final, whilst the Deucebags from The Advertiser defeated Health Heroes in the social final, both with two rubbers to love.
The first round of the Asia-Pacific Tennis League (ATL) was held at the Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club on Friday night. In near perfect conditions, Prospect Flames defeated Kensington Wildcats 5-1 and Western Wildlings defeated Tasmanian Devils 5-1 in the women’s, whilst in the men’s NETA Knights defeated The Drive 4-2 and Western Wildlings overcame the Tasmanian Devils. Spectators were treated to some great tennis action and even a surprise visit from the Australian Open trophies, Norm and Daph.
Saturday saw the South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability kick off at Next Generation Memorial Drive. Matches were played in great spirit throughout the day, with some closely contested matches.
The second round of the ATL was held at Kensington Gardens Lawn Tennis Club on a picture perfect afternoon. The women’s matches were close affairs, with the Tasmanian Devils defeating Kensington Wildcats 3-8-36 to 3-7-39 and Prospect Flames defeating Western Wildlings 3-7-33 to 3-6-36. In the men’s, The Drive defeated the Tasmanian Devils 4-2 and NETA Knights defeated Western Wildlings 3-8-41 to 3-6-43.
Norm and Daph continued their adventures around Adelaide on Saturday, visiting Next Generation Memorial Drive, Kensington Gardens Lawn Tennis Club and then making a special appearance alongside Mark Soderstrom and Jessica Adamson on the Channel 7 news desk.
The Festival of Tennis kicked up a gear on Sunday, with five events on one day. In the morning, an ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Carnival was run for ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Participants from around the state. The kids had a great time playing games on court and trying their luck at the Speed Serve and Hit the Target.
The final of the Super 10s kicked off on the clay and synthetic courts with some excellent tennis and sportsmanship on display. In the boys, Team Federer took first place, followed by Team Rafa, Team Murray and Team Djokovic, whilst in the girls, Team Sharapova took the win, followed by Team Azarenka, Team Williams and Team Stosur. At the end of the day, Alana Burrows and Luka Dobrovolski were presented with the Thanasi Kokkinakis awards for sportsmanship.
In the Junior ATL (Angus Thomson Cup), Southern Districts Tennis Association had a comprehensive victory over North East Tennis Association in the boys, winning six rubbers to love, whilst in the girls, Western Districts Tennis Association overcame Southern Districts Tennis Association, winning four rubbers to two.
The South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with a Disability continued with both male and female finals taking place. In the men’s Mitchell James defeated Joshua Holloway, 9-8 and in the women’s Carla Lenarduzzi defeated Kate Wilson 9-5.
In the Win a Wildcard competition, the A Grade was well attended, however the combination of Bradley Mousley and Jessica Moore was just too strong for the field, winning the final against Nicole Kraemer and Daniel Hobart 4-1 and booking themselves a position for the playoff in Melbourne during December.
In the B Grade competition, Angelique Foran and Ian Delbridge won the final 4-1 4-1, to make it back to back trips to the Australian Open after winning the 2014 Win a Wildcard competition.
In the afternoon, the ATL took centre stage with Prospect Flames defeating Tasmanian Devils 4-2 and Western Wildlings taking the win over Kensington Wildcats in the women’s. In the men’s, NETA Knights overpowered the Tasmanian Devils 6-0 and Western Wildlings defeated The Drive 4-2.
Norm and Daph had many a photo taken on the grass courts during the day and had their final photo shoot in South Australia on the Riverbank Bridge with our students from Uni SA.
Yesterday, the Festival of Tennis wrapped up with finals being played for the Tennis SA AMT Gold. In the men’s final, Darren Polkinghorne defeated Bradley Mousley 3-6 6-3 6-3 and Jennifer Elie defeated Nicole Collie 7-5 6-2 to win the women’s.
A big thank you to WTC Corporate Challenge and Festival of Tennis Major Sponsor, White Marquee Event Hire, for providing all of our marquees and furniture for the weekend.
A special thank you also to the following people:
- Tennis SA Board and Staff
- Todd Woodbridge
- Kim Kachel – Tennis Australia Competitions Manager
- Loretta Hughes – Tennis West
- Jason Hyam from BLK – MC
- Tea Tree Gully Tennis Club – ATL Host
- Kensington Gardens Lawn Tennis Club – ATL Host
- ATL Teams – Prospect Flames, Kensington Wildcats, The Drive, NETA Knights, Western Wildlings and Tasmanian Devils
- Elaine Caldana – Tournament Director South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability
- Bronwyn and Peter Smith – South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability
- David Grainger – ANZ Tennis Hot Shots Carnival
- Michael Spry – Tournament Director Junior ATL
- Officials – Referees, Court Supervisors, Chair Umpires and Line Umpires
- Woolworths Ballkid Squad
Finally, thank you to all of the participants and spectators who were a part of the Festival of Tennis, we really appreciated your support and look forward to seeing you next time!
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