Tennis SA has the pleasure of officially announcing the South Australian Tennis Championships for disabled players will be renamed to honour Peter Smith’s commitment and support towards the event over the past 18 years. So next year and thereafter we will be hosting the Peter Smith State Tennis Championships.
Peter Smith is a celebrated South Australian tennis coach. Although he is known primarily for the formative coaching of Davis Cup Captains John Fitzgerald and Lleyton Hewitt, he has played a major role in the emergence of a long line of outstanding players and also a main driver for tennis for people with a disability.
Peter Smith is a self-taught tennis player. He came to Adelaide at age 16, played pennant tennis, and as a semi-professional achieved a number of top 10 state rankings.
After his playing career was cut short by conscription and injury, Peter was appointed by Tennis SA as the first State Director of Coaching. This five year period saw the emergence of John Fitzgerald, Brod Dyke, Mark Woodforde and Roger Rasheed, to name just a few.
In 2002, Peter Smith founded the Carter-Altman-Penfold (CAP) Fund to raise money to provide tennis opportunities for people with a disability. In 2009, the CAP merged in with the Ken McGregor Foundation, which is Tennis SA’s player development foundation program. The Ken McGregor Foundation continues to support people with a disability. Peter remains as a committee member on the Foundation.
Peter started the first State Tennis Championships for disabled players in 1999 and took the first ever intellectually disabled Australian team to Europe a year later.
The State Tennis Championships for disabled players continues. The 2017 event has just been played and won at Peter’s second home here at Next Gen Memorial Drive.
Thanks to Peter, his wife Bronwyn, and their family, the State Championships continue to provide many people with a disability to come together, have fun, be social, have a laugh, show off and of course play tennis. This event brings so much joy to the players and their friends and families – and of course to Peter and his family.
Photo L to R: Bronwyn Smith, Peter Smith and Brett Hidson – Tennis SA, General Manager – Venues and Government Relations.
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