{"id":14894,"date":"2018-04-26T16:28:29","date_gmt":"2018-04-26T06:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=14894"},"modified":"2018-05-10T16:14:22","modified_gmt":"2018-05-10T06:44:22","slug":"sod-turned-at-memorial-drive-for-construction-of-redevelopment-stage-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2018\/04\/26\/sod-turned-at-memorial-drive-for-construction-of-redevelopment-stage-one","title":{"rendered":"Sod turned at Memorial Drive for construction of redevelopment stage one"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis SA President <strong>Kent Thiele <\/strong>and CEO <strong>Steven Baldas<\/strong> were joined by the <strong>Hon Christopher Pyne MP<\/strong>, Minister for Defence Industry, and Federal Member for Sturt, today to launch construction of the Memorial Drive redevelopment stage one.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Pyne, along with <strong>Hon Corey Wingard MP<\/strong>, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, <strong>Lord Mayor of Adelaide Martin Haese <\/strong>and South Australian tennis legend <strong>John Fitzgerald,<\/strong> were present to turn the sod on the $9.79 million project set to revamp the Memorial Drive sporting precinct and ensure the heritage of Memorial Drive is retained for years to come.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"John Fitzgerald on stage one of the Memorial Drive redevelopment\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/MxA2kTvBSS8?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis first stage will help to continue the proud history of Memorial Drive and will ensure more people are playing tennis more often by increasing the number of high-quality courts available in the city,\u201d Mr Pyne said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNot only will this bring more tennis to this great city, but it will also serve as an entertainment hub for the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe construction of the first stage is excellent news for the City of Adelaide and adds to the recent developments in the Riverbank Precinct,\u201d said the Lord Mayor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe City of Adelaide is delighted to be a part of this project and thank the Memorial Drive Tennis Club, Next\u00a0Generation Memorial Drive, Adelaide Oval and Tennis SA for their collaborative approach, along with the Federal government for its $9.79 million funding commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tennis SA CEO <strong>Steven Baldas<\/strong> described the turning of the sod as an exciting day for South Australian tennis.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt will also provide state-of-the-art facilities for the next generation of tennis players to be able to train on all three Grand Slam surfaces allowing us to continue our proud legacy of producing world-class players such as Lleyton Hewitt, Mark Woodforde, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Alicia Molik, Darren Cahill and John Fitzgerald.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe completion of stage one will also make us ready to begin stage two, the redevelopment of our centre court stadium, enabling us to go after world-class events such as Davis and Fed Cup home ties as well as other international standard professional events.\u201d Mr Baldas continued.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Memorial Drive first look | Tennis Australia\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VJuLfB6AuzI?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The $9.79 million Stage 1 project includes: <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A <strong>new outdoor sunken show court <\/strong>and <strong>six new match courts<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Tennis pavilion<\/strong> overlooking the show court, with ability to be used as an operational base for tennis and tournament activities within the precinct<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>five-court clay court centre <\/strong>with show court and pavilion<\/li>\n<li>Reestablishment of <strong>13 natural grass courts <\/strong>and <strong>four new synthetic grass courts <\/strong><\/li>\n<li>A <strong>state-of-the-art National Academy training venue<\/strong> with all three Grand Slam surfaces &#8211; clay, grass and hardcourt &#8211; so that South Australia can continue to produce world class players<\/li>\n<li><strong>State-of-the-art LED lighting<\/strong> to tournament standard on all match and practice courts<\/li>\n<li><strong>Improved amenities<\/strong> with walkways, shade, shelter and chilled water fountains<\/li>\n<li><strong>Secure and dedicated access<\/strong> from Tennis SA Centre Courts to show court, tennis pavilion and new match courts<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>Memorial Drive vision<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Memorial Drive redevelopment will bring life and energy to the area and the surrounding Riverbank Precinct 365 days of the year and includes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Australia\u2019s newest tennis complex and a new destination for significant international matches, such as Davis Cup and Fed Cup, Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Women\u2019s Tennis Association (WTA) events<\/li>\n<li>A desirable location for the world\u2019s tennis elite to visit and compete in the lead-up to the Australian Open<\/li>\n<li>A preferred practice base for Australia\u2019s tennis elite providing <strong>three of the world\u2019s Grand Slam<\/strong> <strong>court surfaces<\/strong>, one of only two complexes within Australia to do so, enabling athletes to train in their home environment<\/li>\n<li>A <strong>high performance academy<\/strong> training environment<\/li>\n<li><strong>South Australia\u2019s first \u201call weather arena\u201d<\/strong> with a state of the art \u201cWimbledon style\u201d retractable roof and crowd seating design, creating the ultimate atmosphere to attract small to medium concerts and events to the Riverbank precinct<\/li>\n<li>Spaces for new cafes and offices, with potential to accommodate other sports or attract corporate headquarters from interstate or overseas.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Realising this vision will ensure Tennis SA\u2019s financial sustainability by allowing the organisation to diversify revenue streams and become commercially viable, reducing its reliance on government funding for future operations.<\/p>\n<p>Kennett Builders will begin construction of stage one this week, with completion expected in early 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennis SA President Kent Thiele and CEO Steven Baldas were joined by the Hon Christopher Pyne MP, Minister for Defence Industry, and Federal Member for Sturt, today to launch construction of the Memorial Drive redevelopment stage one. Mr Pyne, along with Hon Corey Wingard MP, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing, Lord Mayor of Adelaide [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5736,"featured_media":14895,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}