{"id":7728,"date":"2015-01-02T10:55:58","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T01:25:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=7728"},"modified":"2015-01-02T10:55:58","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T01:25:58","slug":"locals-saville-and-bolt-hoping-for-happy-days-in-the-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2015\/01\/02\/locals-saville-and-bolt-hoping-for-happy-days-in-the-valley","title":{"rendered":"Locals Saville and Bolt hoping for happy days in the Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Local favourites Luke Saville<\/strong> (SA) and Alex Bolt<\/strong> (SA) are hoping to start their year in style when they compete in the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015<\/strong> commencing 3 January at Adelaide\u2019s Happy Valley Tennis Club.<\/p>\n

The pair \u2013 both looking to improve on career-best seasons in 2014 \u2013 has been practicing together at the club every day since Christmas.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to be back in Adelaide where I\u2019ve spent a lot of years training and going to school,\u201d said 20-year-old Saville, who hails from Barmera in the state\u2019s Riverland region. \u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to the tournament next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saville and 21-year-old Bolt from Murray Bridge are no strangers to Happy Valley, both having performed well when it was an ITF Futures event \u2013 Bolt winning in 2012 and Saville making the final last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been here a lot since the Futures began,\u201d Saville said. \u201cI always play well on these courts and I really enjoy it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the event upgraded to ATP Challenger status thanks to the City of Onkaparinga, both are excited by the opportunity to play in an elite tournament \u2013 with increased prize money and ATP rankings points \u2013 on home soil.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have a Challenger here in my home state is really exciting,\u201d Saville said. \u201cAs soon as it was on the calendar, I put it in my schedule and highlighted it as a priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great we have a Challenger here now,\u201d Bolt added. \u201cIt\u2019s pretty much my home tournament. I can stay at home all week, with a home environment around me.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event marks the first time that a metropolitan tennis club will host a major tournament leading into the Australian Open<\/strong>, and the Happy Valley Tennis Club community \u2013 with support from local major sponsor Power Health Solutions as well as Tennis South Australia and Tennis Australia \u2013 is pulling out all the stops to ensure a first class event.<\/p>\n

Additionally, Bolt feels it will give him plenty of opportunity to get a few matches under his belt against some solid opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will hold me in good stead ahead of the Australian Open,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Saville concurs: \u201cThis is my best opportunity to get some matches in. I\u2019m looking forward to doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n

After withdrawing from the Australian Open Play-off<\/strong> last month due to injury, Saville said he has needed to tailor his preparation to get ready for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy that it\u2019s settled down like it has though,\u201d he said of the injury. \u201cI\u2019ll be ready, 100 per cent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Bolt will be looking to start the year well with a strong performance at Happy Valley.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhenever I walk on court, I always have the belief in myself that no matter whom I\u2019m playing, I\u2019m going to take it right up to them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

After winning his first Challenger title in Anning, China and cracking the top 200 this year, he has every reason to be confident.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just need to keep on riding this wave and develop my game even further,\u201d Bolt said. \u201cHopefully I can make it into the top 100 this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s within reach if I go about things the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the likes of Saville and Bolt on course to hit new heights during the 2015 ATP season, both feel there\u2019s reason for optimism among the Australian contingent as a whole.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince Nick (Kyrgios)<\/strong> had his breakthrough, I think all of us Aussies are starting to believe we can make it,\u201d Bolt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a whole bunch of us pushing into the top 100 now.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the tournament presenting an early opportunity for the Aussies to stake their claim, as well as established international players such as 2006 Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis<\/strong> (CYP) vying for the title, the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015 looms as an exciting event for players and spectators alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Local favourites Luke Saville (SA) and Alex Bolt (SA) are hoping to start their year in style when they compete in the City of Onkaparinga ATP Challenger 2015 commencing 3 January at Adelaide\u2019s Happy Valley Tennis Club. The pair \u2013 both looking to improve on career-best seasons in 2014 \u2013 has been practicing together at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5915,"featured_media":7730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7728","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\/7728","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\/5915"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7728"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7728\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7728"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7728"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7728"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}