{"id":43411,"date":"2026-02-04T15:04:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T04:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/?p=43411"},"modified":"2026-02-04T15:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T04:04:09","slug":"largest-grass-court-tournament-set-to-break-records-in-greater-shepparton-at-tennis-victoria-country-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/news\/2026\/02\/04\/largest-grass-court-tournament-set-to-break-records-in-greater-shepparton-at-tennis-victoria-country-week","title":{"rendered":"Largest Grass Court Tournament set to break records in Greater Shepparton at Tennis Victoria Country Week"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Greater Shepparton is preparing to welcome the biggest Tennis Victoria Country Week<\/strong>\u00a0ever hosted, with Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club<\/strong>\u00a0and Mooroopna Lawn Tennis Club<\/strong>\u00a0set to host record numbers of teams, players and matches when the iconic tournament gets underway from Sunday 8 February.<\/p>\n

Tennis Victoria Country Week is the largest grass court tournament in the world, bringing together men\u2019s and women\u2019s team competitions across multiple grades and showcasing the very best of community tennis.<\/p>\n

With the 106 courts<\/strong>\u00a0and 258 teams<\/strong>, the 2026 edition is the biggest yet. The tournament is expected to deliver an estimated $4 million economic impact to the region, providing a significant boost to local accommodation providers, hospitality venues and businesses.<\/p>\n

Tennis Victoria CEO Kim Kachel<\/strong>\u00a0spoke to the scale of this year\u2019s event highlighting the continued strength of regional tennis and the importance of investing in regional communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountry Week is one of the most unique events on the Australian tennis calendar and to be bringing our largest-ever tournament to Greater Shepparton is incredibly exciting,\u201d Kachel said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne year on from the official launch of the Sustainable Regional Tennis project at last year\u2019s event, this year\u2019s tournament scale reinforces our commitment to growing tennis in regional Victoria and ensuring these communities continue to thrive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kachel will officially open the tournament at the Country Week Welcome Event on Sunday 8 February, delivering a welcome address and will be available to speak with media on the evening.<\/p>\n

Greater Shepparton City Council Mayor, Councillor Shane Sali<\/strong>\u00a0said hosting Country Week provides a valuable opportunity to the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cGreater Shepparton is proud to host Tennis Victoria Country Week 2026. This event will provide a significant boost for our visitor economy with visitors staying a week in the region, providing an economic injection.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGreater Shepparton City Council is proud to partner with Tennis Victoria and both Shepparton and Mooroopna Lawn Tennis Clubs to ensure the event is a success. Our staff are building 76 temporary additional grass courts in Mooroopna to help host the event.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI encourage visitors to explore our great region and make the most of their time here. Greater Shepparton has so much to offer both on and off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club and Mooroopna Lawn Tennis Club have worked closely with Council and Tennis Victoria to prepare their grass courts to host the week-long tournament.<\/p>\n

Teams from across Australia and New Zealand will travel to Greater Shepparton this weekend, including participants from Albury, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie, Devonport,<\/strong>\u00a0as well as country Victoria and metropolitan Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Matches will commence at 8:30am on Monday 9 February, with four days of round-robin play leading into semi-finals on Thursday afternoon and finals on Friday 13 February.<\/p>\n

New 2026 partnership announced<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Tennis Victoria is also proud to announce a new partnership with Thirsty Camel<\/strong>\u00a0for the 2026 Country Week, further enhancing the event experience for players and spectators.<\/p>\n

As part of the partnership, Thirsty Camel will hold naming rights to the Country Week bar ‘The Watering Hole’, and will activate throughout the week, including newly introduced Hump Day celebrations. On Wednesday 11 February from 4 \u2013 7:30pm in ‘The Village’, players and spectators can enjoy live music, giveaways, POP tennis and more.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With an impressive network of retail stores across Victoria including Mooroopna, the partnership reinforces a shared commitment to supporting regional communities.<\/p>\n

Rachel Brown<\/strong>, Victorian Marketing Manager at Thirsty Camel, said the partnership aligns strongly with their connection to local communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cCountry Week is a celebration of regional sport and community, and we\u2019re proud to be part of such an iconic event,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a recently opened bottle shop in Mooroopna and over 140 others across the state, this partnership allows us to connect directly with communities and be part of an event that means so much to Victorian tennis.”<\/p>\n

1 Point POP Slam<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n

Adding to the excitement of Country Week, Tennis Victoria will host the 1 Point POP Slam on Hump Day (Wednesday) at 6pm, delivering fast-paced, high-energy action.<\/p>\n

The one-point, winner-takes-all format will see players battle it out in a knockout showdown, with the last player standing taking home a prize thanks to Thirsty Camel.<\/p>\n

The winner of the 1 Point POP Slam will be officially presented with their prize on Thursday at the Thirsty Camel store in Shepparton.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Event Information<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\n

What:<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Tennis Victoria Country Week<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Dates:<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Sunday 8 \u2013 Friday 13 February 2026<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Location:<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Shepparton Lawn Tennis Club & Mooroopna Lawn Tennis Club<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

Highlights:<\/p>\n<\/td>\n

\n

Opening Night Sunday 8 February<\/p>\n

Hump Day Activations Wednesday 11 February including live music, giveaways, POP tennis court – including 1 Point POP Slam at 6pm<\/p>\n

Finals Friday 13 February\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greater Shepparton is preparing to welcome the biggest Tennis Victoria Country Week\u00a0ever hosted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6423,"featured_media":43413,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6423"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}