Davis Cup tennis is coming to Geelong.<\/p>\n
For the first time in the event\u2019s history, the world\u2019s biggest annual team sporting competition will be played in Geelong.<\/p>\n
Tennis Australia today announced that Geelong Lawn Tennis Club had won the right to host the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia Oceania Zonal tie against China from 10 \u2013 12 February 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are delighted to be holding a Davis Cup tie in Geelong. There is a terrific tennis community in the region and the proposal had strong council and broad community support. Geelong has some excellent infrastructure and facilities that will help make this tie a success,\u201d Tennis Australia Major Events Director Steve Ayles said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Victorian Major Events Company put in a strong bid, and I\u2019d like to thank them, along with the Victorian Government and City of Greater Geelong for their support.\u00a0 Together we look forward to putting on a world class event next February.\u201d<\/p>\n
Australian Davis Cup captain, Pat Rafter, added: \u201cWe are looking forward to heading to Geelong. Our planning has already started for this tie and we are hellbent on playing well and winning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe boys really enjoy playing on grass and are keen to get on the local courts as early as we can.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe always get great support when we go to regional centres and we will be keen to give the people of Geelong a good look at some top class Davis Cup tennis,\u201d Rafter continued.<\/p>\n
The win is a feather in the cap for the Geelong Lawn Tennis club, provincial Australia\u2019s oldest tennis club, and one which already boasts a Davis Cup connection. Jack Hawkes, a club member in the 1920s, represented Australia in Davis Cup from 1923 to 1925, competing against players such as the legendary French \u2018Musketeer\u2019 Rene Lacoste.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are excited by the opportunity a Davis Cup tie offers to showcase our great club, and the ability of the Geelong region to successfully bid for and conduct major events,\u201d Geelong Lawn Tennis Club President Bob Spurling said today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are grateful for the support and assistance provided to us by the City of Greater Geelong through its events arm, Geelong Major Events, and also to the State Government through Victorian Major Events.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe the event can deliver lasting benefits for the club and the wider tennis community, and look forward to seeking the assistance of the many volunteers we will need as the host venue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been great to secure the tie, but the real work starts now, to work with Tennis Australia to deliver a memorable result,\u201d Spurling continued<\/p>\n
Details on ticket prices and on-sale dates will be announced shortly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Davis Cup tennis is coming to Geelong. For the first time in the event\u2019s history, the world\u2019s biggest annual team sporting competition will be played in Geelong. Tennis Australia today announced that Geelong Lawn Tennis Club had won the right to host the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Asia Oceania Zonal tie against China from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5907,"featured_media":4617,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5250","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\/5250","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\/5907"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5250\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/vic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}