Canberra will have the opportunity to host four UTR Pro Tennis Tour
events, which gets underway Monday 15 March.
The UTR Pro Tennis Tour provides opportunities for players to compete in
a number of tournaments across Australia including Brisbane, Sydney, Bendigo
and Canberra.
The top female seed Abbie Myers (NSW) is joined by local Annerly
Polous, and Taylah Preston (WA) in the top three women seeds.
Local’s Alison Bai and rising star Ashleigh Simes will
feature in the women’s draw.
The men’s draw is headed up by Tristan Schoolkate (WA), Australian Open wildcard recipient Li Tu (SA), and local Brydan Klein. Canberran, and 14-year-old emerging tennis player Charlie Camus will also play on home soil, using the tournament as a vital lead up to the U/14 Australian Claycourt Championships that will be held in Canberra in April.
The events will showcase the future of Australian tennis as many players
return having competed in Canberra as part of the 12/U & 14/U Australian
Championships, or been involved in National Talent Development Camps based in
the capital over the years. The likes of Tristan Schoolkate (WA)
and Dane Sweeney (QLD) all have fond memories of Canberra, and all
recently received wildcards into the Australian Open qualifying events played
in Doha and Dubai earlier this year. They all started the year with
extremely impressive results as they transition onto the global tours.
Tennis ACT CEO Kim Kachel said the tournament is a great
opportunity for players, “We are excited to get the UTR Pro Tennis Tour
underway this week, where we will see a host of the top Aussie players take to
the courts at the Canberra Tennis Centre. This is a fantastic opportunity to
showcase Canberra, and witness some fantastic tennis. It’s
brilliant to have five local Canberrans in the draws, and rising stars Annerly
Poulos and Charlie Camus as they continue their journey amongst Australia’s
elite. Players will be competing for a prize purse of USD$25,000 for each
women’s and men’s tournaments, making it a highly competitive series”.
Kachel continued
“finals day for the UTR Pro Tennis Tour #1 will also see the Canberra Girls
Get Active Day hosted at the Canberra Tennis Centre. Tennis ACT are teaming
up with local sports to host a FREE community event aimed at
inspiring, energising and empowering young women to be more active. Women and
girls will have the opportunity to try out a number of sports onsite, free
classes from Next Gen, Tennis 4 Teens lessons, a jumping castle, roaming
characters, a fundraising BBQ, tunes from a local DJ and much more”.
The Canberra Girls Get Active Day
will be held on Sunday 21 March, 10am-12pm at the Canberra Tennis Centre.
This event will also be run in conjunction with the ACT Women in Sport &
Leadership Brunch.
Entry for fans through the week is free, with
finals day a gold coin donation. All matches will be live-streamed through
Tennis Australia’s YouTube Channel; https://www.youtube.com/user/TennisAustralia
The
order of play for each day, and updates will be released through the UTR
Facebook event HERE.
More
information on the worldwide UTR Pro Tour is available at https://www.myutr.com/ptt
Tournament Dates
UTR Pro Tennis Tour #1: Monday 15 March – Sunday 21 March
UTR Pro Tennis Tour #2: Monday 22 March – Sunday 28 March
UTR Pro Tennis Tour #3: Monday 12 April – Sunday 18 April
UTR Pro Tennis Tour # 4: Monday 19 April – Sunday 25 April
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