190 King Arthur Terrace, Tennyson QLD 4105, Australia, 26 July 2017 | Tennis Queensland

Shadow Minister for Sport Jon Krause has visited the Queensland Tennis Centre for the first time, and was visibly impressed.

As part of the tour, Krause stepped onto center court with Brisbane International Tournament Director and CEO of Tennis Queensland, Geoff Quinlan.

“It’s great to see Pat Rafter Arena for the first time, I wish I’d been to the Brisbane International seeing the great facility this is,” said Krause.

“When you walk down onto center court here looking up you could basically I think as a player eyeball someone in the back row and vise versa so for the crowd to get some up close and personal to the people playing is I think unique.”

As Shadow Minister for Sport, Krause said the tour has allowed him to see first hand the value ofthe Queensland Tennis Centre, and its marquee event the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp. With an election in less than 12 months, it was was a positive visit from from the MP who discussed the need to support such significant projects and events.

“As the shadow minister for sport the government looks after a number of venues around town and we want to bring people to Brisbane to spend money and our stadiums are one way we can do that, not just for tennis but for other events as well,” he said.

“I’m sure it will keep growing and the amount of visitors it brings to Brisbane I’m sure is a huge economic impact for the city but also events like this when you keep going for 10 years, they get a name for themselves and it really puts Brisbane on the map as a sporting destination.”