A mix of rising stars and Aussie tennis icons will line up for the Asia Pacific Tennis League (ATL) when action gets under way around the country this week.
Over the coming four weeks, 26 men’s and 27 women’s teams playing across five conferences will battle it out for their chance to contest the ATL Play-offs at Melbourne Park during Australian Open 2014.
The South Australian conference starts tonight at Memorial Drive Tennis Centre with round one commencing at 6.30pm.
In the men’s five team competition, 2012 SA Conference Champions the Glenlea Gators start their 2013 campaign against the Tea Tree Gully Timberwolves. The Gators will be led by highly rated ATP ranked player Jack Schipanski. Schipanski is set to play former touring player Josh Crowe in what shapes as one of the matches of the round. Glenlea go into the tie as favorites with Pan Kokkinakis and Josh Boots adding class and depth to the Gators line up.
The Trinity Titans take on The Drive in the other first round men’s match with the Titans looking to justify their pre season tag as conference favorites. The Titans, who have recruited ATP ranked players Darren Polkinghorne and Colin Ebelthite, will be a major test for The Drive who has South Australian Paul Kramberger headlining the team with Japanese youngster Yuya Ito and former US College tennis star Luke Smith adding important depth to their line up.
In the Women’s draw, 2013 Asia Pacific Tennis League National Champions the Flagstaff Freighters will take on the Goodwood Saints. The Freighters have recruited former world number 125 ranked player Jessica Moore to a line up which includes current world number 228 Viktorija Rajicic and top South Australian players Nicole Collie and Olivia Lukasewicz. Goodwood will be led by Catherine Connelly and Brooke Milner and will have to play at their best to overcome the powerful Freighters line up.
In what should be match of the round in the women’s draw the Trinity Titans take on Tea Tree Gully Timberwolves. South Australian Leah Daw has signed for the Titans and is coming off an impressive year on the ITF Futures tour in which she claimed her maiden ITF double title. Daw will be flanked by fellow South Australian youngsters Amy Sneath and Nada Vujic.
The Timberwolves have added leading South Australian junior Chloe Hule to their side. Hule, who won an ITF junior singles title in September will play alongside fellow juniors Nicole Kraemer and Claudia May. The matchup is expected to give a strong indication as to who will be the team most likely to challenge the Freighers for this year’s SA conference title.
Rounding out the first round of matches is The Drive taking on Glenlea Gators. The Drive have recruited Japanese player Asaka Hiura to add depth to their lineup and will have Alex Cannizarro spearheading their team. Glenlea have State League player of the year Madison Frahn and promising juniors Olivia Ley and Izzy Rhyles in their lineup. The Gators will need to be at their best to overcome The Drive.
The Asia Pacific Tennis League matches start from 6:30pm at Memorial Drive and entry is free.
Now in its second season, the ATL is a unique and fast-paced competition that features four-game sets, no-ad scoring, no service lets and a range of other innovative concepts designed to make all matches exciting for players and fans. The league comprises five Australian conferences – South Australia, Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland – each offering both a men’s and women’s competition.
ATL Manager David Hearne said the ATL was designed to offer quality competition to the nation’s top tennis players in an exciting, spectator-friendly format.
“The ATL is deliberately timed after the ATP and WTA seasons have finished for most players, to ensure players are back home in Australia and have the opportunity to re-engage with their local tennis clubs, centres and communities in a fun and competitive team tennis environment,” he said.
“It was really important when developing the match format that we found the balance between providing good competition while keeping it spectator friendly in terms of duration, innovation and excitement.”
The winning team from each conference will be joined at the ATL Play-offs in January by wildcard entrants from New Zealand, the Pacific-Oceania region, Korea and Japan for a share of $110,000 in prize money.
The 2013 ATL season gets under way in New South Wales today. Competition commences in South Australia on Thursday, Queensland and Western Australia on Friday, and Victoria on Sunday.
For more information on the ATL visit atl.tennis.com.au.
Stay up to date with all the latest news and results via Twitter using #ATLTennis.
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