Well today brings us to the end of TennisFest. After seven days, eleven events, three new participation initiatives, six activations and ten appearances with the Australian Open trophies, the truly inclusive and diverse event offered opportunities for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, as well as showcased the player pathway through tournaments and competitions.
Here is a recap on the week that was…
The Australian Open trophies, Norm and Daph, made the trek over from Melbourne with their first appearance at the official media launch on Thursday 17 November. It was quite the production with Norm and Daph making their way to the top of the Commonwealth Bank RoofClimb Adelaide Oval with The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Adelaide and TennisFest Official Ambassador, Martin Haese and Tennis SA Chief Executive Officer, Steven Baldas.
On Friday 18 November, Norm and Daph, started the day with a breakfast radio appearance at 891 ABC Adelaide with Matthew Abraham and David Bevan. They then went back to school, visiting some very excited junior school students at Prince Alfred College, Saint Dominic’s Priory College and St Ignatius’ College. In the afternoon, Norm and Daph made a special visit to the families currently residing at Ronald McDonald House Adelaide.
Sets in the City social tennis night came along in the evening and was a roaring success. Belles of the Ball took the win in the ‘Could have been Wimbledon Champions’ division, whilst RLB Blue, The Boys are Back in Town and Taylor Collison won the ‘We Rock at Wii Tennis’ divisions. Several other awards were handed out on the night, including Best Dance Moves: The Boys are Back in Town, Best Outfit: Alex Sauers, Best Team Spirit: DG Sports, Best Team Name: Roger Djokerfaces and Fastest serve: Gianni Francisco. A special thank you to our Sets in the City Official Ambassador, Jodie Oddy, a.k.a. Jodie Kyrgi-Oddy-os, and the team at Mix102.3 for being a part of Sets in the City.
Junior State League girls teams took part in a special TennisFest Super Round held at Peake Gardens Riverside Tennis Club and were treated to a visit from Norm and Daph to start the night.
Saturday 19 November saw the South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability kick off at Next Generation Memorial Drive. Matches were played in great spirit throughout the day, with some closely contested results.
Drive Tennis was played across the Memorial Drive Tennis Centre, State Training Facility and Next Generation Memorial Drive courts. Featuring representative teams from schools across Adelaide, some excellent tennis was played with some great sportsmanship on display.
Finally, State League teams were brought together to take part in a Super Round on the grass courts of Next Generation Memorial Drive.
Norm and Daph continued their adventures, visiting Next Generation Memorial Drive and then making a special appearance alongside Mark Soderstrom and Jessica Adamson on the Channel 7 news desk.
TennisFest kicked up a gear on Super Sunday with seven individual events and 30 courts running simultaneously.
The final two rounds of the Super 10s were played on the clay, synthetic and hard courts with some excellent tennis and sportsmanship on display. In the boys, Team Murray took first place, whilst in the girls, Teams Kvitova and Willams finished the day with a draw. Individual award winners included Elim Yan (Groth Award for strong technique), Imogen Davis (Kokkinakis Award for sportsmanship), Piper Khouri (Stosur Award for great movement), Blake Hanlon (Groth Award for strong technique), William Hawker (Kokkinakis Award for sportsmanship) and Michael Smith (Stosur Award for great movement).
Angus Thomson Cup was played on grass, with Eastern Districts Tennis Association winning the boys, undefeated in their four matches. Meanwhile in the girls, Western Districts Tennis Association won all three of their matches to take the win.
The South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with a Disability continued with both male and female finals taking place. In the A grade men’s Mitchell James defeated Joshua Holloway, in the A grade women’s Carla Lenarduzzi defeated Joanna Klaeson and in the B grade women’s Andriana Petrakis overcame Sarah Anderson. Joshua Holloway and Mitchell James won the men’s doubles and whilst, Carla Lenarduzzi and Fiona Taylor won the women’s.
The TennisFest Wheelchair Open provided a great opportunity to showcase wheelchair tennis to the wider community. Players were also engaged in further discussion around playing opportunities for the future.
The inaugural President’s Lunch was hosted by the President of the Tennis SA Board, Mr Kent Thiele and saw Association Presidents and Secretaries celebrate TennisFest and enjoy lunch together before joining the action on court level.
The Red Ball Rumble was a load of fun for all involved! Players participated in a variety of activities and matches throughout the afternoon. ‘Alice and PH’ were awarded the prize for the Best Dressed pair.
In the State League Grand Final rematch, Broadview once again came up with the win over Collingrove in the men’s, five rubbers to one. In the ladies, Memorial Drive turned the tables on Glenlea, also with a five rubbers to one victory.
Today, TennisFest has wrapped up with finals being played for the City of West Torrens Gold AMT. In the men’s final, Sam Longhurst defeated Mislav Bosnjak 7-6(3) 6-0 and Selina Turulja defeated Alexandra Walters 6-1 6-2 to win the women’s.
A special thank you also to the following people:
- Tennis SA Board and Staff
- The Right Honourable The Lord Mayor of Adelaide and TennisFest Official Ambassador – Martin Haese
- Sets in the City Official Ambassador – Jodie Oddy
- Official Media Partner – Channel 7 (Chantelle Leaney, Hannah Neumann, Mark Soderstrom, Jessica Adamson and team)
- Official Media Partner – Mix102.3 (Greg Oddy, Jodie Oddy, Mark Soderstrom, Amy Taeuber and team)
- Official Apparel Partner – DG Sport
- Next Generation Memorial Drive – Alyssa Taylor and team
- White Marquee Event Hire – Greg Evangelou, Jo Armstrong and team
- Commonwealth Bank RoofClimb Adelaide Oval – Elise, Lucy, Laura, Scott, Katie and Jason
- Prince Alfred College, Saint Dominic’s Priory College and St Ignatius College
- Ronald McDonald House Adelaide
- Elaine Caldana – Tournament Director South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability
- Bronwyn and Peter Smith – South Australian Tennis Championships for Players with an Intellectual Disability
- Eddie Vo and Terry Karahalios – FAST4 Tennis demonstration
- David Grainger – Fitbit Cardio Tennis coach
- Codie George, Helen Rice, Saskia Rice, Theadora Kotsiou, Jim Chaousis, Haydn Leo, Bill Walter and Domenic Marafiote – Super 10s Coaches
- Michael Spry – Tournament Director City of West Torrens Gold AMT
- Officials – Referees, Court Supervisors, Chair Umpires and Line Umpires
- Aaron Knight – Sets in the City DJ
- Jane Altschwager – Sets in the City MC
- Leo James – Super Sunday MC
- Ben Macmahon – Photographer
- Fiasco Sports – Videography
- Uni SA placement students – Emily, Emily, Mimi, Isaac and Harry
- Woolworths Ballkid Squad
- …there are just so many people to thank, so to anyone else we might have missed, thank you, we really appreciate your support.
Finally, thank you to all of the participants and spectators who were a part of TennisFest, we really appreciated your involvement and look forward to seeing you next time!
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