15 March 2012 | Tennis Victoria

The 2012 Pennant season is fast approaching with the opening round set down for the weekend of 21-22 April, 2012. Grading of teams has now been completed and the draws will be available in the Pennant section of the website no later than Monday 26 March, 2012. Handbooks and scorepads will be available for collection from the Tennis Victoria office from Tuesday 16 April, 2012. Contact your club’s Pennant Secretary to ensure you get your copy.

There is one exciting change that has been included in the 2012 season, which will enhance the competition. There will be automatic promotion in grades for winning teams (regardless of the teams’ composition) into the next season. This means that any club who has a team that wins the Tier 2 final in a particular grade has the opportunity to secure a position in the grade above in the following season. For example: Faraway Tennis Club wins the Grade 3 Men’s Tier 2 final in 2012. This win guarantees Faraway Tennis Club the choice to nominate a team in Grade 2 in the following season (2013) and be granted that grade. The players in the nominated 2013 team do not need to be the same players who played in the 2012 winning team.

Once again, there are no Australian Ranking points tournaments being conducted in Victoria during the 2012 Pennant season. This competition is a great way for players to continue gaining valuable match play as it does not clash with any Australian ranking tournaments across the entire season.