7 January 2016 | Tennis Victoria
Swan Hill will be transformed this weekend when the summer of tennis comes to the Northern Mallee Region for the 60th Annual Inter-regional Country Championships.
More than 250 tennis players representing nine of the eleven Victorian country regions will compete for singles, doubles and mixed doubles titles.
“The Inter-regionals are a fantastic event, with hundreds of players from 10 to 55 years of age competing,” said Tennis Victoria Tournament and Events Director Andrew Reynolds. “The courts are looking fantastic and will play fast, so there is sure to be some quality tennis played over the three days.”
The Swan Hill Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club will have almost 50 grass courts in use for the three day event, thanks to Green Keeper Daniel Gardner.
“It’s a pretty big job to get the courts ready for an event like this,” said Gardner, who has been part of the club both as a player and a green keeper for 30 years.
“We’ve got about 51 grass courts and we’ve got the surrounds of the club as well, so it’s very busy in the summer.
“It’s about doing a lot of the right things in the right sequence for the right period of time, it’s not just something that happens overnight. You can’t make bad courts good overnight, that’s my theory on it,” he said.
Gardner will also compete in the Inter-regionals in the seniors event.
“I haven’t been thinking about the tennis too much, maybe when the event starts I will. It’s nice to get everything ready, get to the start line and then focus on the tennis.
“It’s really good for us to showcase Swan Hill and to have visitors here, and for our club it’s really nice to have a group of different people come through and see our club and use our facilities.”
The Championships kick off on Friday morning, with the first event beginning at 8am.
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