14 January 2016 | Tennis Australia
Australia’s top tennis towns are set to become dedicated cheer squads for the world’s best players throughout their Australian Open 2016 campaigns.
In 2015 clubs from every corner of Australia hosted Free Tennis Days, opening up their clubs to the local community and encouraging people of all ages and abilities to pick up a racquet and have a hit.
By hosting a Free Tennis Day clubs earned points for their town, with extra points earned for every person in attendance on the day. The top points-scoring towns have now been rewarded with players to support on court at Melbourne Park this summer.
In 2015 players were excited to have whole towns support their Grand Slam campaigns and keen to learn more about their adopted Australian towns.
Three-time Australian Open champion and world No.1 Serena Williams (USA) asked where the town of Casino (NSW) was located, Melbourne’s Andy Murray (GBR) received a good luck tweet from City of Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle before the men’s final and Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) tweeted his thanks to the town of Rowville (Vic) for its support.
Tennis legend Todd Woodbridge said he was excited for the Tennis Australia initiative to roll out in January.
“Aligning the world’s top players with towns that have embraced Free Tennis Days is a great way to reward them for promoting tennis in their community,” Woodbridge said.
“The players enjoy hearing they have a whole Australian town cheering for them, and they often take to social media to engage with their towns.
“This initiative is all about encouraging tennis participation everywhere from major cities to rural communities and giving these towns a chance to get noticed by the world’s top players.”
The complete list of player/town match-ups is available here.
For more information on Free Tennis Days visit tennis.com.au.
| TOWN RANKING | PLAYER-TOWN (VIC) |
| 1 | NOVAK DJOKOVIC – Swan Hill (VIC) |
| 2 | SERENA WILLIAMS – Warrnambool (VIC) |
| 14 | VENUS WILLIAMS – Woodend (VIC) |
| 15 | KEI NISHIKORI – Mornington (VIC) |
| 16 | LUCIE SAFAROVA – Castlemaine (VIC) |
| 21 | JOHN ISNER – Anglesea (VIC) |
| 22 | TIMEA BACSINSZKY – Warrenheip (VIC) |
| 27 | MILOS RAONIC – Mailors Flat (VIC) |
| 30 | ANA IVANOVIC – Cororooke (VIC) |
| 35 | BERNARD TOMIC – Whittlesea (VIC) |
| 38 | SARA ERRANI – Steels Creek (VIC) |
| 41 | FABIO FOGNINI – Port Fairy (VIC) |
| 42 | VICTORIA AZARENKA – Mount Eliza (VIC) |
| 44 | EKATERINA MAKAROVA – Murrumbeena (VIC) |
| 45 | IVO KARLOVIC – Shepparton (VIC) |
| 48 | SVETLANA KUZNETSOVA – Greensborough (VIC) |
| 50 | ANNA KAROLINA SCHMIEDLOVA – Warburton (VIC) |
| 51 | TOMMY HAAS – Strathewen (VIC) |
| 54 | ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA – Kerang (VIC) |
| 55 | GUILLERMO GARCIA-LOPEZ – Murrabit (VIC) |
| 57 | GRIGOR DIMITROV – Clarinda (VIC) |
| 61 | NICK KYRGIOS – Boneo (VIC) |
| 63 | JEREMY CHARDY – Sunbury (VIC) |
| 67 | JOAO SOUSA – Poowong (VIC) |
| 68 | CAMILA GIORGI – Clyde North (VIC) |
| 69 | PHILIPP KOHLSCHREIBER – Rowville (VIC) |
| 72 | COCO VANDEWEGHE – Clifton Hill (VIC) |
| 73 | ALEXANDR DOLGOPOLOV – Broadford (VIC) |
| 75 | THOMAZ BELLUCCI – Upwey (VIC) |
| 76 | MONICA NICULESCU – Coburg (VIC) |
| 78 | MADISON BRENGLE – Torquay (VIC) |
| 85 | PABLO CUEVAS – Cranbourne South (VIC) |
| 86 | ALISON VAN UYTVANCK – Healesville (VIC) |
| 88 | MONA BARTHEL – Doveton (VIC) |
| 94 | JOHANNA KONTA – Melton (VIC) |
| 95 | ALJAZ BEDENE – Wycheproof (VIC) |
| 97 | MARCOS BAGHDATIS – Yea (VIC) |
| 102 | ZARINA DIYAS – Mount Evelyn (VIC) |
| 103 | FERNANDO VERDASCO – Chelsea Heights (VIC) |
| 104 | LUCIE HRADECKA – Hampton Park (VIC) |
| 107 | HYEON CHUNG – Dumbalk North (VIC) |
| 108 | HEATHER WATSON – California Gully (VIC) |
| 109 | FEDERICO DELBONIS – Woodvale (VIC) |
| 111 | SELA DUDI – Croydon (VIC) |
| 114 | DANKA KOVINIC – Berwick (VIC) |
| 115 | LUKAS ROSOL – Templestowe (VIC) |
| 116 | ANNIKA BECK – Wonthaggi (VIC) |
| 118 | TSVETANA PIRONKOVA – Aspendale (VIC) |
| 119 | BRIAN BAKER – Research (VIC) |
| 120 | BETHANIE MATTEK-SANDS – Eltham (VIC) |
| 121 | JERZY JANOWICZ – Rutherglen (VIC) |
| 126 | CHRISTINA MCHALE – Clifton Creek (VIC) |
| 127 | SAM GROTH – Bairnsdale (VIC) |
| 128 | CARINA WITTHOEFT – Dandenong North (VIC) |
| 129 | DENIS ISTOMIN – Lalor (VIC) |
| 130 | GALINA VOSKOBOEVA – Montrose (VIC) |
| 132 | AJLA TOMLJANOVIC – Bentleigh East (VIC) |
| 133 | ANDREAS HAIDER-MAURER – Malvern East (VIC) |
| 142 | TIMEA BABOS – Bell Post Hill (VIC) |
| 144 | TATJANA MARIA – Fountain Gate (VIC) |
| 146 | OLGA GOVORTSOVA – Rosanna (VIC) |
| 148 | SAISAI ZHENG – Echuca (VIC) |
| 149 | NICOLAS MAHUT – Traralgon (VIC) |
| 152 | POLONA HERCOG – Elaine (VIC) |
| 153 | NICOLAS ALMAGRO – Ringwood North (VIC) |
| 154 | DARIA KASATKINA – Leopold (VIC) |
| 155 | GUIDO PELLA – Camberwell (VIC) |
| 157 | DANIEL MUÑOZ DE LA NAVA – Narre Warren North (VIC) |
| 158 | YULIA PUTINTSEVA – Bentleigh (VIC) |
| 159 | DUSAN LAJOVIC – Balwyn North (VIC) |
| 161 | YEN-HSUN LU – Keysborough (VIC) |
| 165 | ANDREY KUZNETSOV – Harcourt (VIC) |
| 168 | ANA KONJUH – Bayswater (VIC) |
| 171 | DAMIR DZUMHUR – Warncoort (VIC) |
| 172 | JELENA OSTAPENKO – Gladstone Park (VIC) |
| 173 | ALEXANDER ZVEREV – Vermont South (VIC) |
| 174 | KIRSTEN FLIPKENS – Stanhope (VIC) |
| 182 | LAUREN DAVIS – Springvale South (VIC) |
| 185 | RAJEEV RAM – Churchill (VIC) |
| 186 | MAGDA LINETTE – Lorne (VIC) |
| 188 | ANETT KONTAVEIT – Cowes (VIC) |
| 189 | MARCO CECCHINATO – Mansfield (VIC) |
| 190 | MONICA PUIG – Drysdale (VIC) |
| 198 | ANNA-LENA FRIEDSAM – Maiden Gully (VIC) |
| 199 | PAUL-HENRI MATHIEU – Strathfieldsaye (VIC) |
| 200 | ALEKSANDRA KRUNIC – Bright (VIC) |
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