6 October 2016 | Tennis Victoria

Tennis Victoria are pleased to announce the twelve teams selected to compete in the 2016/17 Tennis Victoria Premier League season, beginning next month.

Strengthened by Tennis Australia’s withdrawal of the Asia Pacific Tennis League, the nation’s best up-and-coming tennis stars are now set to use Victoria’s highest inter-club competition as the perfect lead in event ahead of the Australian summer of tennis.

Three-time doubles Grand Slam runner up Ash Barty will join the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club team, which also includes recent Tweed Coast Tennis International runner up Destanee Aiava.

Headlining the Royal South Yarra Lawn Tennis Club will be 2016 Fed Cup debutant Storm Sanders and 2016 Australian Open Wildcard recipient Tammi Patterson.

Arina Rodionova leads the Liston Tennis Club while defending champions MCC have merged with Glen Iris Valley Rec to form a super team with Tennis Victoria’s junior athlete of the year Jaimee Fourlis set to shine.

Also returning to the competition will be Dendy Park Tennis Club while Dingley Tennis Club will field a women’s team for the first time.

The men’s competition will include Victoria’s newest No.1 Andrew Whittington. Whittington will hope to go one better this year and lead last season runners up Kooyong Lawn all the way to the championship alongside the in-form Marc Polmans.

The newly formed MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club will also have a team in the men’s competition, with former Australian Davis Cup player Peter Luczak set to take the court.

The men’s competition will importantly feature the Country All Stars including quality Country talent in Adam Lasky and Matthew Hicks, with Premier League action held for the first time at the Ballarat Regional Tennis Centre to be another major highlight.

Grace Park Hawthorn Club will be aiming for a historic and incredible fourth men’s title in a row, but will face stiff competition from all clubs in what appears to be a very even field of teams that also include Dingley and Royal South Yarra.

The teams will compete for the total prize money purse of $20,000 across the men’s and women’s leagues, with the season culminating in a Finals Day at MCC Glen Iris Valley Tennis Club on Sunday 11 December.

“The stable of star players assembled for the Tennis Victoria Premier League is outstanding and will be a showcase month of tennis for our local tennis community,” said Tennis Victoria Competitions Manager Jeff Downes.

“In exciting news for our competing clubs, we will also for the first time have a Premier League Community Engagement Award in which the most engaged club to their local community will receive $2000. We will also be announcing the Paul Arber Memorial Award winners at our Finals Day and it is great to see last season’s winners Daniel Nolan (Grace Park Hawthorn) and Destanee Aiava (Kooyong Lawn) listed to play again this season.”

The 2016/17 Tennis Victoria Premier League season which will commence on Friday 18 November.

• Selected Men’s Teams.
• Selected Women’s Teams
• Men’s Super Round Fixture
• Women’s Super Round Fixture