31 March 2023 | Tennis West

The historic CBH Group Country Championships will celebrate 100 years when hundreds of country tennis players descend at Alexander Park on April 14. Longstanding supporters of country tennis for more than ten years, CBH Group will once again sponsor the Country Tennis Championships.

Over the coming weeks, Tennis West will be looking at the history of Country Week, shinning a light on past winners and influential people who shaped the event.

In this feature, we look at 1985 to 1995.

Entries to Country Week remained consistent in the late 1980’s with entries around 250. In 1985 and 1986 these figures were close to 350. Difficult economic times in the rural areas were thought to explain this inconsistent trend.

Sponsorship was necessary to maintain the scale of the operation of Country Week around this time. Wesfarmers took over as major sponsor from Elders Pastoral in 1987.

A feature of several Country Week carnivals was the number of team and individual titles taken by tennis families. In the men’s section the Pattens of Geraldton were formidable. Darren Patten won the men’s singles in 1987 and Brett Patten, who emerged as a leading player in the State, was champion in the 1989 carnival. In both of these years, Geraldton won the teams title, with father Don Patten a member.

In the women’s section, the Drake-Brockman’s from Bunbury were also very successful around this time. Jan Drake-Brockman, combined with her daughter Marnie to win the 1988 women’s team trophy. Marnie Drake-Brockman won the women’s singles in 1986, 1988 and 1994, while in 1987 her older sister Tracey took the same perpetual trophy. If mother Jan had beaten Bronwyn Fewster in the 1982 final, it would have been an even more outstanding family record.

Other players from Geraldton in the men’s section and Bunbury in the women’s also enjoyed success. Ken McCreery, Danny Bowen, and Luke Ertzen (Geraldton/Spalding Park) won the team’s event in 1990 and 1991, but narrowly lost to Marcus Keizer and Peter Holmes (Albany) in the 1992 final.

McCreery, partnered by Peter Harris (Geraldton) lost the 1993 team final to the Albany-Broomehill team of Jeremy Muir, Peter Holmes and Max Loveridge. Unfortunately, Geraldton had been weakened by an injury to Danny Bowen on the eve of the final. However, in 1994 Geraldton-Binnu was again to take the title. On this occasion Danny Bowen was in the winning team as he had been in the 1989 side. Bowen had won the singles title in 1992 when he defeated Brad Rundle from Katanning. He repeated this performance in 1994 with a straight set win over Glen Hogendoorn. McCreery showed his talents when he reached the 1993 singles final, but he lost a close three-set match to Bunbury’s Tim Reynolds.

The highlight of the women’s division was the formidable record that top Mandurah combination Gail Podsiadlo and Ann Atkinson had accumulated (pictured above). In 1996, they won their eighth consecutive team trophy. Part of their success was their splendid doubles play. This easily exceeded the feat of Katanning’s Ros Giles, Val Pain, and Cath Ogden who from 1974 to 1977 won four consecutive titles.

While Mandurah achieved a fine record in the women’s ‘A grade section, the record of the traditionally strong Eastern Goldfields Tennis Association (EGTA) in the men’s team section, is worthy of mention. Tony Hall and Mal Hodsdon were members of the winning EGTA team in 1985 and 1986. Phil Hevron was also in the 1986 side when it was the victor in the final. Then Hevron, in partnership with Ashley Johns, won the trophy in 1988 after having been runners-up to the Pattens of Geraldton in 1987.

Next week we look at more recent times, from 1996 to present.

Entries are open for the CBH Country Week Championships. Click here to enter.

List of singles championship winners from 1985 to 1995:

List of team winners from 1985 to 1995: