WINTER tennis is back this weekend for the first proper season since 2019.
Mildura Lawn Tennis Club treasurer Robyn Herberte said numbers were down this year after COVID-19 and people were still encouraged to enter.
“Some clubs would dearly love to have a few more players, just incase they’re short on players on the weekend,” Herberte said.
“You can never have too many players.
“I think all the clubs would love to have more players … I don’t think one club is struggling more than others.
“After not having a chance to get out and about, they might not be wanting to commit to a team-like situation.
“But I’m still pretty happy with our numbers considering the year we had last year.”
Herberte said the competition had 28 teams including a few teams in Premier League this year.
“Last season we had around 35 teams … and obviously last year we couldn’t get going with COVID-19,” she said.
“It is a great sport … in winter it is quite pleasant in Sunraysia so it’s a great way to spend an afternoon, playing a bit of tennis.
“Especially when there’s a bit of sunshine around.
“I’d love to see people just out there enjoying themselves … even if they just wanted to join in at training nights, we’d love to see more people there.”
Player retention between the summer and winter season was “always high” according to Herberte.
“Actually, traditionally a lot more people play in summer than winter, for some reason,” she said.
“Most of the summer players transition into winter tennis.
“And ladies’ midweek tennis will continue on … it’s not a team thing, if you want to play you just put your name down and you play.
“They get two or three sections of ladies and it’s great for mums to be able to play midweek tennis.
“Anyone who wants to be involved can contact me for information or people can go to the Sunraysia District Tennis Association homepage.”
Zac Galbraith finished the summer season winning the Senior Men Section 1 24/15 last week, Ken Walker won Section 2 24/13 and Andy Tan took out Section 3 22/10.
Warren Searle was runner-up in Section 1 (22/18), Aaron Wilkie was runner-up in Section 2 (22/15) and Jason Polsen came second in Section 3 (17/15).
In the Senior Ladies’ competition, Brenda Hornsby won 21/16 in Section 1, Lyn Knowles won 24/11 in Section 2 and Inex Sullivan won 24/11 in Section 3.
Runner-up in Section 1 was Heather Olofsson 21/16, runner-up in Section 2 was Ally Robinson 21/21 and runner-up in Section 3 was Margot Wheaton 19/17.
