Port Pirie had some success in the junior tennis teams events at the country carnival played at Memorial Drive from January 12th - 15th winning the Boys 12 & Under teams event and the Girls 14 & Under teams event. The 12 & under boys went through the whole week only losing 2 sets.
Kurtis Willson played in and won the 16 & Under individual singles event.
Port Pirie was runner up for the John Fitzgerald Shield.
Tennis fever hits as competitions swing in........
Tennis fever has really hit town at the moment with the Australian Open in its final stages and Port Pirie Tennis will have a full compliment of matches for its Friday night competition tomorrow night.
The Tennis4Men competition will resume after a lengthy break for the school holidays and we’ll most likely see a few rusty players in action, that is unless some have been hitting whilst on the break.
Tommy Harmer no doubt would have been watching the likes of Federer, Nadal, Tsonga and Roddick on TV the past two weeks and he will be doing his best to emulate their powerful shot-making this week.
Tommy is well known for his power first serve but we’ll see if he can produce the same stats as the pros (Roddick: 87% first serves in one match). Best of luck Tom.
Once again court allocations at the Tennis Centre have been altered to what is printed in the tennis booklet, so team captains need to make note prior to the start of play so all goes smoothly this week.
After a relatively warm week, here’s hoping for cooler weather tomorrow night to make things a tad more comfortable for the players.
Risdon Uniting will journey to the foothills to take on Napperby in A grade tennis while the top two teams Trinity and Railway Pennant will do battle in Pirie on courts 1, 2 and 11.
There’s some talk going around town at the moment that Brodie Mudge may line up for the Napperby A grade team this week following a return to the court last week in the B grade.
Will be interesting to see how his back pulled up after last week’s game, so we’ll just have to wait and see.
Trinity should regain talented youngster Darcy Noll for this week’s match and Ben Madigan should also return to the team after missing last week with a sore knee.
The B grade competition is shaping up to be a real battle between Railway Red and Wandearah for the important second position on the ladder which provides a “double-chance” come finals time.
With very little separating the two sides at the moment, every single set this week will be vital to the outcome in five weeks time. Wandearah’s Jo-anne Ferme is hitting the ball very sweetly this season.
I’m told she really is enjoying being able to play singles again after competing in the Club Doubles last season.
She will once again try and steer Wandies to a victory over Railway Green in this week’s B grade match of the round on courts 16,17,18,19.
Wandearah White are clear on top in the Club Doubles competition and it’s no wonder with the likes of Peter Bessen, Laz Kovacevic, Craig Oliphant and Megan Congdon a formidable foursome.
For Trinity to even win a set this week against Wandearah White will be quite a challenge.
But if Trinity can at the very least relax and enjoy the tennis and display good sportsmanship despite the result, that’s all that really counts.
Good news this week for the Invitational Championships to be held on February 6 and 20.
Major sponsors have confirmed their commitment to the event once again this year – Nyrstar, The Recorder Newspaper and McDonalds.
Invited players are reminded to SMS to Lynne Madigan or Grant Hanlon if they are unavailable by this weekend, so that another player can be invited to take part if necessary.
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