Cairns tennis centre’s big plan to lure elite players to FNQ
Far North tennis administrators are hopeful of luring elite players to Cairns as a grand plan to see the tropical city feature on the international tennis calendar begins to take shape.
Sport
Don't miss out on the headlines from Sport. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- Millman: Players can set precedent for tennis’ future
- Cutters experiment in search of winning formula
- How $2.7m upgrade will boost tennis in Cairns
- GALLERY: Cairns Netball club sends message with big win
Far North tennis administrators are hopeful of luring elite players to Cairns as a grand plan to see the tropical city feature on the international tennis calendar begins to take shape.
The Cairns International Tennis Centre unveiled its latest upgrade, a $2.7m roof covering centre court, last weekend, with women’s world No 1 Ash Barty and fellow internationally ranked players John Millman, John-Patrick Smith and Lizette Cabrera some of the first to test out the facility.
Cairns tennis coach Wayne Fielder said it was the start of the Cairns International Tennis Centre becoming a world-class venue, which could attract top-level players and tournaments to the region more often.
“I think Tennis Australia are very aware of the facility we have here now and we’re going to be getting the other 11 courts relaid very soon as well,” he said.
“So we’re going to have 12 brand new courts here in the next year or so, one with a cover.
“That’s definitely going to attract way more high-profile events over the coming years.”
Far North Queensland tennis stalwart Tom Horn said Cairns was now in a position to host more elite tournaments and could potentially be used as a training base for travelling international players and teams.
“It’s an excellent asset for tennis here and we plan to have many more tournaments, such as junior age tournaments and things like that, where we can attract children and other players from overseas,” he said.
“It would be great if we could get some international players up here to do a bit of training in the lead-up to the Australian Open, just to help them get used to the climate.”
Tennis coach Georgina Sesto said the upgrade would also provide a “massive boost” for junior development.
“With the heat in the summer time and how hot it can get, having this shade over the centre court will allow us to teach more classes and give the kids more time on the court,” she said.
“Usually we’ll take a two-month break over the December-January period and we don’t do any formal coaching, but this will allow us to play all year round.”
The centre has hosted the Cairns International Pro Tour annually since 2010.
The International Tennis Federation event, usually held in September but unlikely to go ahead this year because of the pandemic, is part of the Australian Pro Tour calendar and attracts national and international players.
UPGRADE CHANGES THE GAME: ENTSCH
Leichhardt MP Warren Entsch said the Cairns International Tennis Centre upgrade was a “game changer”.
“We have here within this precinct world-class tennis, aquatic, hockey and netball facilities,” he said.
“It provides an opportunity for not just individual events, but it puts us right in the driver’s seat for international squads to come up here for extended periods of time for their tropical sports conditioning in preparation for international events.”
Originally published as Cairns tennis centre’s big plan to lure elite players to FNQ