Tennis in Armidale is on the move, with local kids embracing the sport. The recent McDonalds Open and Junior state ranking points tournament has been hailed as a huge success, despite the last day of the competition being disrupted by rain.
Local tennis wiz Brock Sherriff claimed the Open Men’s title, defeating Gunnedah’s Zack Martin 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 in what was outstanding tennis from both boys. In the Open Women’s title, Tamworth’s Alicia Smith took the title, defeating Emily Osmond from Gunnedah 6-1, 6-2.
Armidale tennis coach and event organiser Justin Sherriff is excited about the future of tennis in the region.
“We had five in the Open Men’s that were ranked in the top 250 in Australia, which was a great standard and, in the Open Women’s, we had two girls that were in the top 200,” said Justin Sherriff.
“Tennis is becoming more popular in Armidale. We have more children playing and participating in Australian junior ranking tournaments now.
“Because of our squads that we have locally and regionally, we have to get them a reasonable ranking so that they can qualify for more metropolitan tournaments.
“As a region we are trying to get more of these types of tournament in our region so that we can attract the stronger players from other regions to strengthen up the level of tennis at our tournaments.”
