Riverland tennis ready for the first serve

FEEDING off of the highly successful Foundation Cup last week, this Saturday will see the Riverland Lawns Tennis Association officially get started for another campaign.

Senior tennis will begin this Saturday, and juniors will start up on the following weekend, in what is expected to be a tight season across all of the clubs competing for premiership glory.

Registration numbers have remained steady, and Riverland Lawns Tennis Association president Andrew Waters said match days will be spread across the region.

“Registrations have remained pretty similar to last year, and a few of the division three teams have moved up to division two which is good,” he said.

“We’re looking to try and load venues this year and have fixtures spread out around the region so there’s a few different clubs hosting each weekend.

“That way we’ll have good energy at the courts and make sure there’s a good atmosphere for those playing at each of the clubs.

“We’re just trying to finalise a couple of the junior teams in terms of where they need to sit, and in what divisions, but that program will be up soon.

“We’ve got healthy numbers in the juniors, and a lot of players coming through so that’s really important for our sustainability as a competition.”

The previous Riverland tennis season was one of the longest, with the grand finals not held until March 29, in Renmark.

The newest instalment will be much shorter, and Mr Waters said that decision came following consultation with the clubs.

“We’re going to have everything wrapped up before the March long weekend, and the feedback last season was that it was just a little bit too long,” he said.

“After that Christmas period we kicked off early in January, which we are going to do again, but it will wind up a bit earlier.

“People look at it and realise it’s not too long, and that gives people more of a chance to commit, and then our registration numbers are up on the whole.

“Once senior matches kick off in the new year they’ll be on Friday night’s, and we find that just works best with the heat policy.”

To view the Riverland tennis fixtures, visit (https://tinyurl.com/yj38uefs).