James Murphy
TENNIS action will not be reserved to Saturdays this season, with two midweek competitions on offer.
Wednesday night Fast4 tennis will return for 2022-23, while a new Division 1 Fast4 competition has been introduced for Tuesday nights.
Fast4 tennis is a shortened format which has grown in popularity over recent years.
Sets are played to four games instead of six, along with other alterations which speed up the game.
“The next point wins after deuce, so there is no advantage and if someone serves a let, that actually counts,” Mount Gambier and District Tennis Association Andrew van den Hurk said.
“It really speeds up the game.
“It is all doubles and is a fun atmosphere.”
The Division 1 format will be a casual competition designed to entice former top-level players back to the game.
“It is really to try and attract some of the players who used to play Division 1, but who can’t play Saturdays or don’t want to,” van den Hurk said.
“You just turn up casually on a Tuesday night and have a competitive hit.
“They will mix in with existing Division 1 players.”
Van den Hurk hoped to attract around 20 players on Tuesday nights, while he expected another strong showing for the Wednesday competition, after it was well received last season.
“The Wednesday night social Fast4 is more for the Division 2, 3 and social standards of tennis,” he said.
“We have at least six teams registered already and could have an extra four.
“We could have about 40 or 50 people involved in that on a Wednesday night.
“We had about 50 people go through last season playing Fast4.”
With player numbers on the rise this year, the flexibility brought by midweek tennis bolsters what already looks to be a successful season for the Association.
“It has been a good initiative because it is dragging people back who like tennis, but don’t want to commit on a Saturday,” van den Hurk said.
The competitions will kick off on October 18 and 19 and will run for around six weeks, played at Olympic Park.
“We will then run them both again after Christmas in mid January for another six weeks, with new teams,” van den Hurk said.
