Tennis Carnival attracts visitors

Jack Swindells of NSW showed on-court determination.

Geoff Potter

Nestled among the trees and gardens of Sunshine Beach, the Noosa tennis club came alive last week when Noosa Tennis Academy tennis director and club professional David McMahon hosted the Pater Master third annual Noosa Tennis Carnival.

The six-day international event, which saw players from New Zealand, Hong Kong, America, and received entries from all states of Australia, came to the quiet club in Noosa to fight for Australian ranking points.

The first part of the week saw the juniors play off, dodging the rain showers and using three other tennis centres (Peregian, Coolum and Hyatt). Thank you to those venues that were able to help out.

The carnival was a great opportunity for some local children to see the level of tennis being played in other areas.

It also gives the children a greater variety in their opponents.

Having such an event in the local area gives them a taste of tournament play without their expense and time of travelling to tournaments in far off places.

It is an invaluable experience for the children of Noosa to compete in such an event and this can really help in their development as tennis players.

The second part of the event was where the big guns of the tennis world were playing for the prize money and improving their Australian ranking points.

There was some fierce competition at times and the referee had his hands full at times, but the players were very professional.

The other part of the event was the social grade which accommodates for the local players who are just interested in being involved and supporting the carnival, and I thank those players who did so.

There were a few out-of-towners playing in these events which added to the variety of these matches.

These graded events are the ones I am trying to promote outside Noosa, to encourage holiday makers to enjoy tennis on their holidays.

In the open women's and men's final we were treated to a great exhibition of tennis. We had two older experienced players compete against two young up-and-coming players. In the women's, Helen Parsons defeated Talor Douglas in two sets 6/3 6/2.

In the men's the opposite prevailed. After a gruelling three-set battle in the semi-finals in the morning Pat Fynn didn't quite have the answers even after putting up a great challenge in the second set to the play of Brad Clews ( 6/3, 6/4)) who won the event two years ago in its debut year.

All junior players received a player's show bag valued at $25, filled with vouchers from sponsors, drink bottles, tennis balls and drinks.

I would like to organise more sponsors, as we are currently at a silver level which requires $7000 in prize money.

To reach gold level status I would need to raise the level to $10,000. Growing up in rural Victoria I have based the Noosa carnival on my memory of playing country tournaments where all sorts of players would come into town for a weekend of tennis and plenty of fun and laughter.

Referee Darryl Arkell, who travels around Australia refereeing different tennis tournaments, said the feedback he was receiving was that the event was well put together, ran smoothly, featured great coffee and food supplied in a nice relaxed venue that was a pleasant place to spend the weekend.

He also commented that for a three-year-old tournament, it is establishing itself compared to other events that have been operating for over 50 years.